ABSTRACT
The heritage most commonly displayed and recounted in motor museums worldwide draws narrowly on a largely white, techno-male, progressive metanarrative. The motorcar is the quintessential vehicle of modernity experienced broadly by men and women, diverse ethnic and cultural groups, and in different ways for different purposes. Motor museums, and transport museums more generally, have attracted considerable criticism in the past for their failure to keep up with developments in museum practice by remaining context-poor. The Australian motoring story has traditionally emphasized the physical conquest and national development associated with achievement and progress. The collaboration brings the motor museum in line with other museums in Western society that have restructured and repositioned their material culture collections to tell more inclusive stories, largely as a result of extensive postcolonial repositioning. National Motor Museum has recognized that visitors are diverse, and it is important to provide them with an enriching experience on a range of levels.
