Judith Hickson

Judith Hickson joined Queensland Museum in 2016 as Curator of Social History in the Cultures and Histories Program.

Jude’s role is fundamentally embedded in the stories of Queensland’s people and communities - collecting, researching and helping others to represent and tell their own stories and share their lived experiences through the objects they donate.

For Jude, object stories have the ability to transcend time and space and also to serve as an important point of reflection - connecting us to people, places and events beyond our knowing, provoking in us either positive or negative emotions and prompting us to understand our complex world in ways we may previously not have considered.

Associations and Positions

• Review Editor (Exhibitions), Editorial Board, Australian Historical Studies Journal
• Member, judging panel, Museums & Galleries Queensland, 2018 GAMA Awards
• Member, Australian Museums & Galleries Association (AMaGA)
• Member, Australian Migrant History Network (AMHN)

Projects

Exhibitions - Queensland Museum

• Commonwealth Games 2018 – Curator
• Iridescent: The world of “mother of pearl” shell – Co-curator
• Len and Gladys - Curator
• I Do! Wedding stories from Queensland – Co-curator
• Anzac Legacy Gallery - Contributor

Exhibitions - National Museum of Australia

• Australian of the Year 2015 - Role: Curator.
• First Australians Gallery - Role: Assistant Curator.
• Freewheeling: Cycling in Australia - Role:  Assistant Curator/researcher.
• Journeys: Australia’s connections with the world - Role: Assistant Curator.
• Website development: Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Program website - 'First Australians'
• Editor and contributor: Goree online - Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander news from the National Museum

Presentations

• 2022 – Conference paper with Associate Professor Alice Payne, QUT, ‘Subtropical Fashioning: Care, Community and Ritual in 20th Century Queensland Textiles’, international online conference, Fashioning Sustainment: Histories of Resourcefulness, Reuse and Creative Ingenuity in 20th Century Fashion and Dress, University of Brighton, UK, 21 January 2022
• 2022 – Presentation – Contemporary collecting - Sunshine Coast Heritage Symposium, 29 April 2022
• 2021 – Keynote address – University of Southern Queensland Humanities and Communication Dusk Networking Event – Wednesday 6 October 2021
• 2021 – Presentation – ‘Confronting coal: politics, people and the Stop Adani movement’ delivered at ICOM international online webinar Collecting with Care: Ethics in museum work, 23 July 2021
• 2021 – Presentation – Polio in Queensland Museum collections - Rotary Club of Inner North Brisbane, 2nd March 2021
• 2019 - Conference paper: Seizing the Zeitgeist: Capturing the Spirit of our Times in a State Social History Collection, delivered at Collecting for the Future at M&G QLD’s 2019 conference, Opening Doors, Cairns, September 2019