Please print out the petition forms. below and collect signatures within your network if you share the concerns expressed on the petition form.
The City of Launceston currently ‘legally owns’ the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery (QVMAG) collections because some entity is required to ‘own’ such assets. However, in ‘lore’ the material is held in the collections ‘on trust’ and it has multiple owners in various contexts – intellectual property owners, cultural property owners, items on loan, etc.
The point has been reached whereby the ’trust’ invested in the City of Launceston can no longer be relied upon given budgetary constraints, the perceived need to ‘rationalise’ the QVMAG operation as a ‘cost centre’ and Council’s burgeoning debt – something that has been accumulating for the greater part of the 21st C and is being exacerbated by current national and international pressures. Quite simply, the collections have grown to the extent that it is now beyond the capacity of any Local Govt. to ensure the level of trust required to deliver the appropriate security for a group of collections such as those held by the QVMAG.
Local Govt’s capacity to appropriately ‘govern’ an institution of the scale that the QVMAG has become, has diminished to the point whereby ’a Council’ cannot fulfil the obligations that fall to those who are entrusted with cultural property and scientific data such as that which is held by the QVMAG. This is especially so relative to national and international ‘Codes of Ethics’ relative to the governance and management of publicly ‘owned and operated’ museum and art galleries.
Moreover, the city’s ratepayers are being increasingly burdened by Council’s debt obligations and the need to address crisis issues such as those to do with pandemics and climate change.
Against this background it is time to demonstrate that the QVMAG’s collections are internationally important cultural and scientific assets in need ongoing protection.
The State Govt. is best placed to provide that protection in the context of the ‘values’ invested in the QVMAG collections. .
Please deliver completed forms by hand to:
• Launceston Town Hall and collect a signed receipt OR
• Richard Barton C/- 14 Malunga St, Kings Meadows 7249 Mobile 0409 231 877 OR
• Post completed forms to: Town Hall, 18-28 St John Street, Launceston 7250 … ATTN The Chief Executive Officer
Please click on an image to enlarge
For more information please email
Dr Luther Blissett: lutherblissett7000@gmail.com
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