The Round Table: Do we need a Women’s Museum? A Public Discussion

Do we need a Women’s Museum in Australia? Why? Why not? What should it do? What would it look like?

Her Place Women’s Museum Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that celebrates the social, civic and entrepreneurial achievements of all Australian women and their role in shaping our nation. The vision for Her Place is to create a public space that honours the achievements of women, through exhibitions, public programs, education resources and an archive.

Contribute to this discussion at The Round Table, convened by Penelope Lee, General Manager and Clare Williamson, Curator of Her Place, with:

• Paola Balla, Wemba-Wemba and Gunditjmara woman, artist, curator, speaker, educator and cultural producer. Paola developed Footscray Community Arts Centre’s first Indigenous Arts and Cultural program, and was a Senior Curator for Melbourne Museum’s First Peoples exhibition. Paola is currently based at Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Centre, Victoria University as a lecturer and PhD candidate focussed on Aboriginal women’s art and practices of resistance, she is the inaugural Lisa Bellear Indigenous Research Scholar. In 2016 she co-curated Sovereignty at ACCA with Director Max Delany and is a co-curator of Unfinished Business: Perspectives on art and feminism.
• Stella Bridie,  former Fitzroy High School student and passionate activist who co-founded the FHS Feminist Collective and has written articles for Rosie Respect, Young Vagabond, and Sheilas.
• Dr Natalie Kon-yu, creative writer and feminist academic. She wrote the piece ‘Welcome to the Museum of Australian Women’s History’ which envisions what a national women’s museum in a major Australian city might look like. Currently Natalie is a director on the Her Place Women’s Museum Australia Board.
• Kate MacNeill, Associate Professor in the School of Culture and Communication and Director of the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She is an art historian whose doctoral research focused on nation and identity construction in contemporary art in Australia. As an activist she has been involved in campaigns for equal pay and other work-related feminist claims.