The Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E.) was a museum dedicated to

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

, located at the site of the

Eureka Rebellion The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which ...

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It opened on 4 May 2013 and replaced the previous Eureka Stockade Centre. MADE's launch in 2013 was hampered by budget overruns and long delays. The museum focused on the Eureka Stockade as the place of origin of Australia's democracy. The museum housed the original

Eureka Flag The Eureka Flag was flown at the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which took place on 3 December 1854 at Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. It was the culmination of the 1851–1854 Eureka Rebellion on the Victorian goldfields, where miners prote ...

, upon which the rebels swore an oath to the flag as a symbol of defiance against the ruling colonial government. The flag was on loan from the

Art Gallery of Ballarat The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest and largest regional art gallery in Australia. Established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by the citizens of Ballarat, both the building and part of its collection is listed on the Victorian H ...

Governance

The Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka was established as an independent not-for-profit organisation with a board of directors and with tax deductible charity status. Its sole member was the City of Ballarat. During its five-year existence, the museum had two Chairs of the board: Professor David Battersby AM and Kaaren Koomen AM. MADE's was supported by three notable patrons:

Lucy Turnbull Lucinda Mary Turnbull Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (née Hughes; born 30 March 1958) is an Australian businesswoman, philanthropist, and former Local government in Australia, local government politician. She served on the Sydney City ...

AO,

Rob Knowles Robert Ian "Rob" Knowles (born 4 July 1947) is a former Australian politician. He was born in Ballarat to farmer Robert Joseph Knowles and Dulce, ''née'' Odgers. After graduating from Ballarat North Technical School, he became a farmer in Cla ...

AO and former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks AC.

Peter FitzSimons Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement sin ...

AM was an Ambassador for the museum. The museum received an annual grant from the City of Ballarat of approximately $1 million. The museum also received triennial funding from Creative Victoria's OIP grant program and the Department of Education and Training, as well as other donors. The museum's annual turnover was approximately $2 million and in each year of operation it posted a financial a surplus.

Closure

At its February 2018 Ordinary Council Meeting, the City of Ballarat Council made the decision to take over management responsibility of the centre. The decision came after lengthy consideration of a feasibility study prepared for Council on the future of the museum. The Museum of Australian Democracy ceased trading on 31 March 2018, only two months before its fifth anniversary. The Council took over the centre, continuing to exhibit the flag, and engaged the Ballarat community to determine the next steps for a community centre based on the site. The Museum of Australian Democracy voluntarily deregistered with ASIC in May 2018, after transferring its assets to the City of Ballarat and de-accessioning its collection, returning borrowed and donated objects to donors.

History of the Eureka site

In 1854 a period of civil disobedience by gold miners over the actions of the government culminated in a rebellion at

Eureka, Victoria Eureka is a small eastern suburb of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia – (AU). It was originally part of Ballarat East but became its own suburb in 1946 in recognition of the area's significance to Australian history. Eureka is bordered by Specimen ...

, during which at least 27 people, mostly rebels, died. It was the most prominent rebellion in Australia's history. It is held to be the birthplace of Australian democracy. Theeurekaflag

Various memorials have been erected at the site since the rebellion, with the former Eureka Centre being refurbished to become the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka between 2011 and 2013. This development was funded by $5 million from both the Australian and Victorian governments and $1.1 million from the City of Ballarat. The Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka redevelopment project was managed by Katherine Armstrong from Lateral Projects. The building was designed by architects Beveridge Williams and included a 114-seat theatre, and a cafe. The original business case for the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka anticipated that annual visitation would reach 125,000. In 2017, the museum reached a record 68,000 visitors. Following MADE's closure, a public lobby group called for the return of the flag to the Art Gallery of Ballarat. The public debate over the MADE site and the Eureka story also continued. Inside MADE

Exhibitions and awards

MADE explored the powerful story of the Eureka Stockade and life on the Gold Fields in the 1850s as a significant part of the struggle for peoples’ rights in Australia and around the world. MADE commemorated the pivotal role of the Stockade in shaping Australia's democracy. This is where a group of largely young people fought injustice, and won some of the first democratic rights in the world. The key feature of the exhibition was the original

that was first flown at the site of the centre during the

in 1854. MADE's permanent exhibition used innovative digital immersion to engage visitors with the questions: What is democracy and why do we care? Why has it been fought for, yesterday and today? What does it feel like to be without power? Combining contemporary technology with historic objects, the role of the people as the centre of democracy was explored. How are decisions made? Who are they made for? What influence do you have in our contemporary democracy today? Interactive Displays

Through a series of public programs and temporary exhibitions, visitors were inspired to explore diversity, creativity and the hidden stories of the past and present. As a centre of discussion on contemporary democracy, MADE hosted some of Australia's most creative thinkers through partnerships with The

Wheeler Centre The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pat ...

and

Melbourne Writers Festival Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Melbourne, a UNESCO City of Literature. The Festival runs during early September each year. Melbourne Writers Festival is part of the Word Alliance, ...

. In its time, the museum welcomed

Anne Summers Anne Summers AO (born 12 March 1945) is an Australian writer and columnist, best known as a leading feminist, editor and publisher. She was formerly First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime M ...

Yassmin Abdel-Magied Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese–Australian media presenter and writer, who had an early career as a mechanical engineer. She was named Young Queenslander of the Year in 2010 and Queensland Australian of the Year in 2015 for her engagement ...

Clare Wright Clare Alice Wright, (born 14 May 1969) is an American Australian historian, author and broadcaster. She is a professor of history at La Trobe University, and was the winner of the 2014 Stella Prize. Wright has worked as a political speechwrite ...

Deng Adut Deng Thiak Adut (born ) is a defence lawyer and refugee advocate in Western Sydney, Australia, and a former child soldier from South Sudan. His story is told in a popular short video by Western Sydney University, where he earned his law degree ...

Gail Kelly Gail Kelly (née Currer) (born 25 April 1956) is a South African-born Australian businesswoman. In 2002, she became the first female CEO of a major Australian bank or top 15 company and in 2005 was the highest paid woman in an Australian corpora ...

and many more. Eureka Flag with Students

The museum also housed the Quilt of Hope, a community art project created by the Moving Towards Justice group which commemorated the lives of victims of institutional sexual abuse in Ballarat. After the museum was closed, the Quilt of Hope was donated to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House in Canberra.

The museum's regular exhibitions brought wide praise, including * ''The Campaign for Disability Rights: Grassroots Democracy'' * ''Bling'' which brought together Gold Fields jewellery for the first time in 2016 * ''Chinese Fortunes'' which examined the migration experience from China. ''Chinese Fortunes'' travelled to The Immigration Museum in Melbourne and the Kyenton Museum, in regional Victoria. * ''Our Wonderful World'' * ''Roses from the Heart'' * ''Historyonics: the Monster Petition'' * Eureka Day anniversary celebrations, particularly the 160th anniversary and the recreation of the Eureka Flag by descendants. 160th_anniversay

Between its opening in 2013 and closure in 2018, the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka had more than 262,000 visitors, with almost 40,000 visits from students attending the highly regarded primary and secondary schools program. During its five years of operation, MADE won a number of awards: * 2017 Commerce Ballarat's ''Visit Ballarat Business Excellence Awards for Special Events and Attractions'' * 2015 Winner for Innovation in the MAGNA Awards run by Museum and Galleries National for the Eureka Day 160th Anniversary Program * 2013 ''Achievement Award for Excellence in category of Partner,'' VCAL promotion from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority * 2013 ''Eureka Democracy Award'' from Eureka's Children.

Controversies

The museum was subject to a number of controversies in its short life. Many people in Ballarat remember fondly the Eureka Centre, a tourism and visitor centre which at its peak attracted 25,000 people each year. The Eureka Centre was home to a diorama which explained the Eureka Stockade. The diorama disappeared in the development of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka and has become a local Ballarat mystery. The museum's initial development ran over budget and caused ongoing political ramifications in the media and in public discourse. In November 2017, cafe owner Saltbush Kitchen decided to discontinue its presence at MADE after months of uncertainty over the museum's future. In early 2018, Federal MP, Catherine King gave a speech in federal parliament accusing the City of Ballarat of changing its priorities in relation to MADE's funding arrangement. Three weeks prior to the City of Ballarat's vote on the future of the museum, Deputy Mayor Daniel Moloney resigned from the board of MADE, citing conflicts of interest.

References

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External links

Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E) at Google Cultural Institute
Museums in Ballarat Defunct museums in Australia 2013 establishments in Australia Museums established in 2013 Museums disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in Australia