Bernadette McCormack, Visitor Experience Manager at The Workshops Rail Museum in North Ipswich, will be spending the next six months working alongside colleagues at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington DC, thanks to a Queensland – Smithsonian Fellowship award.

Ms McCormack will examine the role and impact of public programs in museums and will include major review of the Smithsonian’s public programs and those of the American History Museum and The Workshops Rail Museum.

Public programs are a vital part of the success of The Workshops Rail Museum, and indeed most Museums around the globe, and Ms McCormack’s experience will be of great benefit to Workshops Rail Museum visitors and staff upon her return in September.

She will also investigate exhibition and public program exchanges between The Workshop Rail Museum and the Smithsonian.

Since opening in 2002, The Workshops Rail Museum has implemented a strong public program schedule that includes events and activities such as Friends of Thomas, Circus Train, Ipswich Model Railway Show and the ‘Great Railway Journeys of Australia’ exhibition.

The Queensland – Smithsonian Fellowship Program began in 2001 under a unique Memorandum of Understanding that Premier Peter Beattie signed between the Queensland Government and the Smithsonian Institution, which has been extended until 2010.

The relationship supports the Smart State Strategy and is managed by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet as part of the Queensland Government's International Collaborations Program. The Queensland – Smithsonian Fellowship Program is one of a number of joint initiatives that has been progressed under the agreement with the Smithsonian.

The Fellowship Program aims to foster an interchange of knowledge and skills between Queensland and the Smithsonian by providing the opportunity for Queenslanders to undertake a project at the Smithsonian.

Applications are open to Queenslanders working in any area of mutual interest with the Smithsonian Institution, for example systematic, evolutionary, and conservation biology research, including biodiversity; palaeontology and geology; anthropology; indigenous and folk culture; art and design; history; and museum practice, education and outreach.

The Workshops Rail Museum is a campus of the Queensland Museum and is located at North Street, North Ipswich.

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