http://museumvictoria.com.au/ Museum Victoria's blog en http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/3d-printing-at-smartbar-/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/3d-printing-at-smartbar-/ Ely Wallis Thu, 16 May 2013 01:35:00 GMT The theme of the most recent SmartBar at Melbourne Museum was 'retrofuturism'. A perfect theme to base a demonstration of technology that's definitely more future than retro – 3D printing. During the evening we had two printers set up: the Museum's recently-purchased MakerBot Replicator2 and a printer brought along by our colleagues Bernard Meade and Ben Kreunen (from The University of... MV demostrates the possibilities and challenges of this new technology Ely Wallis Thu, 16 May 2013 01:35:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/childs-play/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/childs-play/ Museum Victoria Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT Up in her studio in Melbourne’s CBD, artist and animator Isobel Knowles is working on something wonderful for the First Peoples exhibition . She is turning accounts of the traditional toys and play of Aboriginal children into beautiful animations for our young visitors.  Single image include . .   Isobel creates her animations with a combination of delicately cut pieces of paper, watercolour... Animating the toys of Aboriginal children. Museum Victoria Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/amstrad/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/amstrad/ Siobhan Sun, 12 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT So, it’s not as big or as flashy as CSIRAC (1949), but the real star of last week’s Smart Bar event here in the Discovery Centre was our Amstrad Portable Personal Computing device (1987). Whilst CSIRAC has the weight of history, ground-breaking science, and several good-sized African elephants behind it, the Amstrad spoke to some more personal nostalgia for many of our visitors – sort of the... Discovery Centre hosts a classic 1987 computer. Siobhan Sun, 12 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/get-down-and-get-fungi/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/get-down-and-get-fungi/ Colin Fri, 10 May 2013 00:30:00 GMT After an extended summer, cool and wet weather starts to set in, resulting in a bloom of beauty for those who know where to look. I'm talking about fungi; those things that taste so good with butter on toast, form mould on your bread, and make your feet itch! Single image include . .   In the past, fungi were classified as plants. But fungi differ from plants in that they do not possess the... Mushrooms and moulds aplenty in the Forest Gallery. Colin Fri, 10 May 2013 00:30:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/launch-of-spencerandgillen/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/launch-of-spencerandgillen/ Museum Victoria Wed, 08 May 2013 06:39:00 GMT The Spencer & Gillen: A Journey through Aboriginal Australia website was launched last Friday at a celebration at Melbourne Museum. In attendance were MV staff, representatives from several partner institutions, Central Arrernte Elders, and descendants of the two ethnographers, Walter Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen. Single image include . .   Single image include . .   Single image include . ... Compiling over 50,000 records of Central Australian Aboriginal people. Museum Victoria Wed, 08 May 2013 06:39:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/annular-solar-eclipse/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/annular-solar-eclipse/ Museum Victoria Wed, 08 May 2013 01:00:00 GMT On the morning of May 10, the Moon will meet up with the Sun in the sky. Many places across Australia will experience a partial solar eclipse - here in Melbourne, 37% of the Sun’s diameter will be blocked by the Moon. It’s not enough for us to notice any visible effects, but if you use the right observing methods (as described below), it’s a neat thing to watch. However, along a narrow line... On Friday 10 May, Australia will be treated to a special solar eclipse. Museum Victoria Wed, 08 May 2013 01:00:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/mvs-field-guide-app---now-on-android/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/may-2013/mvs-field-guide-app---now-on-android/ Nicole K Mon, 06 May 2013 01:34:00 GMT Since the launch of MV's Field Guide app for Apple mobile devices, we've received hundreds of requests for an Android version, my favourite being: All I want for Christmas is an update on the Android field guide! Well – drumroll – it's here ! Last Friday, we were very proud that Senator The Hon Don Farrell, Minister for Science and Research and Minister Assisting for Tourism, was able to join u... Senator The Hon Don Farrell launches the Android version of the MV Field Guide. Nicole K Mon, 06 May 2013 01:34:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/shake-your-family-tree/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/shake-your-family-tree/ Phil Sat, 20 Apr 2013 02:30:00 GMT Last week the Immigration Museum Discovery Centre participated in the annual Shake Your Family Tree event. Organised by the National Archives of Australia (NAA), this is a national event that brings together family history experts in one location for an entire day.   Single image include . .   It was an opportunity for budding genealogists to delve even deeper into their family history with a... National Archives Open Day Phil Sat, 20 Apr 2013 02:30:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/modelling-myees-hands/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/modelling-myees-hands/ Museum Victoria Tue, 16 Apr 2013 06:29:00 GMT Last Friday Myee Patten, daughter of MV staff member Will Patten, came to work with her dad to stick her hands in a bucket of goo. This might seem an odd school holiday activity, but it will help exhibition curators demonstrate the toys of Aboriginal children in the Toy Stories section of First Peoples . For scale and context, children’s objects are best shown in the hands of children– so we... Creating moulds and casts to tell Toy Stories in <em>First Peoples</em>. Museum Victoria Tue, 16 Apr 2013 06:29:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/new-species-in-the-mv-field-guide-app/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/new-species-in-the-mv-field-guide-app/ Nicole K Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:30:00 GMT To celebrate the upcoming release of the Android version of the MV Field Guide app, we're adding a suite of new species; species that have been specifically requested by the users of the existing iOS app. However, we were missing images of a few species, including Victoria's bird emblem the Helmeted Honeyeater. With no images, these species were going to be left out of the app. So we asked our ... Thanks to the winners of our photography competition! Nicole K Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:30:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/easter-extravaganza/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/easter-extravaganza/ Elizabeth Downey Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:00:00 GMT Elizabeth is a Programs Officer at the Immigration Museum These school holidays the Immigration Museum’s Easter Extravaganza program explores Easter traditions from around the world – from Australia to Germany, Russia, Bermuda and beyond. Single image include . . Museum Victoria's Adrienne Leith has been creating her own Easter traditions since the mid-1960s, when she began saving the colourful... Explore Easter traditions from around the world this school holidays Elizabeth Downey Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:00:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/return-from-mount-dako/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/apr-2013/return-from-mount-dako/ Kevin Rowe Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:48:00 GMT Kevin is our Senior Curator of Mammals. He investigates the systematics, evolution and conservation biology of mammals with a particular interest in rodents. On Saturday 23 March, we returned to Melbourne from our expedition to Sulawesi, Indonesia. Our last week we spent at the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense sorting specimens and preparing permits to return to Australia. A week earlier on 16 Marc... Sulawesi field team complete this year's fieldwork. Kevin Rowe Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:48:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/mar-2013/twenty-one-today/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/mar-2013/twenty-one-today/ Robin Hirst Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:00:00 GMT Dr Robin Hirst joined the Museum in 1981 to manage the H V McKay Melbourne Planetarium. He was given the task of leading the development of the Exhibitions and Programs for Scienceworks. He is now Director of Collections, Research and Exhibitions at Museum Victoria. The morning of 28 March 1992 was one the weary crew had worked towards for five years. We hoped that people would venture deep int... Scienceworks opened 21 years ago today. Robin Hirst Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:00:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/mar-2013/in-flight-at-the-royal-childrens-hospital/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/mar-2013/in-flight-at-the-royal-childrens-hospital/ Alex Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:24:00 GMT Alex Price is a Programs Officer at the Immigration Museum. She has a passion for Cultural Diversity education and Early Learning. In celebration of Cultural Diversity Week, the Immigration Museum Education and Community Programs team took the In-Flight installation to the Royal Children’s Hospital on Tuesday 19 March 2013. Originally part of the Another Country artist in residence series held ... Celebrating Cultural Diversity Week. Alex Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:24:00 GMT http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/mar-2013/kooyang-in-first-peoples/ http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/mar-2013/kooyang-in-first-peoples/ Museum Victoria Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:30:00 GMT The Kooyang ('eels' in the Gunditjmara family of languages) section of the upcoming First Peoples exhibition will feature an eel trap in a diorama of Western District eel-farming practice. The trap, woven from puung'ort (spear grass) by Gunditjmara woman Jody-Ann Agnew, tells the story of one of the world’s oldest aquaculture systems. Single image include . .   Museum designers, curators,... Exhibiting one of the world’s oldest aquaculture systems. Museum Victoria Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:30:00 GMT