UQ students discover ancient Rome

Students at The University of Queensland are exploring ancient Rome without having to leave the St Lucia campus.

UQ’s R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum has welcomed four new undergraduate student interns, who will undertake training in museum conservation, administration, ethics, curation and collecting.

Intern supervisor and final-year Master of Philosophy student Suzanne Kortlucke said the students were “the cream of the crop” and a pleasure to work with.

“It’s quite a stringent and competitive application process,” she said.

“These students perform well academically, they’re involved, they volunteer. They’re very invested in their studies and are passionate about what they do.”

The Antiquities Museum internship is the brainchild of Dr Sonia Puttock, the museum’s curator and director, who has developed the program over the past eight years.

Interns prepare several small displays and a major final exhibition for public view at the end of semester, based on a topic of their choice.

“The program has been very successful and ex-interns and volunteers have worked in a variety of institutions around the world, including Caerleon Roman Museum in Wales, the Tower of London and the Tate Gallery in London, the Roman Baths, the Getty Museum at Malibu in the USA, the Australian National Museum in Canberra and Queensland Museum here in Brisbane,” Dr Puttock said.

"Both the museum and the internship program were part of a study by the recipient of a 2007/8 University of Birmingham Universitas 21 Staff Fellowship, Dr Gillian Shepherd, and, as a result, one of the ex-interns went to Birmingham to work on some Egyptian artefacts at the university."

Third-year Ancient History and Archaeology student Ryan Taddeucci – the first male to be chosen for the internship in several years – said he thought the experience would increase his career prospects and was particularly looking forward to curating the final exhibition.

“We’re trying to focus on the broader sociological aspects of the artefacts and what they tell us about the people who used them in their daily lives,” he said.

“We’re interested in how they’ve evolved over time and what they represent.”

Ms Kortlucke said museums were still popular among the general public, with ancient artefacts continuing to entice visitors.

“Every grade three child that comes through this museum knows more than I do about Egypt. They’re just sponges for information,” she said.

“They really enjoy it. I think that all the artefacts in the museum still hold a lot of interest for people.”

The Antiquities Museum internship is the only opportunity of its kind in Queensland.

The collection consists of several thousand antiquities, mostly relating to the classical civilisations of Greece, Rome and Egypt, but also housing collections which are relevant to the study of other Near Eastern and European groups.

The R. D. Milns Antiquities Museum also holds a broad collection of Athenian black and red figure ceramic fragments, along with a wide variety of other fragmentary artefacts.

Many of its artefacts have been acquired through generous donations or monetary gifts.

The museum is located in the Michie building and is open to the public 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday, free of charge.

Media: James Donaldson at the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum (07 3365 3010, antiquitiesmuseum@uq.edu.au) or Penny Robinson at UQ Communications (07 3365 9723, penny.robinson@uq.edu.au)