22 September 2009
Museum of Tropical Queensland wins international award
An international award has been bestowed upon the Museum of Tropical Queensland for the Langley Diving Collection: Heritage of Helmets, an exhibition developed and designed by the museum team, highlighting the history of hard-hat diving.
The Museum of Tropical Queensland and the Langley family of Hobart, who donated the collection of diving helmets and other heritage diving gear to Queensland Museum, are joint recipients of the Nick Icorn Diving Heritage Award 2009.
The award was established by the Historical Diving Society USA to recognise individuals, companies, groups and museums for promoting the importance of diving history to the public.
Exhibition curator at the Museum of Tropical Queensland Ed Slaughter said the award reinforced the significance of the collection in terms of raising the public profile of diving heritage.
"This exhibition provided a fantastic opportunity for our visitors, many of whom are recreational divers themselves, to gain a better insight into the fascinating history of diving," Mr Slaughter said.
"Previous recipients of the Nick Icorn Diving Heritage Award have been based in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France but this is the first time the award has been presented to Australian recipients.
"The exhibition was so popular with our visitors during its initial four months on display until February this year, the Museum recently re-installed the exhibition," said Mr Slaughter.
Museum of Tropical Queensland Director Peter McLeod said the award highlights the important role museums play in describing aspects of our heritage, in this case, our diving heritage.
"While the collection includes helmets from around the world that were used for pearling, salvage, wartime operations and marine science, of special significance to Queensland is a unique shallow water helmet that was used by marine naturalist Mel Ward in the 1930s to study the marine life of the Great Barrier Reef," Mr McLeod said.
Entry to the Museum of Tropical Queensland is free for residents of local councils through the Council Community Pass, generously supported by Townsville, Burdekin, Charters Towers and Hinchinbrook councils.
The Museum of Tropical Queensland is part of the Queensland Museum and is open from 9.30am to 5pm daily.
