Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Act 2017
15Unclaimed material
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15 Unclaimed material
(1) This section applies to –
(a) unsolicited material that has at any time been left at TMAG premises; and
(b) material that TMAG has at any time accepted or apparently accepted on loan or deposit, which is of unknown or uncertain provenance and which the Board no longer necessarily wishes to hold; and
(c) material of known provenance that TMAG has at any time accepted or apparently accepted on loan or deposit, which appears subsequently to have been forgotten about or abandoned by its owner and which the Board no longer necessarily wishes to hold.
(2) The following provisions apply:
(a) the Board is to try to locate the owner of the material (which attempt is required to be reasonable but not exhaustive, costly or sustained);
(b) if within a prescribed period the Board is able to locate the owner of the material, it is to give the owner a reasonable opportunity to reclaim the material (whereupon the Board may release it);
(c) if within a prescribed period the Board is able to locate the owner of the material but there are competing claims of ownership, the Board is to continue to hold the material pending the resolution of those claims by agreement, proceedings or otherwise and the consequential due reclamation of the material (whereupon the Board may release it);
(d) if within a prescribed period the Board is able to locate a person who might be the owner of the material, it is to give the person a reasonable opportunity to establish their right of ownership and reclaim the material (whereupon the Board may release it);
(e) the Board may retain the material or dispose of the material when and as it thinks fit (including, if necessary, by destruction) if –
(i) it is unable, within a prescribed period, to locate the owner of the material; or
(ii) it is able, within a prescribed period, to locate the owner of the material but the owner does not wish or bother to reclaim the material as provided by paragraph (b) ; or
(iii) it is able, within a prescribed period, to locate the owner of the material but there are competing claims of ownership and these are not duly resolved within a secondary prescribed period; or