Hot topic: Australian cyclist Simon Clarke’s win in stage five of the Tour de France last week created the perfect opportunity for Rochester Sports Museum to promote the soon-to-open Sir Hubert Opperman exhibition.
A museum curator responsible for major exhibitions at London’s Museum of Rugby will start work on Rochester Sports Museum’s Oppy Exhibit in the coming weeks.
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Laura Stedman, who spent five years at the Museum of Rugby (rugby football union) in London, will design and create the new tribute to Rochester’s most famous sporting son — Sir Hubert Opperman.
The display will take up three quarters of what is currently the entrance and office space of the museum — ending an eight-month wait interupted by COVID and Mrs Stedman’s commitments to the Mueseum of Victoria.
Mrs Stedman has a close connection to Victoria’s most famous sporting display, the Australian Sports Museum, housed at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Her husband is the chief executive officer of the museum and was the first port of call for Rochester Sports Museum chief Bob Knight.
“He recommended her for the job, and after seeing her in action, I can see why,” Mr Knight said.
“She works for the Victorian Museum and she is part-time at both Castlemaine and Bendigo.
“She fits us in where she can.”
The Opperman exhibit was previously housed in a shire-operated building, which was rarely available to the public.
The relocation of the Opperman collection will mean an opportunity for everyone to share in the history of the famous cyclist, who paved the way for what we are seeing in this week’s Tour de France.
An eight-minute video, which will be played on rotation as part of the exhibit, will allow Rochester identites (including Mr Knight) to share the thoughts and memories of the cycling genius.
He was once regarded as a member of the “fabulous four’’, named as Australia’s most famous sporting names.
Oppy, Bradman, Pharlap and billiard player Walter Lindrum were the four named as the nation’s favourite sporting identities.
Mrs Stedman will spend three days on site putting together the exhibition, the contents of which will be on regular rotation due to the amount of items gifted to the museum by the family and other sources.
“She is a perfectionist, so the end result will be worth seeing,” Mr Knight said.
Mrs Stedman has also agreed to work with the sports museum in establishing the new Shaun Atley display.
Atley’s Australian jumper, from his junior playing days, will be a feature and there are several North Melbourne items.
The timing of the exhibition, which will be officially launched before the end of football season, is perfect as Atley has this year returned to play alongside his brothers Jake and Joe.
“He has gifted us some great items, including the boots he wore in his last game, to use in the display,” Mr Knight said.
A framed picture with Atley, taken at number 17 in the 2010 national draft, also features modern-day stars Tom Lynch (Richmond), David Swallow (Gold Coast), Andrew Gaff (West Coast), Dyson Heppell (Essendon), Dion Prestia (Richmond), Isaac Smith (Geelong) and Jeremy Howe (Collingwood)
Mrs Stedman has just completed a new permanent display for Australian Golf, which is alongside the Royal Melbourne Golf Course.
The museum has used funding from a Murray Darling Basin grant, secured through the Rochester Business Network, to complete the relocation and curating of the exhibit.
Rochester has also received support from the governments of Malta (to which Sir Hubert Opperman was an Ambassador) and France. They assisted with the establishment of the Oppy statue, which is a stone’s throw from the museum.
Oppy passed away while riding his exercise bike just before his 92nd birthday in 1996. The exercise bike is part of the exhibition.
Mr Knight said, in spite of the importance of Sir Hubert Opperman to the museum, it was by no means the Oppy and John Forbes — who gifted a majority of the items on display to the site — museum.
“It is the Rochester sports museum,” he said.
Immortalised: Sir Hubert Opperman spent much of his formative years in Rochester and maintained a close connection to the town. His family has gifted many of his cycling records to be part of the new Rochester Sports Museum exhibition.
Mr Knight said a launch for the exhibition would take place “a month or so after the final curation was complete’’, his hope to attract someone of the status of a Cadel Evans to launch the exhibition.
"Not many people would have seen these items, because they have been locked away for so long,“ he said.
“We are expecting it to create plenty of attention.”
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