Our Team
Our staff
Director of Museum Archives Libraries & Learning, Julie Baird
Julie Baird has over 30 years professional experience in the museum sector. She began working in Canadian museums in the 1990’s focusing on textile collections of medium to large regional museums. Ms Baird returned to Australia and joined the National Motor Museum of South Australia in 1998. Since 2002, she has been at Newcastle Museum and was part of the small team who moved and redeveloped the museum which re-opened in its new site in 2011. She is now the Director of Museum Archives Libraries and Learning for the City of Newcastle. Julie is also the chair of the Artform Assessment Board Museums and History for Create NSW, has been a standards assessor for Museums & Galleries NSW and is the current President of the Australian Museums & Art Galleries Association.
Contact: [email protected]
Head of Exhibitions & Cultural Collections, David Hampton
David was born in Newcastle and grew up with a passion for railways and steam locomotives. This childhood obsession has developed into a career defined by History, Art and museum collections. He studied Fine Art at Newcastle University and trained as a printmaker whilst helping co-ordinate the university’s student art gallery –Watt Space. Seeking new challenges after graduating, he began volunteering and later found employment in a variety of programming roles at Newcastle Museum. In 2017 he joined the Queensland Museum Network as curator at the Workshops Rail Museum. He re-joined Newcastle Museum in 2020 in a senior role as the Curator and Collection Coordinator. This commitment to protecting cultural artefacts compliments his belief in increasing the accessibility of museum collections and exposing the stories they explore to new audiences.
David manages the exhibition, cultural collections management, archives and curation teams.
Contact: [email protected]
Head of Service Delivery, Mala Scorse
Mala has 20 years' experience in a range of leadership roles in the GLAM sector. After studying Fine Arts at University of Sydney with a double major in photography and printmaking, followed by a Graduate Diploma Information Management at the University of Technology Sydney, she has pursued a career that has enabled her to connect people with cultural collections, resources, and creative experiences.
Starting her career as a Local History Librarian, Mala has held roles in public library programming, library collection management, university special collections and cultural institution leadership in Sydney and Newcastle. She has worked for City of Newcastle for 10 years and in her role as Head of Service Delivery for Museum Archives Libraries and Learning she leads Library and Museum teams across 11 sites.
Contact: [email protected]
Head of Systems Administration, Nigel George
Nigel has 30 years' experience in operational and project management across diverse industries, in both commercial and not-for-profit community organisations. He is also a published non-fiction author and community musician. He’s held previous voluntary roles as the Logistics Coordinator for the Newcastle Writers Festival, was a founding committee member of the Hunter Valley Electric Vehicle festival, and is the current Director of the Newkulele Community Music Festival.
Nigel has been with the City of Newcastle for over four years, first as a Product Manager in the IT Department and then as Head of Systems Administration for Museum, Archives, Libraries and Learning since 2022. Nigel’s responsibilities include management of operational teams and resources such as finance, rostering, facilities, projects, systems, engagement and core administrative functions
Contact: [email protected]
Program Lead, Carol Edmonds
Contact: [email protected]
Cultural Collection Management Lead, Ashleigh Giffney
Contact: [email protected]
Curator, Felicity Perrers
Contact: [email protected]
Museum Customer Service Delivery Coordinator, Johanna Bartels
Contact: [email protected]
Business & Revenue Coordinator, Jess Rhodes
Contact: [email protected]
Engagement Coordinator, Megan Owen
Contact: [email protected]
Volunteer
Volunteers make an important contribution to Newcastle Museum. They share their time and skills and help the Museum deliver a variety of experiences for our visitors and support our collection management team.
We have regular opportunities to join our team of volunteers in the following areas:
- Audience engagement
- Collection management
- Visitor services
Keep an eye on this page for upcoming opportunities to volunteer with Newcastle Museum.
