Temporary gallery closure for Miss Flinders' move

 Media Release – Issued Tuesday, 3 March 2020

The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Inveresk will soon be bidding farewell to one of its most loved and long-standing exhibits.

The aircraft Miss Flinders has been on loan from the Federal Government for 20 years. For the past decade, it has called the museum's main gallery - Tasmanian Connections - home.

However, the curtain on Miss Flinders' time at the museum is about to fall. It is an industry safety requirement that the aircraft be removed from hanging display after 10 years, therefore it will be de-installed by QVMAG staff and rigging experts before being dismantled.

The process of dismantling the plane is complex, so museums staff will need to close the Gallery for three days in total to ensure the safety of the aircraft and those working on it.

On Friday, March 6 the Tasmanian Connections Gallery will close for one day as staff prepare for what will be a delicate operation.

This includes moving other transport objects out of the Gallery and into the adjacent Temporary Exhibition Gallery (TEG).

Then on Tuesday, March 10, the Gallery will close as Miss Flinders is carefully lowered by crane and dismantled for transport.

Finally, on Friday, March 13, the Gallery will close for the day to reinstall infrastructure.

Miss Flinders was built by M Marcel Desoutter in the UK in the late 1920s and powered with a De Havilland Gypsy Mk III engine. It began its service in Ireland before travelling to Australia in early 1932 where it was used for the first air service between Launceston and Flinders Island, when it was named Miss Flinders.