Rock Oddities
About the Show
Rock Oddities marked the beginning of the club's modern tradition of heavily themed annual shows, using a shared central idea to bring member displays together into a single public story.
For the first time, members received a serious call to contribute specimens to a shared thematic display. The resulting exhibit brought together strange, unusual and unexpected material from across the membership, with a number of particularly unusual specimens contributed by honourary club member and local mineral dealer Frank Tierney.
Contemporary club records describe the 2006 event as the busiest and most successful show the organization had held to that point.
Rock Oddities was the first of the club's modern themed shows and established the idea of inviting members to contribute material to a shared central exhibit.
The photographs also capture the show at an interesting point in the evolution of its presentation. The club was beginning to experiment with a more coordinated thematic approach while still using traditional display materials, including the yellow vinyl table skirts visible throughout the room. These were later replaced by the more formal blue and black skirts that became characteristic of subsequent shows.
The wooden display cases also predate another later tradition visible in photographs from subsequent years: brass dedication plaques mounted at the bottom centre of the case lids. The club eventually began dedicating individual display cases to honourary members, with each plaque recording the member's name and a short list of their contributions to the club.
The show attracted more than 940 visitors and was described in contemporary club records as the busiest and most successful show held to that point.
Featured Exhibits & Guests
- Rock Oddities. Members were asked to search their collections for strange and unusual specimens to contribute to a shared display built around the show's theme.
- Frank Tierney. Honourary club member and local mineral dealer Frank Tierney contributed a number of unusual specimens that helped anchor the shared Rock Oddities exhibit.
- The beginning of a tradition. The success of the collaborative display helped establish a format the club would revisit in later years: choosing a central theme and drawing on the collections, knowledge and stories of its members to bring that theme to life.