Cooktown Museum Recognised with Top Award!

National Trust Cooktown Museum, in partnership with Relative Creative, has been named as the winner of the 2022 Gallery and Museum Achievement Award (GAMAA) for the Waterways and Bama Display Cooktown Museum. The Achievement Award was in the category of Projects for Organisations with Paid Staff for Waterways & Bama Display Room, and was presented at a ceremony in Brisbane last week. Museums and Galleries Queensland is the peak professional body for the public museum and gallery sector in Queensland. “This is a wonderful achievement and recognition for both Cooktown Museum and Relative Creative, and we are so honoured to accept this award. It has been an exciting time, with a reimagination of the museum, with respectful designs and brand strategies, that help interpret the way Aboriginal Cultures are understood.” - Heritage Manager National Trust QLD Phillip Tanner Formerly named James Cook Museum, Cooktown Museum has been reimagined to proudly tell the fascinating stories of the region. The museum houses an extensive collection of local Guugu Yimithiir artefacts, along with an original anchor and canon from HMB Endeavour that were salvaged in the 1970s and a model of the ship that dates to the early twentieth century.  “The long, respectful and humble co-design and interpretative design work of recoding narratives at Cooktown Museum has been an experience of amplifying immensely powerful stories that the Cooktown First Nations community have always known. Now those narratives take their rightful place centre-stage! We commend the National Trust of Australia, Queensland for providing the space, funds and continued trust to make this project possible and are grateful to all of the locals who have contributed their knowledge and lived experience to the project.” - Tristan Schultz, Co-Director, Relative Creative “This award is fabulous recognition for Relative Creative, our dedicated team at Cooktown Museum and the First Nations community in the region.  Cooktown is the place of the first recorded Act of Reconciliation we are very proud to see this remarkable exhibition brought to live at our museum so we can share these important stories with visitors from all over the world.” - Jayme Cuttriss, CEO, National Trust of Australia (Queensland) For more information about Cooktown Museum: nationaltrustqld.org.au/visitor-sites/Cooktown-Museum For more information about the awards: https://magsq.com.au/gallery-and-museum-achievement-awards/