An old leather-bound swivel chair, which was used for many years in the Snowy River Mail office and printery in Orbost, has been receiving some well-needed attention recently.
For perhaps the past 40 or more years, this chair has been an important item in the Orbost Museum where it has been known as the ‘Editor’ s Chair’.
During its long life at the Snowy River Mail, the chair came in for a lot of use, and there are signs of previous repairs to the seat leather, along with some cracking and tearing of the leather.
It is a chair that has had a long and useful life.
When Gabrielle Young, and her expertise as a museum conservator, volunteered her services with the Orbost and District Historical Society earlier this year, she noticed that the old chair was in need of some attention.
Her first step was to install a ‘Do not sit’ sign on the seat so that the damage could be halted. Her next step was to take the seat off display and carefully assess its condition and plan a program of conservation.
“The processes that I used are aimed at conserving objects rather than restoring them to their original condition,” Gabby said.
“In the case of the ‘Editor’ s Chair’, this involved some research into the best method of stopping future damage.
“There were a number of tears in the leather seat, and these had to be drawn together and secured so that they could not be torn off and produce gaping holes in the seat.
“Already this had happened. One piece of original leather had been torn off and has disappeared. We needed to stop future damage.
“I used a product called Beva 371, which is a heat activated adhesive film used in museums and art galleries. This was heated onto a backing material and then placed under the tears so that they could be drawn together and stabilised. A hair dryer was a handy source of heat.”
The chair is back on display in the Orbost Museum and Gabby’s careful work is quite invisible to see.
Orbost and District Historical Society president, Heather Terrell, said Gabby’ s expertise in museum conservation is very much appreciated, and the old chair is just another beneficiary of Gabby’ s help.
PICTURED: Museum conservator, Gabrielle Young, has utilised her expertise to conserve the state of the historic Snowy River Mail’s ‘Editor’s Chair’. It is back on display at the Orbost Museum with Gabby’s skilful work barely visible.
