Secret documents suggested end for SA Museum favourites

The Liberals say leaked documents which show the true extent of controversial plans to overhaul the SA Museum contradict the Premier’s claims.

Rally in April to save the SA Museum from funding cuts. Picture: Kelly Barnes

The much-loved mammals and Egypt collections at SA Museum were earmarked for the scrap heap, contradicting an assertion by Premier Peter Malinauskas that it was never considered, according to an internal document leaked to The Advertiser.

The SA Museum and a spokesman for the Premier issued identical statements to The Advertiser in response to the document.

“The proposed restructure of the South Australian Museum has been placed on hold, pending the outcome of the Premier’s review,’’ they said. “There are no plans to remove the Egyptian Room or the Mammals Gallery.’’

However, the ‘Reimagining the Museum’ document, which is labelled ‘commercial in confidence’ outlines a vision for SA Museum which has ‘interconnectedness’ as an ‘organising principle’ and refers to the institution which opened in 1856 as a ‘change agent’.

The document outlines a floor-by-floor outline of what a new SA Museum will contain

On the ground floor, which currently contains the mammals exhibition it says there will be a “conversion of the current temporary exhibitions gallery and World Mammals Gallery into a learning hub, incorporating spaces for our family audiences, and for school groups’’.

A page from the leaked documents.

The documents show general plans for the museum.

But they do not include specific details on what new exhibits would be where.

The Egyptian gallery, which has been part of the museum since 1939, is on level three and the document does not say what could replace it, but as part of the reconfiguration of the building’s east wing various options are mentioned, including additional toilets, a donors’ and members’ lounge and ‘adaptable event and programming spaces’ that could hold between 10 and 200 people.

The proposal by SA Museum chief executive Dr David Gaimster to restructure the institution has sparked widespread community resistance and protest and caused Mr Malinauskas to intervene and commission a government-led review, which included SA’s chief scientist professor Craig Simmons. The review is expected to be complete next month.

The ‘Reimagining the Museum’ plan also proposed 27 job losses in the research and collections team, to be replaced with 22 mostly lower-level positions.

Fronting parliament’s budget and finance committee last month, Dr Gaimster said he couldn’t “guarantee’’ the Egyptian, minerals, biodiversity and polar exhibitions would continue.

Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Morgan Sette

Opposition arts spokesman John Gardner. Picture: Matt Loxton

Announcing the review, a government press release said: “There has been misinformation about the proposal for the Museum in the community, much of it peddled by the Opposition.

“There are no plans to get rid of the Egyptian Room or the Mammals Gallery, nor will the Repatriation of Ancestral Remains program stop.’’

Opposition arts spokesman John Gardner said “these leaked documents show that despite Peter Malinauskas’ denials, the Labor Government had planned a total overhaul of the SA Museum’’.

“The new curatorial approach clearly shows that cherished galleries such as foreign mammals, the Polar collection, the Egyptian room and more are set to be on the chopping block,’’ Mr Gardner said.

“We know he (the Premier) is personally obsessed with sport and may not care about the arts and culture, but for many thousands of South Australian families, who might not necessarily be able to afford to go to swish events, cultural institutions like the Museum are incredibly important.’’

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