Commemorating The Great War in a Community Museum

This lecture will present a community-engagement project which was focused on the development of the museological skills of volunteers running the LifeCare retirement village’s War Museum. University of Melbourne conservation students have worked with residents and volunteers for the past 5 years to help them establish good museum practices. The students’ appreciation of their positive contribution to stakeholder engagement, community museums and commemorative displays deepened as residents demonstrated the links between their wartime experiences and the collection. With increasing professional activity the museum’s public profile expanded, inducing more residents to contribute more time, objects and stories to the museum.
The project’s beneficial outcomes‚Äîeducational, personal and community‚Äîdemonstrate that people learn by solving real problems and can succeed at challenging tasks when the process means something to them, personally.

Sophie Lewincamp has been the project manager for the RSL LifeCare Community Engagement and Conservation Project since 2012 collaborating with CCMC students & alumni, Australian War Memorial staff and RSL LifeCare Veterans. In 2012, the project was awarded The University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Engagement Grant.