Cross posted from the googlegroup because it is too good not to share.
A BIG DAY FOR … THIS CURATOR
It's a rotten job but someone's got to do it. When the luxurious Queen Mary 2 arrives at Garden Island about 6.30am on Valentine's Day (next Tuesday, if you've forgotten) one of the ''stowaways'' walking aboard will be Paul Brunton, the senior curator at the State Library of NSW. Brunton is to spend 22 days enjoying the hospitality of the Cunard flagship as it completes its maiden circumnavigation of Australia - a feat first accomplished in 18 months by Captain Matthew Flinders between 1801 and 1803. Brunton will be carrying the two priceless log books compiled by Flinders during his epic voyage on HMS Investigator plus the atlas Flinders published in 1814 which gave the name ''Australia'' to the island continent for the first time. ''It's work, isn't it?'' said Brunton when the Herald's ancient history correspondent, Steve Meacham, asked about the gig. ''I've got lectures to do about Flinders voyage and talks in the ship's library. I will be turning the pages of the journals each day so passengers can see what Flinders wrote about wherever we are on the coast.'' So it's a librarian's equivalent of a busman's holiday? ''Absolutely. But it is really exciting to be taking these historic volumes … on a ship which Flinders could not have dreamt of 200 years ago. He would be amazed.'' Joking apart, the library's decision to allow some of its priceless treasures to go to sea again is part of a wider, long-term strategy to show its wares to the world. How do Brunton's quarters on QM2 compare with those of Flinders on the Investigator? ''I'm not sure what my quarters are. I know the quarters for the log books and that's the main thing. In a special case in the ship's library.''
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/the-king-of-lafta-20120209-1rwwx.html#ixzz1mDnQesSq
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