6 March to 14 June 2008
Since 1955, Moomba has ruled supreme in central Melbourne during Labour Day weekend. Unashamedly populist, the festival has been regularly revamped and reinvented to map public desire and to deflect the criticisms of its detractors. The fanfare and spectacle of the festival parade and the sovereigns have been defining features, just as the Birdman Rally, the Moomba Masters water skiing, carnival rides and fireworks displays have proved perennial favourites with Melburnians.
The exhibition took the festival's name as its departure point, for its meaning and how the festival came to be named Moomba have kept the wheels of urban mythology spinning for decades in this town. A video work by Virginia Fraser explored this enduring semantic conundrum.
The exhibition focused on the key elements of the festival that aligned it with its 'official' meaning – 'let's get together and have fun'. A wall of photographic portraits of Moomba kings and queens alongside their royal robes, crowns and sceptres documented a royal tradition; photographs of elaborate and outlandish floats recalled the heyday of the annual parade; and items such as programs, badges and a commemorative bottle of Spumante linked the festival to the people.
Most of the displayed items were from the City of Melbourne's Art and Heritage Collection, but these were accompanied by ephemera from the Public Records Office Victoria.
Curated by Hilary Ericksen
Hilary Ericksen has a BA (Hons) and MA in English literature and cultural studies from the University of Melbourne and is completing a Graduate Diploma of Museum Studies at Deakin University. Her interests are in material culture and Australian and Pacific cultural history.
She is currently a researcher for stamp design at Australia Post and a freelance editor and copywriter, working mainly on exhibitions and publications for cultural institutions.
Hilary co-authored Moomba: A Festival for the People (2005), a history of the festival published to mark its 50th anniversary, and catalogued the City of Melbourne's Moomba collection. She has also written entries on the monuments and artworks in the outdoor component of the City of Melbourne's Art and Heritage Collection.