Curators and House Museum Interiors with Suzanne Bravery

House museum interiors connect the present with our shared domestic past. In the Australian context, fashioning the appearance of these once private interiors into a more publicly accessible space is often the work of the professional Curator.

This presentation looks at the challenging role of the Curator in creating and then keeping up the appearance of several historic interiors of significance. Discussion focusses on three properties of the Museums of History NSW, which the speaker has curated: Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta; Vaucluse House, Vaucluse; and Meroogal, Nowra; and explores the bespoke approaches to the interpretation of each of the fascinating interiors and to the lives of the houses and of their occupants.

Suzanne Bravery curated and has managed house museums at the Historic Houses Trust of NSW (now Museums of History NSW), including Elizabeth Bay House, Vaucluse House, Elizabeth Farm, Rouse Hill estate and Meroogal.