The clamour of voices raised in concern over the temporary closure of the Powerhouse Museum for renovations do themselves and Sydney’s cultural heritage a disservice.
The Ultimo site is in desperate need of repair and refurbishment, courtesy of various governments letting decisions on renewal drift on for years as special interest groups, including some patrons, critics and unions, lobbied, complained and carped.
Many protests have taken place about the temporary closure of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo. Credit: Louie Douvis
Two decades ago it was big-end-of-town corporate types who had pushed Neville Wran to build the museum for the 1988 bicentenary, objecting to the direction the museum was heading. Now its unions are worried about the revamp, claiming no costings had been produced. There are also accusations that the Minns government and museum management had betrayed trust, while the Greens and the Save the Powerhouse Campaign think the renovations are unnecessary, expensive and absurdly risky. Some are concerned that star attractions, including Locomotive No.1, which hauled the state’s first passenger train, and the Catalina seaplane that made the world’s first air crossing of the Pacific, will be damaged in transit to and from storage.
The museum closed to the public last Sunday for a $250 million, three-year renovation. The Minns government says the work will make for a far superior world-class museum experience when the Powerhouse reopens in 2027, and it will be two years after the ribbon is cut on the museum’s new $915 million sister campus now going up on the Parramatta riverside.
Ultimo has become a shadow of its former self. The museum’s fall from grace is reflected in attendance: a one-time mecca for families, visits in 2021-22 sank to their lowest level in at least 20 years, at 168,741. This compares with the 381,582 visits logged in 2012-14 when the Baird government first worried about its popularity and discussed shifting the Powerhouse to Parramatta. But the downturn really set in around 2008 when arts funding took a hit amid internecine fighting in the Labor government ranks and more than a third of staff were made redundant. Ever since, confusion and vacillation have been the order of the day.
The Powerhouse Museum, like the Sydney Opera House, Museum of Contemporary Art, the recently expanded Art Gallery of NSW and the Australian Museum, have been slowly strangled by a combination of rising costs and stagnant government funding. But thanks to the dogged work of arts writer Linda Morris, the Herald has provided readers with a good sense of what is really going on behind the scenes.
The years of neglect and procrastination at Ultimo have resulted not only in the attraction losing business, but damage to the building, leaks and mould have been putting its unique collection at risk for years with little remedial action taken to stop the rot.
For its part, NSW Labor in the approach to the state election affirmed qualified support for Ultimo as a world-class museum but admitted concern over the shift in focus from a science and engineering museum to fashion and design then being mooted in the approach to the 2023 vote. The $250 million renovation was about half the amount promised. But it is the only government to spend dollars rescuing the Powerhouse.
It is reasonable for well-intentioned voices to question the steps being taken to preserve the museum’s treasures. But we have known the parlous state of the building for so long that the time has surely come to bite the bullet and support the government’s sensible preservation plan.
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Let’s all get behind the Powerhouse Museum renovation
9
14
09.02.2024
The clamour of voices raised in concern over the temporary closure of the Powerhouse Museum for renovations do themselves and Sydney’s cultural heritage a disservice.
The Ultimo site is in desperate need of repair and refurbishment, courtesy of various governments letting decisions on renewal drift on for years as special interest groups, including some patrons, critics and unions, lobbied, complained and carped.
Many protests have taken place about the temporary closure of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo. Credit: Louie Douvis
Two decades ago it was big-end-of-town corporate types who had pushed Neville Wran to build the museum for the 1988 bicentenary, objecting to the direction the museum was heading. Now its unions are worried about the revamp, claiming no costings had been produced. There are also accusations that the Minns government and museum management had betrayed trust, while the Greens and the Save the........
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