The Interpretation Centre is Closed Part I: Future Ruins

...the advance of a true civilization is retarded by the fact of the non-existence in these Australian colonies of any monuments or visible records of the Past. In European countries, the face of the land is overspread with the suggestive vestiges of Ruin.

The Courier, 1857.

The Course of Empire: Desolation. (Cole, 1836)

In the nineteenth century 'ruin' described the moral failure of people, particularly women, or the financial collapse of companies, more often than it denoted a fallen building. Architectural ruins could be a warning, a sobering reminder of past follies. Historians documented the cyclical rise and fall of civilisations, and followers of Edward Gibbon attributed the decline and fall of the Roman Empire to the decadence of its citizens, enervated (and corrupted) by their wealth and luxury self-indulgent lifestyle.

Louisa Meredith was more concerned with aesthetics and associations with her former home in England when she gushed over a "moss-grown wooden water-mill...innocent of perpendicularity in any line about it...looking really ancient and venerable in a young land".

All buildings in these new countries are so completely the things of yesterday, and generally look so glaringly and obtrusively new and discordant amidst the surrounding scenery, that it is especially pleasant to see anything of human work which has really mellowed into something like an harmonious character, and so this crazy old weather-board mill won its way to our admiration.

At the time Meredith saw it, the Carrick mill was some 20 years old. It was replaced by a "tall, sharp, greviously-neat, new mill", which is still standing over 160 years later (Meredith, 1852).

Present-day ruin of our once and future chicken shed

When in idle fancy I dream about the future ruins of Tasmania, up there with the Marine Board building and the Hotel Grand Chancellor are the visitor and interpretation centres. If the aviation fuel runs out, if I have to retreat to the economic refuge of Victoria, there’ll be a touch of pleasure mixed with my concern as I view the satellite images of mossy guttering, gaping floorboards, drifts of disintegrating gourmet menus and mushrooms sprouting in swollen bundles of tourist brochures.

Forest Of Fungi (116/365)  (Leonrw, 2009, displayed under a Creative Commons license)

I don't like visitor or interpretation centres. I don't like the presumption that anyone who crosses the carpark into a national park is a foreigner in need of expert translation of the ecological or historical significance of the place. I object to being labelled a visitor in my own neighbourhood. (I’m not laying claim to all of Tasmania as my backyard - I draw a line north of Oatlands, and another somewhere south of Recherche Bay.) It's a weasel word that accustoms Tasmanians to facilities that benefit tourists at the expense of residents. The high capital investment required for the mounting of permanent exhibitions in interpretive galleries, however expertly and thoughtfully prepared, limits the space and funds available for temporary displays which can provide a fresh perspective on old favourite artefacts, buildings and landscapes. I do enjoy a well-ventilated toilet block, but I'd rather a homemade sandwich on a mountain-top than an artisanal ciabatta in a cafe, and the gift shop can go virtualise itself.

There are alternatives. 'Different Readings', an exhibition at the (then) Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, placed newly commissioned furniture within the period alcoves. MONA's optional 'O' commentary can be ignored at will, and revels in subjective 'Gonzo' as well as expert 'Art Wank' . Hobart's Domain and Sullivan's Cove podwalks, produced by TMAG and Heritage Tasmania, provide information on demand, bucking the trend for intrusive and verbose interpretation panels. Heritage professionals could take a leaf from the book of National and State Libraries Australia: the 'Enabling People strategy of the 'Re-imagining Libraries 2012-16' strategic plan promises that

We will provide opportunities for people to co-curate their online and documentary heritage and to contribute their knowledge and expertise...People are experts and creators, contributors and interpreters; they are the authorities on their business, their culture, their profession, their stories and their environment.

When I envisage a heritage site where user-generated content is rapidly uploaded to a socially inclusive geo-tag-enabled fluidly evolving mobile app, I could be channelling that self-acknowledged tourist Louisa Meredith:

The hills seem to heave with a deeply murmured eloquence, and we understand their tales of times gone by; the rivers roll along their volumed and rapid waters, and we hear in the mighty music, the voices of " men of olden days," who dwelt, fought, or died within its sound. We leave the scene of our day-dream, and journey far away; but memory has traced and treasured it; it is safely registered in undying freshness on her fair tablets, and ...[we] can at will gaze on the remembrance-picture.

 (Meredith, 1839)

References

Cole, T. (1836). The Course of Empire: Desolation. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society, Gift of The New-York Gallery of the Fine Arts, 1858.5. [image online] Available at: http://www.nyhistory.org/press/image-downloads/hudson-river-school-0 [Accessed: 4 Dec 2012].

THE COURIER. (1857, March 25). The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), p. 2. Retrieved 26 Nov, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2458544

Leonrw (2009). Forest of Fungi (116/365). [image online] Available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonrw/3454980483/ [Accessed: 4 Dec 2012].

Meredith, C. (1852). My home in Tasmania, during a residence of nine years. [e-book] London: J. Murray. pp. 115-6. Available through: http://www.hathitrust.org/ http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b302964 [Accessed: 26 Nov 2012].

Meredith, C. (1839). The annual of British landscape scenery: An autumn ramble on the Wye.[e-book] London : W.S. Orr and Co. pp. 10-11. Available through: http://www.hathitrust.org/ http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89096955836 [Accessed: 26 Nov 2012]. 

Nsla.org.au (2012). Enabling People | National and State Libraries Australasia. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.nsla.org.au/enabling-people [Accessed: 4 Dec 2012].