My Museum
Fran Dorey Acting Manager, Exhibitions
I’m one of those fortunate people who managed to turn a passion for all things old, dead or fossilised into a career. Plus, I love sharing this passion with people, and have followed a path at the Australian Museum that has allowed me to do just that. My history at the AM is long and varied (I even did my Year 10 work experience here!). Starting as a front-of-house volunteer in 1996, I’ve worked in a number of roles, including education officer, interpretive officer and text writer before moving across to the Exhibitions department as a project manager in 2006. Since then, and in my current role as acting manager, I’ve co-curated and project-managed some of the AM’s most successful permanent and temporary exhibitions including Life Beyond the Tomb (2005), Dinosaurs (2008-), Alexander the Great (2012), Aztecs (2013), Tyrannosaurs — Meet the Family (2014), Trailblazers (2015) and 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum (2017-). 40
The AM’s exhibitions are a primary element of its public face and a key platform through which we promote our science, cultures and collections, and present topics that have societal or global relevance. We feel this responsibility every time we start a project. Our team includes some of the AM’s most creative, artistic, practical, organised and, dare I say, quirky people. While we’re a relatively large team, we’re spread across multiple projects and work areas including curation, content development, design, fabrication, preparation and maintenance of the AM’s permanent, temporary and touring products. And on every project, we work closely with other departments at the AM, from our conservators, collection managers, and content experts, to education, security, facilities, finance, marketing and sponsorship. It takes a large village to raise an exhibition!
