The newsletter of March 2010, the next will be in June:

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It’s nearly time for the next newsletter!

Cheers

Helen

This is a wonderful newsletter from Helen Jaraslafsky with the a general and a personal description of the 2nd Congress in Bonn!!!

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From the Manager

It has been a very busy winter in The Centre, a nd we have been right in
the thick of it …

Fundraising

The Lottery was a sell out, thanks to Julie Heller’s efforts at the Sunday
markets, leaving books of tickets at local shops, and taking every
opportunity to sell tickets. The last sales were made at the Alice Springs
Show, 4 and 5 July, with the official draw by Molly Clark on the following
Monday at the Old Gaol.

Thanks to those members who bought tickets; unfortunately, none of
them won the $2,000 prize but for the winner, Georgina Davison,
it couldn’t have come at a better time, having just arrived in Alice
Springs to start a new job and still looking for accommodation for
her family.

Exhibitions

The display of a typical cell in the women’s cell block has been
completed for some time now.

Thanks to member Kit Bright for the sandshoes for the model. Kit also
sent some nursing equipment.

With the arrival of the mannequins – and a glass case – from the
Australian Federal Police Museum in Canberra expected in the very
near future, our volunteer designer, Krysia Potaczek, is now looking
for information about the men’s section, as there are several male
mannequins among them.

We now have the list of the women on the Australian Pioneer
Aviatrix Tapestry and are slowly putting names to faces. We plan
to have a display of information and photos of these women in the future.

There has been quite a flow of visitors to see the tapestry, starting
from the day it was hung. Among the visitors was Rose Campbell,
who worked on the tapestry during a visit to Malanda.

The Greenbush Art Gallery is open and operating in cell 20 of
B section of the men’s block. Paintings by current inmates are for
sale for most reasonable prices; with NPWHF to receive a commission
on sales.

The Wearable Arts display of acquired items was launched on 31 July.
We have had quite a few visitors especially to see the exhibition, which
was part of the Alice Springs Desert Festival. See more photos of the
exhibition scrolling down.

‘Flame of the North’, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred
Heart exhibition celebrating their centenary of service in the Northern
Territory, was extended in Darwin but is due to arrive at NPWHF for
display toward the end of October.

Visitors

We have had a wide variety of visitors.

The ‘Art at the Heart’ Regional Arts Australia national conference,
was held in Alice Springs 3-5 October. Part of the conference
was ‘Imagine Alice’, a program of installations, exhibitions and events
around the town. Several bus loads of those attending came to see
‘gunta karnelare’ (earth echo) which was created by artist Vicki West
from Launceston, Tasmania in front of our gates.

Vicki’s installation incorporated natural fibre, kelp and earth dyes from
Tasmania as well as materials sourced from Alice. It certainly raised
interest and was much photographed.

The new Administrator of the Northern Territory, Hon Tom Pauling
and Mrs Tessa Pauling spent over an hour in early September viewing
and discussing our exhibitions during their first official visit to Alice Springs.

Mr Pauliing was formerly the Chairman of Museums and Art Galleries
of the Northern Territory, and it was with him that our initial lease on the
Old Courthouse was signed back in 1993.

The NT Shadow Minister for Arts and Museums, Ross Bohlin MLA
came on a familiarisation of facilities within his portfolio last week.
During the tour of the exhibitions and gaol he informed me that his
father was a correctional services officer in Port Augusta when he
was growing up and that they lived within the Port Augusta Gao

Another signatory on our Signature Quilt, Anne Levy - First woman
President of SA government’s Legislative Council and first woman
to preside in any House in all the Parliaments in Australia (1986)
visited recently, and then became a Life Member.

Former prison guard, Ian Castillon, was an interesting visitor as
he told us stories from his time at the Old Gaol – one of which he
has supplied for our archives

Donations

Following a guided tour of our site (the day before she and her
family left town) by former Marketing Officer and Committee
Member, Rose McKean, the General Manager of Landmark offered
a donation of $5,000 on behalf of the company.

When Rose followed this up, he increased the promised donation
to $10,000!

This could not have come at a better time, as the Committee was
looking for funding to undertake the long overdue upgrade of our website.

Based on this promise we have contracted website designer, Neil
Aitken from Redback Productions, who designed our present website,
which was state of the art when it was launched in 2001.

Facilities

The Dept of Infrastructure and Planning estimate of the cost of sealing
the car park is $164,000. We’re now on the lookout for funding.

After several years of lobbying the Alice Springs Town Council for street
signs and the paving of the footpath between the RFDS and the Old Gaol,
we have it in writing that the work has been given a “priority rating” and
should be completed by Christmas this year.

Marketing

Did you see ‘Discover Down Under – 7 days in Alice’ on Channel 9?
NPWHF was part of the project, with Manager Helen filmed showing
Tanya Kernighan around our exhibitions. The program was an initiative of
local tourism operators to show Alice Springs in a positive light after the
several negative reports earlier in the year.

Central Australia Aboriginal Media Association filmed the exhibitions
and interviewed President Lynne and Manager Helen for a program
concentrating on aboriginal women for a National Indigenous Television program.

National Indigenous TeleVision has also filmed action for an episode
of a series for teenagers on pay television.

Vice President June and Manager Helen attended the Tourism Central
Australia Award night in late September. We didn’t win our category,
Primary Tourism Operator, which had a large field of competitors, but
June won second prize in the raffle and was thrilled.

Manager Helen was invited to be part of the ABC Radio 783 broadcast
from Todd Mall one afternoon during the Alice Springs Desert Festival.
She was interviewed by announcer Annie Gastin and spoke about
pioneer woman Topsy Smith.

Grants

We have again been successful in obtaining Regional
Museums Grants to cover the Manager’s Salary and the
Education Officer position on behalf of all museums in Central Australia.

An application has been lodged for a Major Community Benefit
Grant (from levies on the operation of electronic gaming machines
operated by licensed hotels throughout the Northern Territory) to
finance research and creation of an exhibition to be located in and
interpreting the women’s section of the gaol.

$3,500 has also been received through a NT History Grant
for this project.

Volunteers

Our trustee inmate Ralph was replaced in August by Dean and
then by Martin, who should be with us until February.

Our first public event was held on Wedneday 8 October. The
Zonta Club of Alice Springs sponsored the visit of the Australian
Girls Choir as part of their ‘Rockin’ Out West’ national tour. Central
Australia was the last stop of the tour, having already been to Victor
Harbor, Murray Bridge, Perth, Margaret River and Bridgetown.

The 54 girls, between the ages of 10 and 17 years, were billeted
during their stay, with one night at Ayers Rock. Workshops at the
School of the Air and St Philips College preceded their concert
on our lawn, followed by a barbecue (cooked by members of the
Rotary Club of Stuart) for the choristers and their hosts, and the
general public.

It was great to see our outside lawn area being used for the
purpose for which it was designed, and a most pleasant evening.

The event also showed the need for more outside lighting, even
with the flood light.

Thanks to Noel Thomas for his help installing the picture hanging
rails for the ‘Chooks’ and in the women’s cell block exhibition area.

In addition to all of this, we won first prize for our roses at the
Flower Show! Our rose bushes are again flowering profusely, despite
the Manager’s gardening efforts!

And we were almost unscathed by the September storm which cut
electricity and blew down, and uprooted trees and demolished
buildings throughout the town.

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