Join us for History Bites: Remembrance Commemorations in Australia and Canada—a Chat with Julie Baird, Director of Newcastle Museums

At noon on Wednesday, November 17, Val Harrison, Guelph Museums Visitor Experiences Supervisor, will chat with Julie Baird, the Director of Newcastle Museums in Australia, about symbols of remembrance and special dates of commemoration in Australia and Canada. They’ll discuss the connections between Anzac Day, Remembrance Day, Lt. Col. John McCrae, In Flanders Fields, and so much more.

About Julie Baird:

Julie Baird has over 30 years professional experience in the museum sector. She began working in Canadian museums in the 1990’s focusing on textile collections of medium to large regional museums. Ms Baird returned to Australia and joined the National Motor Museum in South Australia in 1998. Since 2002 she has been at Newcastle Museum and was part of the small team who moved and redeveloped the museum which re-opened in its new site in 2011. She is now the Director of Newcastle Museum.

The intersection of innovation and accessibility has been a strong theme in Ms Baird’s major contributions to the museum sector. Ms Baird’s experience in researching and interpreting and with working with community has also resulted in a number of successful and national award-winning exhibitions, including the redesign and redevelopment of the Newcastle Museum’s social history galleries and 1X4. Her career focus has been to spread knowledge about history and museums in unusual or popularised forums, working with communities as broad as embroidery guilds and TV audiences to female prisoners and bikie clubs.

Julie sits on the Artform Assessment Board Museums and History for Create NSW, has been a standards assessor for Museums & Galleries NSW and is the current Vice President of the Australian Museums & Art Galleries Association.

Did you miss the live event? Watch the recording of History Bites: Remembrance Commemorations in Australia and Canada below: