Collection Logistics

Come behind the scenes at Powerhouse Castle Hill and meet some of the people managing the logistics of the Powerhouse Collection.

The Collection Logistics team is responsible for the meticulous planning, handling, packing and transportation of collection objects. Activities include the installation and deinstallation of museum exhibitions and relocating complex objects within and between collection stores. Recent projects include the disassembly, packing and relocation of the 70+ large and complex objects from Powerhouse Ultimo including Catalina Flying Boat Frigate Bird II, Locomotive No. 1 and most recently the Boulton and Watt rotative steam engine. Future projects will include the handling, packing, transportation and installation of complex collection objects into the inaugural exhibitions at Powerhouse Parramatta.

Manager, Collection Logistics, Collections Project

‘The diversity of the collection is the reason I’ve always wanted to work at Powerhouse. I come from an industrial design background: I’ve taught design and technology; I’ve operated a furniture design and manufacturing business; I’ve worked in the contemporary art world overseeing installation teams and as an exhibition manager and collection relocation manager with Museums Victoria. So when I was recruited for the Powerhouse collection relocation project, I knew the role would be super exciting and engaging. Logistically it had components I’m familiar with, like designing and fitting out collection stores.

The difference with the Powerhouse Collection is the physical size of some of the objects and the variety of collection stores. I have a fairly in-depth understanding of the requirements of designing furniture, so I was able to marry that with 20 years’ experience in collection management practices to inform what was needed at Castle Hill for Building J. The principal behind the packing approach was to keep them safe by reducing the need for people to put fingers and hands directly on objects. Each object has a board, box, shelf or frame that supports it and provides shock absorption, so your fingers go on that handling aid instead.'

‘It took quite a bit of research and development to design movable storage systems for Powerhouse Castle Hill, with racks, shelves and drawers on wheels or in sliding units. With textile storage, for example, you can pull out these large 2-by-1-meter drawers with clear covers to see entire garments, which makes them more accessible without needing someone to touch the actual garments. We use this system for a lot of objects in the collection as you can fit more people around a drawer that slides out. One of the most exciting outcomes of the relocation project is that every object now has its own special place, is safely housed and accessible. Now when an object is requested for an exhibition at another site, say, our new site at Parramatta when it opens, it can be moved super quickly and safely. A supplier of some of the racking we have at Castle Hill even had its AGM at a venue nearby so the whole team could look at how storage is being managed in J Store.

Lisa Havilah (Powerhouse Chief Executive) is really connected to what it takes logistically to mobilise the collection, and I’ve really enjoyed being part of the planning for loading docks, back of house spaces and logistics equipment at Powerhouse Castle Hill and Powerhouse Parramatta as the museum’s footprint expands. A beautiful outcome of this relocation project for museum staff has been upskilling: members of my team have gained certifications for operating cranes, lifts and other heavy equipment, and I’ve been able to teach them other skills like woodworking. We’ve got people who are now making furniture for themselves — as a manager, empowering people in different ways is what you want.’

Assistant Registrar, Collections Project

‘As a kid I didn’t learn very well from textbooks, but museums were more fun and interesting. Whenever you step into a museum, you’ve got objects to explore, you’ve got descriptions and stories, and there are people willing to discuss objects with you. It’s a really good way to learn something new and understand the stories behind objects.

I started at Powerhouse nearly ten years ago as a volunteer guide, then I worked in programmes. You can see the light in kids’ eyes when you start talking with them about objects they’re interested in — they’re learning something new and developing this understanding of the world in a different way. Now I work with the collection, documenting objects in our collections management system (EMu) and develop an understanding of their parts if we need to dismantle or move them.

One of my favourite objects I’ve worked with is a small painting on a gum leaf that’s about 14 cm long. It shows a woman standing on a beach, with a headland in the distance, and it’s just so beautiful and interesting. It’s now stored in a box with a clear top inside one of our compactor drawers at I Store in Powerhouse Castle Hill. So, it can be viewed in the box without anyone touching the leaf and it’s nice and safe in our humidity and temperature-controlled storage.’

‘At the other end of the scale, I worked on the project to move large objects from Powerhouse Ultimo and the museum’s storage in Castle Hill into the new J Store at Powerhouse Castle Hill. So, moving on to bigger things, I really love we have a Dairy Farmers wagon — it’s just really pretty. It was originally used by the Tooths Beer company to deliver beer and then it was part of a Dairy Farmers display at the Royal Agricultural Show in Sydney. When we moved the wagon from H Store to J Store for the Powerhouse Castle Hill opening one of our challenges was handling the front axle. It turns very easily and very sharply, which is great for getting around corners but when we wanted it to go straight it was a little bit tricky. So we built a frame with wood, foam and some bolts to pin the axle in place, which allowed us to pull it onto a tilt tray and move it safely and easily from one store to the next.

Another cool and interesting vehicle I’ve worked with is the Beechcraft Queenair air ambulance, which helps tell the story about NSW Ambulance services getting people to hospital out from the country. In my work as a registrar, I was focused on documenting the plane’s move from Ultimo to Castle Hill, writing a disassembly plan, helping disconnect parts for movement and tracking every individual bit of the plane as it was disassembled. We needed to scan the plane and build an angled frame to move the main section out the doors and onto transport safely. I was there with gloves on, working with an aviation consultant, a conservator and the logistics team, taking the tail and wings off — all that fun stuff.

I love being able to work with the huge variety of objects in the collection and developing new knowledge and skills — I now have my forklift and EWP (elevated work platform) licences too. I’m still early in my career and I’ve been learning a lot on this collection relocation project, which is great. If you work at a museum, everyone thinks you’re a curator. So when people ask me what my job is, I say I’m like a librarian, but for museum objects instead of books.’

Assistant Registrar, Collections Project

‘I have a background in visual arts — I think that’s the first step towards appreciating art and objects in the museum. I then studied for a Masters in Conservation and I was very privileged to join the collection logistics team at Powerhouse. Our work is about taking care of object safety throughout the relocation project and transport. We practise long term preservation of objects in the collection so they’re safe and secure. Some of this work includes building custom frames, pallets and cradles for object handling and movement — we use a lot of equipment and wear hi-vis and steel toe boots all the time. I really like that we’re surrounded by so many significant objects in the museum’s stores.

The Beechcraft Queenair is an object I really like because it has been used as an aerial ambulance to save a lot of lives. It transported more than 32,000 patients and went through a lot of mechanical changes and engine replacements. When we started work on the plane it was hanging from the roof of the boiler house at Ultimo. We knew it wasn’t logistically possible to fit it out the door without removing its wings. I documented all the measurements, which had to be accurate to millimetres. And the team worked with engineers to design and built a custom timber frame that held it to a 52° angle while it was skated through the door and onto a truck.’

‘Object 7949 — the much loved and very iconic Locomotive No. 1 — was another big project I was involved in. My work was mainly recording measurements of wheels and dimensions of the tender and carriages then drawing them up in software for the movement plans. When we were writing up the movement plans we knew we had to detach some of the locomotive’s protruding parts so it could safely fit through the doors when leaving Ultimo and arriving at Castle Hill. The night we moved it on oversize trucks was dark and wintry, it was very cold. It needed to be at that time when there wasn’t much traffic. Once we got it to Powerhouse Castle Hill the significance of it in the store was amazing.

The large object store at Powerhouse Castle Hill is incredible — the large glass windows give audiences views across an extensive collection of objects from steam engines and Sydney monorail cars to planes and helicopters. For the logistics team, the new design of the large object store is flawless: it gives us a lot of space to accommodate and move around objects, and there’s a massive cantilever door that opens upwards making it easier to move very large objects. It’s a beautiful design too. All the work we do in this team has that background of object preservation. I’m really proud we can share more of the collection — and more information as we discover it — with the public.’

The facilities at Powerhouse Castle Hill are purpose-built to present new exhibitions and programs and support the work of the museum’s curatorial, research and conservation teams alongside the Powerhouse Collection.

The entire collection of more than half a million objects is housed in one location. Originally a botanical research station, the site has evolved since the late 1970s to house specialised museum collection facilities, including the Museum Discovery Centre.

Building J, the newest and largest (8135sqm) of seven collection facilities, opened in 2024. It includes a huge presentation space, climate-controlled collection store and conservation lab, research workspaces and photography studios, all designed to help protect and share the objects’ stories across the generations.