Palimpest

On Thursday I met Belinda Noda who is using the Museum for her own studies. She has an incredibly insightful approach and it was a pleasure to talk with her.

We discussed the ways in which threads and layers can relate to the powerful landscape in the area, as well as local history and the word idea of 'folk'. Threads of information and tales which are transferred and reinterpreted to retain meaning and relevance.

She told me to look up the word Palimpest - it has a fantastic relationship to ideas of excavation.
A Palimpest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book that has been scraped off and used again.

This also made me rethink what it is that I find so compelling about the way in which the Museum and people who work here look after the collection with such care and precision. In many cases I find the care with with the object has be logged, rewritten, preserved just as interesting than the thing itself.

A carefully transcribed version of the Diary of Bert Frank by one of the Museum Volunteers.

One of Raymond Hayes' maps, the detail and accuracy is absolutely beautiful and speaks volumes of his passion for the land and his work. They are now looked after by Madge Allison who worked with Hayes - the care with which she looks after them echos this sense of passion and attention to detail.