South Australian Museum: Inside the fight for its future

Philanthropists who have pumped multimillion-dollar sums into the SA Museum are angered by a proposed revamp that critics say will imperil the institution’s future.

Donors who have ploughed multimillion-dollar sums into the South Australian Museum to support world-class research have been angered by moves to use their gifts for operational funding.

The Advertiser has been told benefactors of the 165-year-old institution’s globally significant scientific, anthropologic and architectural research have been astounded to learn their money instead might staunch chronic operational funding gaps.

But the museum insists funds are applied “strictly in line with the donor agreement” when benefactors specify they should be used for a particular purpose.

Key donors were among 350 prominent Australians warning the museum’s future was at risk in an open letter published in Wednesday’s Advertiser. A rally will be held outside parliament house on Saturday morning.

Signatories including former museum chairman and Santos chief John Ellice-Flint, former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer and Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith warned the museum was imperilled by a major restructure and job losses, which were putting at risk critical research and tens of thousands of years of First Nations’ cultural knowledge.

Critics also are decrying a “woke” agenda to advance climate change research and exhibits, while also insisting there are moves to get rid of beloved stuffed animals and the Ancient Egypt gallery – little changed since it was established in 1939.

SA Museum taxidermy, or stuffed animals - a beloved exhibition. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

In statements to The Advertiser, SA Museum chief executive officer David Gaimster said “a new vision and draft strategic framework” covering “all aspects of the “museum’s activities” had resulted in a proposed restructure, aiming “to improve how we manage our globally significant collections and support essential scientific and cultural research”.

Consultation with staff and the Public Service Association of SA (PSA) was continuing, he said, “so it would be premature for us to discuss what the final structure may look like, and no decisions have been made”.

Asked for details of proposed changes to exhibitions, particularly stuffed animals, or any other changes being considered to visitor experience, Dr Gaimster said: “There are no current proposals for changes to exhibitions other than day-to-day maintenance activities that are necessary for the protection of the objects on display.”

But he said a forthcoming “Reimagining” public consultation process would seek the SA public’s views about “what they want to see in their museum” to “best support learning for people of all ages and ensure that we are providing a contemporary education experience for our children and young people”.

SA Museum chief executive officer Dr David Gaimster. Picture: Supplied

Asked about criticism the museum was pursuing an overly woke agenda, particularly on climate change, Dr Gaimster said: “The museum is a place for scientific learning and as most of the scientific community agree that climate change is one of the biggest global challenges of our time – we simply would not be doing our job properly if we do not address this in our programming going forward.

“Biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, urbanisation and changes to global weather patterns – all of these things have enormous impact on our natural environment and our role is to inform the broader South Australian public about these issues using our collection and the research it generates to provide up-to-date scientific information.”

Critics argue the museum is facing terrible choices because of chronic underfunding and subsequent staff declines in the past two decades.

The open letter urged the Malinauskas government commit at least $10m in annual funding for the museum’s collections and research work.

The proposed restructure is said to involve axing 27 positions in the research and collections division (natural sciences and humanities) – 37 per cent of the museum’s total staff of about 73.

These positions would be replaced with 22 roles with different job descriptions, many of them significantly different and at lower levels.

Part of the SA Museum’s collections - a whale skull at a Bolivar storage facility.

Other changes are said to include:

ABOLISHING the museum’s molecular biology unit and making its staff redundant, threatening the future of the world-class frozen Australian Biological Tissue Collection, with more than 200,000 samples.

ZOOLOGICAL collections having only three managers to look after almost five million specimens.

VERTEBRATE collections having one manager to look after mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.

NO STAFF allocated to care for more than 4000 First Nations ancestral remains and another 4000 secret or sacred objects.

SA Museum’s Ancient Egypt gallery – little changed since it was established in 1939.

Former museum researcher and educator Leanne Wheaton, whose roles from 1996 until 2023 included looking after the biological tissue collection, said applications had included helping customs officers combat animal trafficking and identifying different species.

“One of the concerns is that the new leadership at the museum has sort of really underplayed and downplayed the research and the importance of the collections,” she said.

“I know personally, after being there for 20 or more years, that research has had massive, massive impacts on a whole range of projects that you couldn’t even begin to imagine some of them.”

PSA general secretary Natasha Brown said: “What museum management is proposing with its so-called ‘Reimagining the Museum’ plan is shortsighted and, ultimately, damaging to the museum.

“While we have serious concerns for the future of our members, whose jobs are being targeted in this ill-considered restructure, this is far more than an industrial dispute. It is about protecting and preserving one of the state’s most beloved institutions.”

Dr Lomax-Smith said: “The state’s funding of the museum has been stagnant for some 15 years. The museum’s leadership has little choice in the face of decades of underinvestment.”