Recently collected (and donated)

THE DAY AFTER A MARCH ABOUT WOMEN’S RIGHTS I FOUND MANY PLACARDS AND POSTERS DISPLAYED AROUND THE BASE OF A TREE IN THE TREASURY GARDENS, MELBOURNE. This was a march following on from statements from Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, and a former staffer Brittany Higgins. The march was held during Covid times and the organisers were only allowed to have limited numbers attend – masks and social distancing rules applied. QR codes were not yet around in great numbers.

COLLECTING NOW, has always been one of my principles as who knows what will survive. Everything contemporary becomes old and even very old. So I continue to like and collect current ephemera.

Only able to carry so many home on the tram, I tried to select a range of opinions (or strength of opinion), range of production methods, range of sizes. Maybe I should have photographed them all, at the bottom of that tree, but I didn’t think of that. I was concentrating on how many I could carry and if I knew anyone who might live within 5ks and so be able to take more to safety.

(I note that Christian Porter has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.) Once home I saw that this was not part of a new collection for home – too big, too bulky and possibly too important. I made an inquiry of my old stomping ground, the State Library of Victoria, and they seemed almost excited to add these to the collection. Covid delayed the day of separation until almost nine months after the march. 30 November 2021. But they have now been handed over, and I can walk across the floor in my workroom.