Museum people

This was a fascinating place to work, and the people were fascinating and they all had their own story to tell, from the lowest mop pusher to the highest person in hierarchy. There was always something worth knowing about them[...] It wasn’t as though you pried into their lives but you just met this amazing array of personalities[...] They all loved the place. It just had that special quality, which is very hard to define, but it was always there. Kingsley Gregg, former Senior Artist in the AM's Exhibitions Department. Oral history recorded in 2009.

How do museums survive and how do museums like the Australian Museum survive? And since what, 1827?[...] I think it's because there's a group of very dedicated scientists and collection managers[...] I think a lot of people come to the Museum because they don't necessarily regard it as a job almost. It's something they want to do. They want to communicate either the science or the collections to the public. Dr Pat Hutchings, the AM's first Senior Principal Research Scientist. Oral history recorded in 2021.

I joined the museum, which was a thrill. There were two reasons why I wanted to go there I suppose. One was, they had a fabulous collection, [...] and secondly there were really extremely interesting people[...] you’d be there one day and at lunch or morning tea would be famous people, which you’d read about, or you had read their papers, or heard of. I mean it was just amazing, particularly for a young person to be in the presence of these amazing people you had only heard about. Dr Desmond Griffin, former Director of the AM from 1976-1998. Oral history recorded in 2009.