The Museum of the Riverina has defended its 'disposal' of items as rare and based on procedure after a Wagga history buff said he found some of the collection for sale online.
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Wagga collector Jack Whyte said he was upset to find vintage wagons from the museum had been sold via an online auction.
Mr Whyte told The Daily Advertiser that he first saw the wagons being offered on Facebook by a dealer in Uranquinty, who told him he bought them from the museum via the Pickles auction website.
"To me, that's wrong when people have given items from the heart to the museum to preserve the history of Wagga," Mr Whyte said.
"There have been two photos on Facebook of the big old bullock trays or horse-drawn wagons...I'm not the only one; I have talked to a lot of people and they are upset about it."
Wagga City community director Janice Summerhayes said the action to "dispose of or sell" an item from the collection was taken only after approval from the Wagga & District Historical Society and if the museum was unable to contact the original donor or find another museum to take the item.
"Over the years, the museum has collected many objects from neighbouring areas. As part of our collection review process, we have been able to return objects to museums at The Rock, Junee, Gundagai, Ganmain, Temora and Ardlethan and to individual donors," she said.
"Of our 25,000 objects, only 139 have been deaccessioned for disposal via public auction.
"These included objects like hot irons, typewriters and some agricultural machinery objects which had no records kept or had no connection to Wagga Wagga. If the original donor was known, these objects were always offered to them first."
Ms Summerhayes said the council had implemented a computerised records system and deaccession policy after the Historical Society approached the council to take over the running of the Museum in 1999.
"The $8 million redevelopment of the Museum of the Riverina's Botanic Gardens site was prompted by a storage crisis," she said.
"An estimated 25,000 objects had been collected over more than 50 years and we were bursting at the seams.
"All museums constantly battle for storage space, and some objects were from places other than Wagga , without records, or were in a sorry condition."
Ms Summerhayes said the the timing of the redevelopment was" perfect to undertake a major review of the collection as is normal practice".
"This process is guided by standards set by the International Council of Museums which are embedded in the museum's collection and deaccessioning policy.
"Each object is researched and graded against a range of criteria to ascertain whether it remains in the collection.
"Criteria include assessing whether an object has accurate records, whether it comes from Wagga Wagga, are there multiple versions of the same object and is its condition beyond repair?""
Ms Summerhayes said the collection review would allow the museum "to better store and care for the remaining objects which are closely linked to Wagga".