Dive Into History with the Museum of the South East Museum of the South East — or MoSE — is an online collection of significant artefacts from the collections and museums of the Bega Valley, Eurobodalla and Snowy Monaro local government areas. Launched recently at the Corrective Services NSW Museum in Cooma by Snowy Monaro Regional Shire’s Administrator Dean Lynch, the site provides a quality online resource and repository for museums and collections across the region. MoSE is a project of South East Arts, the regional arts development organisation for the south east corner of New South Wales and is proudly supported by the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation in partnership with The Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal. South East Arts’ General Manager, Andrew Gray says MoSE represents a new way for regional museums to share their stories, “For many museums in regional areas it is difficult to find volunteers with the time or skills to maintain a quality online resource. The MoSE website, managed by South East Arts, will assist volunteer-run museums to share their collections online and boost cultural tourism.” “In this, the first phase of the project, museums in Narooma, Batemans Bay, Moruya, Cooma, Delegate, Thredbo, Bega and Merimbula have been included in the MoSE collection. These are a selection of our regional museums are regularly open to the public.” “Our goal now is to add more regional museums, historical sites and significant collections from the Eurobodalla, Bega Valley and Snowy Monaro areas, including Indigenous artefacts,” he said. The original concept of the website was created by Rebecca Jones, museum professional, supporting museums in the South East region as part Museums & Galleries NSW’s Museum Advisor Program. With advice and content from curator Angela George, and support from the museums and their volunteers from around the region, MoSE is now a quality online resource for anyone wanting to discover the history of the South East. Each museum represented has been through a process of identifying the significant artefacts from their collections. MoSE provides an opportunity for these small museums to share their objects of significance with a much wider audience. The website itself was created in-house at South East Arts by communications officer Kate Howarth. It’s intuitive navigation means it is easy for anyone to use and is a great resource for students, teachers, researchers, tourists and anyone interested in the diverse and fascinating history of our region. To view MoSE please go to the website at www.mose.org.au.
Above: A treadle drill from the collection of the Batemans Bay Old Courthouse Museum, this type of dental equipment was used between the 1890s and 1930 and can be viewed on www.mose.org.au.
