MUSEUM REPORT PRESENTED AT AGM, 24 May 2022

The 8/13 Victorian Mounted Rifles Museum at Simpson Barracks is complete. It is something to be proud of and a tribute to our soldiers past, and an inspiration to soldiers of the future. When are we going to have an Association bus tour to see it?

Some statistics on the project:

· Man-hours worked 1,660 hours

· Trips to Simpson 4 x overnight and 9 x day trips

· Loads 22 trailer loads and 3 truck loads

· Expenditure $4,100

· Value of fit out alone with new materials and labour @ $20/hr is $50,000, many thousands more if we include the value of the objects on display.

When we started the project, we had eleven volunteer regulars. With death, ageing and ill health we now have six. Our average age is 80.

Two museum volunteers Robert Dawe and Maurice Greene at the museum workshop at Latchford Barracks preparing a trailer load for transport to the museum at Simpson Barracks. Twenty-two trailer loads and 3 truck loads were required to move prefabricated cases and cabinets together with display objects to the museum site.

Concurrent with the museum work, a digitisation program was conducted resulting in 1506 objects and photographs being made available on the internet through Victorian Collections. There is a link on the Association website; <813vmr.org>. The Digitisation Team has been short listed 4 years running in the Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA) Victoria, Excellence in Cataloguing (Military Heritage Section), taking out the award in 2020, and being Highly Commended in 2021.

Digitisation team Gordon Cole, Doug Hunter (standing) and Brian Gibson. Gordon was responsible for photograph and document scanning, Doug for research and Brian for data entry to the catalogue.

We have cleared the store area at Building 129 North Bandiana and vacated the building in accordance with our agreement with Assets Management AWMA. Also the workshop area in 2 Troop Hanger at Latchford Barracks has been cleared of all scrap material.

Museum volunteer Graham Garvie put the finishing touch to the clean up at the workshop area in the 2 Troop Hanger at Latchford Barracks where the prefabrication of the cases and cabinets for the museum was carried out.

With a project like this there is always some small adjustments which can be made. For example, we have a three-mannequin display: Honorary Colonels General ‘Tack’ Hammer and Hon Sir David Fairbairn, and Lieutenant Leslie Maygar VC in Boer War era uniform. In retrospect, it is thought it might be better to replace Maygar for Honorary Colonel John Neale. This would give continuity to the display as three Honorary Colonels. The Maygar uniform is not a particularly good one and we have a portrait of Maygar which can be displayed elsewhere.

There is still work to be done at Latchford Barracks. Firstly, the cases in the 2 Troop lecture room need attention mainly to improve interpretive tickets. And secondly the state of the Staghound on display at the entrance to the 4/19 area. The vehicle’s tyres are collapsing so there is an urgent need for action to place it on a concrete slab and vehicle stands. A coat of paint wouldn’t hurt either. This is a task beyond the capability of the current museum team.

UPDATE to 8/13 Museum Report of 22 July 2022

· Twenty-five members of the 8/13 Association visited the Museums on Sunday 7 August. 4/19 volunteers made administrative arrangements and provided tea, coffee and biscuits. Visitors brought a cut lunch.

· The visitors were treated to a guided tour of both museum facilities and spent time browsing.

· Responses were mostly favourable.

· 8/13 museum team took the opportunity to make minor repairs to display items and to install the uniform of Colonel John Neale alongside two other honorary colonels.

Honorary Colonel John Neale’s uniform now displayed alongside that of Honorary Colonel Sir David Fairbairn, completing a display of three Honorary Colonels. This work was carried out during the Association bus tour 7 August 2022.

· The Howard binoculars and spurs were installed in the 8th Light Horse Case following the presentation by Major John Baines on behalf of the Finlayson Trust.

· Regrettably there was insufficient time for the visitors to form work parties to dust, sweep floors, polish Perspex panels and install fresh mothball canisters. This will be prioritised next visit.