After a decade in Sydney, a seachange was on the cards for Sofia Eriksson.
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As a career historian, Sofia was excited to take on new part-time curator role at the Batemans Bay Heritage Museum.
She brought with her a wealth of experience and knowledge, and most importantly, fresh eyes.
Sofia said she was not expecting to leave her job at the University of Western Sydney and walk into a museum curatorial role.
But that's what happened.
"It's very rare," she said.
"This came up, an absolutely amazing opportunity and to be able to return as an historian as well, after focusing more on governance and education for many, many years, it's really exciting."
The role of curator was not one Sofia had held before, but she felt her skill set would sit well within the job description.
"To me the role of a curator is very much one related to public education, making knowledge publicly available and accessible to people," she said.
"And that's a very transferable aspect of it.
"So even though I haven't worked with objects in the same way as I do here, I very much worked in knowledge translation and that's very much the same thing."
Sofia had a specialised interest in travel writing and tourism, from 1850 to around 1939 in an Australian context, focusing on British travellers in particular.
She had looked at tourist regions and the way they had been shaped by imperialism and colonialism during that period.
"So it's niche, but it also has broad applicability," she said.
"The importance of tourism for this area since the early 1900s, I can see an area of overlap with my research and what I will be doing here."
Batemans Bay Heritage Museum is funded largely by grants, donations, research work and entry fees.
Sofia's role was the only paid position, the others being filled by volunteers.
The new funding would see the museum shift focus, according to Sofia, from a purely social history story to telling a coastal maritime story
This would be a large aspect of Sofia's role.
"Because it's a coastal town, the marine, coastal and maritime story is very much a part of that social history," she said.
"It will be about taking what we have, which is appreciated by visitors and volunteers, and fleshing that out within a broader story that has a maritime theme."
The refocus of the museum to the recognised "brand" of maritime history would complement the Eden Killer Whale Museum and Jervis Bay Maritime Museum, and Sofia believed this would situate the museum within a context.
A big job ahead, but she was not overwhelmed.
"No, I don't feel overwhelmed," she said.
"I feel really excited because the organisation is at a really interesting and exciting point where a lot of work has been done by the volunteers.
"But it needs a bit of a push to get going...so that 's where I come in."
