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Dinosaur skeleton on display
Image: Ben Wrigley
Source: Museum Victoria
In the largest exhibition redevelopment ever planned by Museum Victoria, Melbourne Museum’s Science and Life Gallery will receive a $7 million upgrade by May 2010. The plans for the gallery include four new exhibitions featuring many never-before-seen objects from the Museum’s extensive natural sciences collection.
“This is the largest gallery redevelopment ever planned by Museum Victoria. When completed, the Science and Life Gallery will be one of the most comprehensive natural sciences galleries in Australia,” revealed Dr Patrick Greene, CEO, Museum Victoria.
“Our state has the greatest diversity of any in Australia, so the displays will fascinate Victorians and visitors from interstate and overseas,” he added.
When the multi-phased project is completed, there will be more than 3,000 objects from Museum Victoria’s celebrated natural sciences collections on display including objects from Museum Victoria’s renowned palaeontology, geology, birds and mammals collections.
The redevelopment will be substantially funded by the Victorian State Government through funds received by Museum Victoria in the 2008 / 2009 State Budget, augmented by sponsorship.
“The diverse displays in the galleries will be united by one theme – change: changing climates, changing landscapes, changing life forms – which will tell the story of evolution,” explained Dr John Long, Head, Sciences, Museum Victoria.
“One of the critical issues in our lives today is our changing climate, and the ways in which this is impacting our land, our native flora and fauna, and the way in which we live our lives. Using the Museum’s expert knowledge, extensive collections and state-of-the-art display techniques, this redevelopment will specifically address this issue of change and provide visitors with ways to learn more about the past, the present and, most importantly, the future,” he added.
Themes of the individual exhibitions will include:
Dinosaur Walk – Scheduled to open in April 2009, the exhibition will feature skeletons including dinosaurs, megafauna and contemporary skeletons. A particular highlight of this exhibition will be the Amargasaurus, re-positioned so that it stands on its hind legs.
Exhibition no 2 (yet to be named) - This exhibition looks at biodiversity and change from a worldwide and Victorian perspective. The exhibition will feature different Victorian environments including alps, grassland, mallee, wetlands and dry forest in a 21st century version of traditional Museum dioramas. This exhibition will open in September 2009.
Exhibition no 3 - This exhibition is a journey through 600 million years, starting with first multicellular life and progressing to familiar lifeforms and landscapes. Visitors will be able to move through different environments – from deep sea to land, through extinctions and into the Australian landscapes of the megafauna. This exhibition will open mid 2010.
Exhibition no 4 - The final exhibition of the series looks at what makes our planet dynamic, examining the formation of the Earth, ancient life and water, tectonic plates, volcanoes, earthquakes, meteorites and the Earth’s resources. Museum Victoria is currently pursuing funding for this exhibition scheduled to open in 2011.
A specially developed website featuring exhibition updates, behind the scenes videos, blogs by the curators and development updates by Margie the Amargasaurus has also been created to celebrate the project. To view, go to museumvictoria.com.au/scienceandlife.
For further media information, interviews or images, please contact:
Jessica Bendell on 03 8341 7726, 0439 341 007 or jbendell@museum.vic.gov.au