The second set of forums and workshops in Penang of the AusHeritage series of four has gone exceedingly well, following on from the first forum in early March by Mary Knaggs and Peter Romey.

AusHeritage, Australia’s international cultural heritage network and Kerala’s Institute for Management in Government will collaborate on a one day training forum for Museums in Kerala. The focus of the workshop will be on equipping Museum staff to manage major risks to cultural collections. Topics covered will include minimising damage to Kerala’s cultural collections from insects, disasters and during transport. The forum will be held at Kerala’s Institute for Management and Government, Trivandrum on Saturday March 19, 2011.

Vinod Daniel, Michael Crayford, Anthony Hemingway and Catherine Millikan at the Tagore Museum for the Australia India Council Supported project on “Functional Brief for a new Museum for Tagore in Santiniketan.

AusHeritage is offering help in the conservation of the Kumarasami Kamaraj memorial. K. Kamaraj, 1903 – 1975, was an Indian politician and former Chief Minister from Tamil Nadu. The memorial is in the house where K. Kamaraj lived and was inspected by David Holly, Australian Consul-General, Ausheritage Chairman Vinod Daniel and architectural historian Anthony Hemingway.

AusHeritage, Australia’s international cultural heritage network and Visva-Bharati University will have a joint forum in Santiniketan on March 15-16, 2011 to develop a functional brief for identifying critical aspects of a proposed museum for Rabindranath Tagore. The new museum will store and display current collections from Rabindra Bhavan (located within the Visva Bharati University), including manuscripts, paintings, furniture, textiles and musical instruments.

AusHeritage, Australia’s international cultural heritage network and Madras Christian College (MCC) signed a memorandum of understanding today in the premises of MCC in Chennai, India. The memorandum will assist in furthering cooperation on cultural heritage preservation educational initiatives between the two organizations over the next five years. Specific activities planned for 2011 include residential museum internship, program for cultural conservation students and targeted lectures on heritage preservation.

It may be time for a planned five-year approach to renew the thousands of museums across India. Over the last decade, I have had the opportunity to visit over 50 museums across India. Whether it is Chennai or Chandigarh, Mumbai or Guwahati, I have seen priceless collections ranging from the Chola period bronzes, in Chennai, to miniature paintings, in New Delhi, which would be the envy of the world.

AusHeritage and the Penang Heritage Trust will collaborate on a five month heritage conservation cooperation program to May 2011. This will include a series of lectures cum workshops by Australian experts in various aspects of cultural heritage management and conservation.

AusHeritage Chair Vinod Daniel met with the Secretary of the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade Mr Dennis Richardson and the Australian High Commissioner to India Mr Peter Varghese at New Delhi, India on December 7, 2010.

AusHeritage is saddened by the passing away of our previous board member and cultural heritage champion Dr David Dolan.