A "line in the sand" has been drawn in the five-year battle between Newcastle Maritime Museum and City of Newcastle, with the council agreeing to a maximum 12-month extension on storing the museum's collection.
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Newcastle councillors voted on February 27 to renew two leases where items from the museum's 8500-object collection are stored for a maximum period of a year, and extend in-kind storage support at council sites for a maximum period of two years.
The artefacts have been in storage since the maritime museum at Honeysuckle closed in 2018.
The council said the storage costs had reached $136,521, and a 12-month extension would take that expense to $168,002.
Councillors who spoke at the meeting expressed support for Newcastle to have a maritime museum, but did not believe the council should continue to foot the bill to store the collection.
Labor councillor Margaret Wood said it was "hard" for volunteer run organisations to sustain themselves, however "we have to draw the line in the sand".
"I think that the City of Newcastle has provided very significant financial and in-kind support over many, many years... but we need to find a way forward," she said.
"As an organisation of this nature they have to take some responsibility for how they're going to make things work better in the future and the answer isn't to keep on relying on a local government organisation such as the City of Newcastle."
Cr Wood said she believed the state government needed to do more.
She said a NSW Legislative Council committee had recommended the NSW Arts and Cultural policy Framework be updated to include support for regional museums and galleries, and for expanded funding to regional and rural museums and galleries.
"This particular organisation, Newcastle Maritime Museum Society is simply one of many volunteer museums who have the same sorts of issues to be dealt with," she said.
"And that is protecting their collection, displaying their collection, finding volunteers and understanding how to apply for grants."
Liberal councillor Katrina Wark tried unsuccessfully to move an amendment to remove the maximum storage period from the motion, while adding that any decision about extending support to the museum society would be made by the new council after the September council election.
She also wanted the council to agree to the City of Newcastle CEO, Newcastle Museum director, two councillors and the maritime museum committee meeting to discuss a letter of agreement proposed by the museum.
"There are a lot of valuable items in there and they are very keen to actually come to some sort of agreement and a way of moving forward with the letter of agreement," Cr Wark said.
Deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen said the motion seemed contradictory as it asked the current council to negotiate an agreement while leaving a decision to a future council.
Cr Wark said she hoped it would be sorted out before September, but if not it should be left to the new elected council.
Newcastle Museum director Julie Baird said the proposed agreement outlined the responsibilities of each party for storage and support for the maritime museum developing a group of federal, state and local government members to set up a standalone museum, but did not include a date of when that would happen.
"Most contracts or memorandums of understanding... there would be a date that we would achieve these things by and I guess that was the concern," she said.
"We didn't know when that was and because certain parts of the letter of agreement were about us securing support from state and federal governments, it's quite challenging.
"I can't as a museum director say yes I'm going to get the state government or the federal government to agree to something."
Labor councillor Peta Winney-Baartz said the people Cr Wark mentioned had failed to come to an agreement for the past five years, so expecting a meeting between them would negotiate an outcome "sounds like a definition of insanity".
Newcastle Maritime Museum president Bob Cook said he was disappointed but not surprised in the result.
He had previously implored councillors to support an amendment calling on the council to sign the proposed letter of agreement.
"We have a committee meeting tomorrow," Mr Cook said. "We will arrange a meeting of our 40 or so members to talk about our options."
Sage Swinton
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
