Marita Dyson
Collection Manager, History & Technology
About me
- Contact me
- Contact me through our enquiries team
I am a collection manager with the History & Technology department based at Melbourne Museum, caring for social history collections. In this role I register new acquisitions, contribute to procedure and policy development, and manage collection documentation, storage and access for exhibitions, research, public programs and projects.
I have more than 20 years’ experience in the care of collections, through working on collection relocation, storage upgrade, acquisition and exhibition projects at National Gallery of Victoria and Museums Victoria.
I am also a multidisciplinary artist working in song writing, performance and visual art. I have experience in writing and producing commissioned creative works for film, television, radio, digital experiences, exhibitions and festivals. Many of my creative works are based on historical research, and reflect on my personal experiences of working in archives and museums.
Qualifications
BA (Japanese & Art History) University of Melbourne
Key publications
Perkins, H. Dyson, M. Manallack, J., ‘Collection Managers Without a Collection’ Australasian Registrars Committee Journal, vol 80, 2021
Marita Dyson, ‘Walking West: Newer Volcanics Song Project’, Part VII Creative Engagements with Place, Chapter 63, in Tim Edensor, Ares Kalandides, Uma Kothari (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Place, 1st Edition, Routledge, London, 1 Jul 2020
Links
Projects and events
Fellowships
2016 Creative Fellow, State Library of Victoria, researching Melbourne waterways to write and record a suite of songs responding to industrial history and environmental change along local creeks and rivers, and the lives of people who lived and worked along their banks through the 19th and 20th centuries.
Awards
2014 CPSU Gayle Smith Award for Excellence in Health & Safety Representation
Committees
Museums Victoria History and Technology Acquisition Committee 2012 – present
Museums Victoria Health & Safety Committee 2012 – 2015
Public talks
Carland R., Dyson, M., Kinsey, F., Reason M., ‘Adapting the Curve: Panicking, pivoting and adapting. The economic impact of lockdown in Victoria’, Museums Victoria Lecture Series, 18 November 2020
Dyson, M. ‘Walking West: Waterways, Collections & Creative Research’, 2019 APAC Axiel User group Conference, State Library NSW, 24 July 2019
Professional memberships
- Australasian Registrars Committee
- Australian Historical Association
- Australasian Performing Right Association
- Music Victoria
Content production for exhibitions & programs
‘Heide Heart Map’, Drawing, LOVE Exhibition, Immigration Museum, Museums Victoria, Nov 2018 – Apr 2019
Awards for LOVE exhibition:
- 2019 AMaGa Victoria Award for Medium Museums
- 2019 MAGNA Award, Temporary or Travelling Exhibitions Level 3
‘Pepper’s Ghost Installation’, Performance and use of original musical composition and recording Periods of Light & Rock, for Think Ahead Exhibition, Scienceworks, Museums Victoria (currently on display)
‘Behind the Scenes Tour – Spotswood Pumping Station’, Original musical composition and recording Spotswood, for Scienceworks Website, Museums Victoria
Radio production
Presenter and Researcher, ‘The Fact Detectives: Toilets’, Kinderling Kids Radio produced with Museums Victoria, 2019
Co-Producer and Presenter, ‘Traces,’ Discussions of History, Place and Memory, Summer Radio Program, Triple R Community Radio, January 2019
Co-Producer and Presenter, ‘Streets of Your Town’, Discussions of History, Place and Memory, Sunday Summer Radio Program, Triple R Community Radio, February 2017