Bowraville Theatre seats before conservation
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View photos of the Bowraville theatre seats as they arrived at the National Museum, after being stored under the theatre for 40 years. The seats and components were in various states of disassembly and decay before being prepared for display in the exhibition From Little Things Big Things Grow.
Photos: Peter Bucke, Karolina Kilian and Carmela Mollica.
Read more on the conservation of the Bowraville theatre seats
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The chairs were laid out on the laboratory floor to establish their configuration, followed by careful identification and labelling of each part. Baking trays were used to store small metal parts once the chairs were taken apart.
Each chair component was clearly identified and labelled before being taken apart for conservation treatment.
An example of damage caused by inappropriate storage methods. The upholstered seat back has broken away from the adjoining metal chair leg.
A corroded cast iron fitting attached to the base of a Bowraville theatre seat. This allowed the seat to be tilted into an upright position when not in use.
The original timber varnish, the darker area visible between the screw holes in this image, was revealed when this chair back was removed from the metal leg.
An accumulation of insect frass — the whitish dust-like debris or excrement left by wood-eating larvae and borers — was exposed after disassembly.
