John Petersen

John Petersen has served the community as a public historian for 35 years, caring for places and collections of local to world heritage significance (the latter for three Australian Convict Sites). He has a passion for rural and regional communities and their museums and historical societies.

He has 25 years continuous employment in multicultural museums, starting with leading Hyde Park Barracks Museum in 2001, followed by the NSW Migration Heritage Centre at the Powerhouse Museum for a decade, a virtual museum – and a top 20 NSW Government website – with local government museum collections research partners, supported by the Powerhouse Museum’s Regional Services team and more recently the Duldig Studio of a European refugee family in Melbourne. In 2019, he was appointed CEO and Company Director of Multicultural Museums Victoria Limited, a Registered Charity formed by Victoria’s 7 Not for Profit ethnic, culture and faith based community museums. www.mmv.org.au

John’s earlier career was advising on Register of the National Estate places for the Australian Heritage Commission in Canberra and movable heritage for the NSW Heritage Office where he wrote a Heritage Council policy and guideline and managed thematic studies on old shops and farm machinery.

His consulting has recently included a significance assessment and reinterpretation policy for the James Fairfax AC Collection at Retford Park, Bowral for the National Trust of Australia (NSW). Each year, John lectures in ‘Significance 2.0’ for the University of Melbourne’s Master of Art Curatorship course.

In 2024, the NSW Minister for the Arts appointed John as a Member of the Create NSW Museums and History Artform Board. John is the new Museums Advisor for Broken Hill City Council and Museums and Galleries NSW, following an earlier stint at Wollongong City Council and supporting the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum’s community heritage network.