Discovering ancient Rome

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Tags: Arts, history, summer-2010

Intern Meg White working in the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum

UQ students were able to explore ancient Rome recently without having to leave the St Lucia campus.

In Semester two, the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum welcomed four undergraduate student interns who undertook training in museum conservation, administration, ethics, curation and collecting.

Intern supervisor and final-year Master of Philosophy student Suzanne Kortlucke said the students were “the cream of the crop” and a pleasure to work with.

The Antiquities Museum internship is the brainchild of Dr Sonia Puttock, the museum’s curator and director, who has developed the program over the past eight years.

“The program has been very successful and ex-interns and volunteers have worked in a variety of institutions around the world, including Caerleon Roman Museum in Wales, the Tower of London, the Tate Gallery in London and the Roman Baths,” Dr Puttock said.

Third-year ancient history and archaeology student Ryan Taddeucci said he thought the experience would increase his career prospects and had particularly enjoyed curating the final exhibition.

“We tried to focus on the broader sociological aspects of the artefacts and what they tell us about the people who used them in their daily lives,” he said.

Ms Kortlucke said museums were still popular among the general public, with ancient artefacts continuing to entice visitors.

“Every grade three child who comes through this museum knows more than I do about Egypt. They’re just sponges for information,” she said.

“I think that all the artefacts in the museum still hold a lot of interest for people.”

The Antiquities Museum internship is the only opportunity of its kind in Queensland.

The collection consists of several thousand objects, mostly relating to the classical civilisations of Greece, Rome and Egypt, but also housing collections relevant to the study of other Near Eastern and European groups.

It also holds a broad collection of Athenian black and red figure ceramic fragments, along with a wide variety of other fragmentary artefacts.

Many of its artefacts have been acquired through generous donations or monetary gifts.

By Penny Robinson

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