In conversation with Dr David Gaimster

New Director of the SA Museum

Dr David Gaimster comes to the South Australian Museum with a wealth of knowledge and experience from Europe to Australasia. He has a broad background in the arts, culture and heritage, and for the past six years, he has directed the Auckland Museum.

We chat with David about his international experience, his vision for the SA Museum and his move to Adelaide.

HOW WILL YOU USE YOUR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE AT THE SA MUSEUM?

Having worked in two hemispheres has given me a bit of a bird's eye view of the industry. And a real perspective of challenges and opportunities, directions and trends, in our sector internationally. Through that, I see museums becoming increasingly more research-driven, more participatory with communities, serving diverse communities and identities and really evolving this museum as a site of investigation, social cohesion, and reconciliation.

So I'm hoping to use this experience to cement SA Museum's position and reach into the community. And beyond that, I really want to see the museum's position grow as a cultural gateway to South Australia, to its unique communities, to its stories and landscapes. Be more of an observatory, say for social change, climate change, and an agent for building and developing a more cohesive society. That sort of social impact is going to be increasingly important for museums in the next few years.

TELL US ABOUT THE VISION YOU HAVE FOR THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM.

My focus areas are really invested in inspiring curiosity and learning through developing new compelling experiences on multiple platforms in which the museum operates - that's onsite, offsite, and online.

Always focusing on mobilising the collections and expertise of the organisation for the generation of new ideas, meanings and debate. So really being able to convert that research that's so important at the SA Museum onto those multiple platforms in new experiences, new discussions, new ideas, new debates about the past, the present and the future.

I really want to see the SA Museum becoming more recognized as an international centre of excellence in digital access and engagement. I think there's a huge opportunity for the SA Museum - it has very rich and extensive collections. Six million or so collections of assets across the natural world, physical sciences and human cultures. And really investing in that online engagement is an opportunity for the institution over the next few years.

Also investing in authentic partnership with First Nations communities, establishing more of a co-development model will be integral to the museum's practice of partnership and engagement.

And the final focus for me is about our community engagement and empowering communities to sustain and regenerate the natural environment.

So the climate crisis, global challenges and engaging the community in action and resilience in the context of deteriorating climate, and using all of the assets of the museum to really inform and empower those communities to more sustainable futures.

YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE MOVING TO ADELAIDE, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST?

We're really looking forward to it. The best cities in the world have very rich cultural ecosystems and Adelaide, everything from great festivals, to this large cluster of arts and cultural institutions at its centre.

And also, so close to one of the world's most important wine producing centres in the world. That's very exciting for me. I do love my Australian shiraz, so I'm looking forward to exploring that territory a lot more.

I like visiting historic cemeteries as a way of getting to know a city and getting to know the people who created it. And on a recent visit to Adelaide, I picked up Carol Lefevre’s book Quiet City Walking in the West Terrace Cemetery. Which is a really enthralling introduction to the people who made Adelaide, from the merchants and the civic dignitaries to the laborers, the suicides, and the criminal underworld that made up civic life in the city's formative years.

South Australian Museum North Terrace, Adelaide samuseum.sa.gov.au

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