ABSTRACT
The views are very similar to those of Archibald Livingstone, so much so that he may well have been their author. In his capacity as the Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at the University of Sydney, Livingstone submitted a lengthy report to the Australian Museum in 1880 outlining how the proposed development of a new Technological and Industrial Museum in Sydney might benefit from the experience of a range of European museums, including London’s Museum of Practical Geology, the South Kensington Museum and its outpost in London’s working-class East End, the Bethnal Green Museum. Throughout his report, Livingstone stressed the need for the organizing principles of displays in technological and industrial museums to be luminously transparent if they were to succeed in imparting useful knowledge to the working classes. Citing the view of a Professor Rankine that ‘too much must not be expected from those who can only find time for study after a fatiguing day’s work’ (cited in Livingstone 1880: xxvi), Livingstone urged the need for the clear and detailed labelling of exhibits if the working man were not to be wearied by his visit and sent away dissatisfied.
