Over one hundred years of perseverance, kindness and hospitality in the Kimberley has culminated in a prestigious WA Heritage Award recently for the Sisters of St John of God.
The order’s Heritage Centre in Broome stole the award for their outstanding contribution to heritage by a community-based organisation.
In coming to their decision, award judges said the centre was “A shining example of a community-based organisation, taking the lead in delivering a specialised and unforgettable heritage experience.”
Within the centre is the Relationships Exhibition, a permanent display opened in 2007 to celebrate the Centenary of the Sisters’ work in the Kimberley.
Through the use of DVDs, touch screens, enlarged photos, storyboards of social historical information and a limited number of heritage items, visitors are taken through the 100 year story of the Sisters’ various ministries and relationships with local peoples.
In addition, the exhibition contains two large screens enabling visitors and locals to search through close to 40,000 photos.
The exhibition is run by volunteers with a large percentage who are part of the SSJG ‘family’ whose own images and stories line the walls of the Old Convent.
Another thing to note is entry is by donation, ensuring that no person is unable to visit due to financial circumstances.
Exhibition researcher and curator Sr Pat Rhatigan said her work provided many milestones and moving events.
“I think of the times when we have been able to connect a family with another family member for whom they have never seen a photographic image before: these have been moving and most worthwhile occasions,” she said.
“This often happens with those linked into the Stolen Generations, or children linked into the Bungarun (Derby Leprosarium) story as well as children who became disconnected through being relocated for schooling.
“In a flip of the coin, we have also had younger generations of the Sisters who have come to find out about their aunt or great aunt as it may be.
“Former lay missionaries of the 50s, 60s and 70s or their children also come seeking to see where their family member was involved, what they looked like at that time, where they worked.”
The Sisters’ work at the Heritage Centre was set in motion around the time of the order’s centenary in the Kimberley.
Old photos were produced and local people were invited to a gathering at the Old Convent which, much to their astonishment, caused an outpouring of memories, stories and much excitement.
As a result, and after the 1996 government hearings into the ‘Stolen Generation’, the Sisters made a commitment to provide access to archival documents and photographs that might assist in the healing process. As such, the Relationships Exhibition was born, thus placing the Sisters five years later as front runners in this award category.
Sr Pat believed the Sisters had created a wonderful gift for the community through a treasure trove of images that lived with names and stories, of events, subjects and places.
“Through our conservation, people are able to come visit, dip into the treasure, take with them memories and knowledge, knowing they can return,” she said.
“We would be so much less a society without the heritage that we have conserved and continue to conserve.
“It has to live and grow and it does this through interaction. Without interaction, the story (in the broad sense) would die.”
Further plans for the centre include a program of temporary exhibitions, development of the Garden of Healing and upgrades of the public database.
For more information, check out heritage.ssjg.org.au/ or phone (08) 9192 3950.