The Conservation team preserves and presents the museum's collection with respect for the integrity of each object. They are responsible for developing various protocols and procedures for the conservation, display, care and handling of the museum's collection.
The museum has four specialist conservators. They're experts in:
- Conservation management
- Conservation of paper
- Photographic material
- Textiles
- Wooden, metal and composite objects
- Mixed collections
- Preventive conservation
Explore photos of our conservators at work
Learn about various treatments that our conservators have performed on objects in our collection
Fixing the Frederick Elliott watercolours: A big conservation project of small paintings
22 Jul 2020
Follow the journey of Conservator Luci Ronai as she prepares the Frederick Elliott watercolour paintings for loan to the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.
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Bligh and Banks: Preserving a piece of history
08 Oct 2019
We spoke to museum conservator Jeffrey Fox to find out what happened behind-the-scenes to get the Wedgwood blue jasper cameo of Joseph Banks exhibition ready for Bligh – Hero or Villain?
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Repairing the Past: Shining a light on Frances Bligh's letter
02 Aug 2019
Over the last few months, museum conservators Katie and Lucilla have had the meticulous task of treating a hand-written letter by William Bligh’s daughter Frances. Currently on display in our new exhibition Bligh – Hero or Villain?, we spoke to the pair to find out how they got this special item display ready.
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What's in the world?
04 Jul 2019
The Blaeu globe is one of the oldest objects in the collection. Recently the conservation team carried out visual and photographic analysis to work out how this globe was made and find out what has happened to it over the last 400 years…
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Rusticles and wrecks
08 Jan 2019
The conservation team faced a new challenge as part of James Cameron - Challenging the Deep: How to display the decay of metal-hulled ships?
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Beyond a book's cover
09 Aug 2018
You might be surprised to discover that over 50% of the Museum’s collection is paper, photographic material and bound items – also known simply as ‘books’. Where else would those swashbuckling adventurers record their travels than in their trusty but often weathered journals?
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Identifying the cannons from HMS Bounty
04 Jun 2018
A few days ago a Scottish newspaper ran a story about an upcoming auction of a cannon from HMS Bounty set to make £500,000.
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Capturing a lighthouse in 3D
31 Aug 2017
Conservators rarely have the opportunity to access made-for-conservation equipment, software, tools or chemicals. We borrow and adapt things intended for other environments.
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How to build a lighthouse
20 Aug 2017
In 1993, the Australian National Maritime Museum was ready the rebuild the Cape Bowling Green Light. This visual story shows how the lighthouse was rebuilt piece by piece at Darling Harbour.
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