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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Amy Martin

Inside the extra ordinary items telling our history

A novelty cheque, a unique soccer trophy and a Sydney Harbour Bridge medal for bravery have found a temporary home at the National Museum of Australia.

The national institution's latest exhibition features items collected for the ABC series Tony Armstrong's Extra-Ordinary Things. Each are prized possessions from people across the country, all of which help tell Australia's history in some ways.

Items like a Sydney Harbour Bridge medal given to a construction worker who bravely saved a friend who fell into the water; and a sign from the Betoota Hotel - the pub in the country's smallest town, with a population of three people.

But while this collection of mismatched items may not look linked in any way, what they all have in common is that the personal stories attached to them, can be quite universal when put in a broader context.

"I thought I was someone who thought everyone's got a story to tell. But I don't think I actually did until I went on the road and talked to people because I realised that everyone actually does," Armstrong said.

Tony Armstrong at the launch of the new exhibition at the National Museum of Australia. Picture by Keegan Carroll

Three of the National Museum of Australia's curators - Sophie Jensen, Martha Sear and Craig Middleton - worked alongside Armstrong and the show to help give context to the items.

While some items have a clear link to Australia's history, others, such as a makeshift trophy made out of a piece of wood, a band aid and some Betadine on a cotton wool ball, aren't as obvious.

But when the curators put it in the wider context - that this trophy was given to Truffy Maginnis while she played for the Adelaide Armpits, Australia's first openly lesbian soccer team - it creates a broader story.

"It's a curator's job to really delve in and think about how it might connect, how one person's story might be 300,000 people's stories, and then how we can put that in a historical context," Mr Middleton said.

National Museum of Australia curator Craig Middleton at the launch of Tony Armstrong's Extra-Ordinary Things exhibition. Picture by Keegan Carroll

"We can see Truffy Maginnis' trophy from the Adelaide Armpits and think about the amazing leadership and bravery that it took to be yourself in the 1970s and 80s; to identify as a queer person, and then forge your way for people after you. We're all connected through these moments in these stories and these legacies that people leave behind."

For professional longboarder Lucy Small, the show and now exhibition gave her a chance to display her most prized possession, a novelty cheque she received when she won the Curly MalJam Pro in 2021. However, it is not the competition win that made this cheque so significant.

Her prize as the winner of the women's division she received $1500 while the winner of the men's division received $4000. So, in a spur of the moment decision, she called out the inequality saying "this has been a bittersweet victory, knowing that our surfing is worth less than half of the men's prizemoney".

Professional longboarder Lucy Small with her novelty cheque. Picture by Keegan Carroll

"It feels really good to see it here and to know that moment, and that conversation is valued enough to be on the ABC and in the National Museum because it used to be a conversation that was really hard to have because it was hard to get people to care about it," Small said.

Tony Armstrong's Extra-Ordinary Things is at the National Museum of Australia's lower gallery until October 13.

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