Stories

Bill Buckle – Automotive Engineer and Dealer

Object Lesson

Figure sits behind the steering wheel of an orange open roof car

‘This is the story of the Dart Goggomobil.’

Bill Buckle

Open two seat, full size mini car with red painted fibreglass boy on a German built body and mechanics. — Goggomobil 'Dart' car
Object No. 89/1523-1

I came back home, found out as much about fibreglass as I could, and thought it was a feasible proposition to build a sports car in Australia.

Between 1957 and 1961, Bill Buckle produced the Goggomobil Dart bodies in Sydney. Australian Goggomobil cars were fitted with lightweight fibreglass bodies in place of their German counterparts’ steel bodies.

Figure sits at a desk writing on an illuminated surface, at a birds eye view

Object Lesson

Object Lesson is a Powerhouse digital content series that upends and inverts the legacy of a set of lesson cards held in the collection since 1880. Named for English educator. Elizabeth Mayo’s 1831 publication Lessons on Objects, the series is underpinned by a desire to learn more about the objects in our collection from people and communities who have special relationships with them.

‘Knowledge stems not only from teacher or institution or object alone — but at the intersection of all.’
Agatha Gothe-Snape, Powerhouse artistic associate

A figure stands in suburban garden wearing a maroon jumper and black jeans.

Majid Rabet – Engineer, Inventor and Artist

Object Lesson

A figure walks through a corridor of shelves with typewriters on them

Bob Moran – Engineer

Object Lesson

Figure sits at a desk writing on an illuminated surface, shelves are in the background.

Agatha Gothe-Snape – Artistic Associate

Object Lesson

Young adult underwater with light on their face with their eyes closed

Chella Man – The Device That Turned Me Into A Cyborg Was Born The Same Year I Was

Object Lesson

Sharline 'Spice' Bezzina

Western Sydney Hip Hop Archive

The Persian Tar: A Living Instrument

Playing the Collection