Where the Past is Present
This work in progress is the account of Barkerville’s museum history, from the site’s inception through to its present day, and is a celebration of the development and programming (as well as of all the individuals, societies, and volunteers) who have helped to tell its complex and developing story, season after season, year after year, from exclusive pioneer-settler narration into inclusive multicultural reconciliation.
Through providing historical research and reference for contemporary context –
Where the Past is Present – Loving Living History in Barkerville (the story of the storytellers in this renowned historic site)
– is a chronology of the ongoing story of Barkerville’s enduring legacy.
Brendan’s research and documentation chronicles the passion of locals who paved the way for their community to be protected through conversion into an historic site and the subsequent development of a powerful arts culture born through curatorial interpretation, the need for demonstrations to be character-based, historical reenactment, and the revitalization of the historic Theatre Royal.
He also branches into the economic impact, the inspirational impact, the cultural impact, the educational impact, the impact on and coordination with Original Peoples and Chinese, and associative branding (such as businesses that have borrowed the Barkerville name: Barkerville Brewing, Barkerville Gold Mines, Barkerville Fudge, etc).
