Great Collections

The name says it all. Great Collections is an exhibition of national significance that pulls together some of the most important state artefacts and objects. "No one had ever conceived of an exhibition of this type or on this scale before - and certainly not one which incorporates material from all our wonderful state institutions," says Maisy Stapleton, the CEO of Museums and Galleries NSW, the organisation and muscle behind the exhibition.

But it wasn't simply a case of pulling old stuff out of boxes to assemble. The touring exhibition, with a display of 115 priceless pieces, took three years and a lot of phone calls, emails, paperwork, visits and argy-bargy to pull together. "We had a vision to bring something truly extraordinary, and something of outstanding quality, and I think the achievement of Great Collections is the way it successfully combines rare artefacts and objects, scientific specimens, photographs, documents and other curiosities - as well as a wide selection of works of art sourced from Australia and abroad - and innovatively reveals surprising connections across the state's collections," says Stapleton.

Those connections are thanks to curator John McPhee, who in a previous life was senior curator of Australian art at the National Gallery of Australia, and former deputy director of the National Gallery of Victoria. "Maybe the show is the result of me being careful about what I requested, knowing that there would be some things that would be silly to ask for. But mostly I think it was because they [the institutions] were excited by the show and because they saw the significance and wanted to make it the great."

With the help of the Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Museum, the Historic Houses Trust of NSW, State Library of NSW and State Records NSW, McPhee has created an amazing display. Highlights include an early atlas that hints at the possibility of a great south land long before it was discovered, and two of Australia's most precious objects: a boomerang and a club believed to have been from the collections of Captain Cook and Joseph Banks. "It is really very exciting to be able to show these objects from that extraordinary moment when the Aboriginal people met the Europeans for the first time - what I like to call the invasion. Plus we also have botanical specimens collected by Banks during that first voyage to Australia, the second last quoll found in Sydney – basically roadkill from Vaucluse in 1932 – and, on loan from the Powerhouse Museum, Edward Hargrave's gold washing cradle from 1851."

But it's not just pieces of historical significance. The exhibition reveals as much about our collecting institutions themselves. "Beyond the important pieces of the show, Great Collections also looks at the purpose of our state cultural collectors, what they collect and why they collect, and is a celebration of the extraordinary richness and diversity of the cultural institutions of NSW," says McPhee.

Great Collections is at the Campbelltown Arts Centre until 18 Jan 09.

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