BACKGROUND TO THE DEACCESSIONING PROJECT

The National Trust of Australia (WA) has some 6,000 objects in storage. These items have been acquired since the 1960s through both donation and purchase. Prior to the adoption of a Collections Policy in 1998, the practice was to acquire objects of relevance and use to the historic house properties of the day, and to obtain objects that could potentially be useful to properties that the Trust may manage in the future.

These collecting practices, while they may have been adequate for their time, became seriously flawed as professional collections management practice evolved. The subsequent result has been the accumulation of substantial, unconsidered collections of objects that sit unused, without foreseeable purpose and deteriorating in condition and value.

These collections require a substantial monetary investment in order to manage them to accepted professional standards, expose the National Trust to an unacceptable level of liability and risk and, most significantly, they do not contribute to furthering the Trust’s mission. Consequently the Council of the National Trust has made the decision to proceed with deaccessioning and disposal of the collections in storage.

The deaccessioning of objects from the collections is subject to the Trust’s Deaccessioning & Disposal Policy. The decision to deaccession is based on a range of possible factors that may include but is not limited to the following:

• The object falls outside the Collections Policy therefore the scope and mission of the National Trust
• Adequate storage or display facilities cannot be provided
• No provenance has been recorded for the object
• The object is an isolated piece out of context with other holdings
• There are duplicate objects in the collection
• The objects have deteriorated beyond usefulness
• Conservation treatment disproportionate to the object’s significance is required
• The object is the subject of a request for return by the donor or rightful custodian
• The object is found to have been acquired illegally or unethically
• The object is dangerous or hazardous to the health or safety of staff, the public or the collection

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