3 minute read

Help bring stories of the world to life

We value your continued support

COVID-19 has changed all our lives and livelihoods. For the museum, this has led to a $10 million loss in self-generated revenue. So now, more than ever, we rely on your generous support to preserve and conserve important items in the National Maritime Collection and to tell their stories.

01

TWO VITAL PROJECTS needing urgent support are coincidentally linked by the name Willem Janszoon and both explore the stories of the Dutch in our maritime history. The first is the conservation of the Blaeu Celestial Globe – the oldest European object in the museum’s collection. Thanks to generous gifts from three donors, the globe entered the collection in 1990. Created in 1602 by one of the most important 17th-century cartographers, Willem Janszoon Blaeu, the globe is one of only six surviving examples. Our conservation team has carried out visual and photographic analysis to work out how the plaster and pâpier-maché globe was made – and what has happened to it over the last 400 years. Now the painstaking conservation begins, and for this we need your support. The second project supports the creation of education programs for another recently donated item to the museum – the Duyfken replica. More than 164 years before James Cook’s arrival, the original Duyfken, captained by Dutchman Willem Janszoon of the Dutch East Trading Company (VOC), arrived in Cape York. This was the first recorded European visit to the continent. Observations from a similar, earlier voyage were used by Blaeu in creating his celestial globes. Students from all over Australia and throughout the world will be able to view Duyfken when a virtual reality tour is created as part of a range of digital resources to support teachers. The guided experience will be led by an expert storyteller and explore the deep impacts of these early contacts between our First Peoples and the Dutch traders and sailors aboard the vessel.

01 The Blaeu Celestial Globe of 1602 being carefully conserved by the museum’s paper conservator Lucilla Ronai. ANMM image 02 Chairman’s Circle patron Peter Poland reviewing the original visitors’ book from SY Ena during a cruise on Sydney Harbour. ANMM image

02

To find out more about the Blaeu Globe, go to sea.museum/2019/07/04/what-in-the-world

Your support will make the world of difference. All donors will be invited to see the conservation work in action or attend a special Duyfken tour.

Make your tax-deductible donation now. • Complete the insert included in this issue and return in the reply-paid envelope provided. • Directly deposit your gift into our account

Australian National Maritime Museum Foundation

BSB 062 000

Account number 16169309

• Or call Marisa Chilcott, Foundation Manager, on 02 9298 3619.

Become a Chairman’s Circle patron

Do you want to: See inside the vaults and behind the scenes? Learn more about the stories of the people who shaped our nation? Hear from our curators and conservators? Sail aboard historic vessels and learn about their history? Mix with like-minded donors passionate about all things maritime? Get to know the museum more intimately. By donating $3,000 to support the Foundation’s work or pledging $1,000 each year for three years, you become a patron of the Chairman’s Circle. You will be invited to become more involved with the museum, meet conservators, tour exhibitions with expert curators and sail on our historic vessels such as Duyfken. For more information: Call 02 9298 3619 Email marisa.chilcott@sea.museum Or go to sea.museum/chairmans-circle The perfect Mothers’ Day gift for the mum who has it all, and a must for all lovers of the sea.