Ryan Zaknich - Treasurer

Ryan Zaknich is a co-founder of Two Feet & a Heartbeat. Ryan completed studies in Conservation and Land Management aiming to become a parks ranger but instead gained employment in a specialised branch of the Western Australian Planning Commission, implementing the Metropolitan Region Scheme, the legislation which dictates how the city should grow.

Ryan is a qualified Tour guide, FACET Golden Guide finalist and has a Diploma in Tourism Studies and Conservation and Land Management and Training and Assessment.

Ryan Mossny - Secretary

Ryan Zaknich is a co-founder of Two Feet & a Heartbeat. Ryan completed studies in Conservation and Land Management aiming to become a parks ranger but instead gained employment in a specialised branch of the Western Australian Planning Commission, implementing the Metropolitan Region Scheme, the legislation which dictates how the city should grow.

Ryan is a qualified Tour guide, FACET Golden Guide finalist and has a Diploma in Tourism Studies and Conservation and Land Management and Training and Assessment.

Diana Warnock OAM - Chair

Diana Warnock is a former Newspaper and Radio Journalist who also served as a State Member of Parliament between 1993 and 2001 for the electorate of Perth.

Brought up in the bush, she has lived in the inner city since she graduated from university in 1960. She is the widow of playwright and novelist Bill Warnock who was co-founder of the urban thinktank CityVision.

In 1999, she was awarded the Australian Humanist of the Year for her work on behalf of women. She was also made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the French Government in 2007. Diana is a Patron of many community groups and has sat on a number of national boards.

David Cherrin - Administration & IT Support

David came to Museum of Perth in 2016 as a Work for the Dole participant and continued here as a volunteer four days a week when his Work for the Dole phase finished.

David has a background in animation and motion graphics. He creates all our websites and helps with various soundscapes used in our exhibitions.

He joined our staff in November 2018 and he is the go-to guy for the Fremantle office!

Aaron Brown - Administration & IT Support

Aaron came to Museum of Perth in January 2016 as a Work for the Dole participant. When his Work for the Dole phase finished he began volunteering with us four days a week, and has been officially on staff since July 2018.

Aaron inducts all new participants in our Perth office and there’s very little he doesn’t know.

If anyone has questions, ask Aaron!

Joanne Hyland - Historian

Joanne has a passion for history and conservation and after several years working in the educational field completed her degree in History and Geography at Curtin University in 2003. Joanne completed a first class honours degree in History at UWA in 2009 on the subject of WA Convictism, an ongoing research interest.

Working as an assistant curator and museum extension officer for the Western Australian Museum from 2006, Joanne was also a member of the National Standards Taskforce which developed the National Standards for Australian Museums and Galleries, first published online in 2008. During 2012 Joanne worked for the State Library Foundation and the Wanneroo Museum before returning to a curatorial position in the History Department of the WA Museum in 2013. Joanne developed content for the National Anzac Centre in Albany and for WA's New Museum Project.

Becoming an independent museum consultant, Joanne commenced work as a Project Historian for the Museum of Perth in December 2016.

Joanne loves reading, travel, visiting museums and galleries and sharing her enthusiasm for all things historical with others.

Jo Darbyshire – Historian

Jo Darbyshire is a West Australian visual artist and social history curator. She graduated with a Master of Creative Arts in Cultural Heritage from Curtin University of Technology in 2004 and worked as Memorabilia and Social History Curator at the City of Perth for ten years (2005 – 2016).

She is passionate about telling stories about the people of Perth and has a special interest in ‘lowlife’ history - the history of the forgotten, difficult, colourful, marginalised and uncollected aspects of West Australian history.

In 2003 she was artist in residence at the WA Museum and curated the Gay Museum, a history of Lesbian and Gay people in WA, using strategies from the visual arts and ‘new museology’ to bring alive a history that had not been collected or acknowledged before.

She loves mysterious objects and a good story.

Shannon Lovelady - Project Leader, Historian, Archivist

Shannon Lovelady is a Perth-born research historian and writer. She is also an archivist, fine art and small museum curator experienced in handling and exhibiting myriad items, from old to new and fragile to robust.

She is also an experienced WWI researcher, having founded the Gallipoli (2013) and Western Front Dead from Western Australia (2016) projects, which have determined the number of West Australians killed in those theatres of war.

In 2014-2015 Shannon wrote a popular weekly newspaper column 'Gallipoli Remembered', for which she was a WA Media Award finalist for Best Columnist (the Matt Price Award). This was followed in 2018 by a second weekly newspaper column, ‘Western Front Remembered’. Both are in the WA curriculum.

Shannon is currently establishing the Newman College Archives as part of a partnership between the School and Museum of Perth, and Project Leader for our partnership with RAC in management of their Archives/Heritage Centre.

Janki Tailor - Administration & Employment Programs Manager

Janki Tailor arrived in Australia in 2015 from Gujarat State in India to be with her husband Maulik and shortly afterwards joined the team at the Museum of Perth as a volunteer.

Proving an invaluable asset to the Museum's operations she joined staff in 2016, and has since been leading various projects and overseeing the administration of the Museum's administrative operations. Janki leads the recruitment, administration and supervision of Museum volunteers while managing Museum of Perth projects and exhibitions.

She has a background in medical research, and was previously employed at a research facility at Anand Agricultural University. Janki has a Bachelor’s Degree and Masters in Science majoring in Bioinfomatics, by leading some projects specialising in Oral Cancer.

Janki loves photography and has developed a passion for the history of the city.

Reece Harley - Executive Director

Reece is a City of Perth resident with an abiding interest and passion for the history of his City. He holds a Bachelor of Communication Majoring in Political and International Studies and Media Studies from Murdoch University. He is a founding member of the Rotary Club of Crawley.

Prior to his election as a Councillor of the City of Perth, Reece ran history and small bar walking tours of the City sharing his knowledge with residents and visitors alike. He prides himself on knowing every alleyway and street, arcade and building like the back of his hand. Reece founded the Perth History Association Inc. and Museum of Perth in 2015 to foster a better understanding of the City in a historic context.