Exhibitions

A big, cracking thank you to everyone who visited the Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention exhibition at Scienceworks this year. Over 100,000 visitors tinkered inside the exhibition while it was on display from 19 May to 11 November, and just over 15,000 entries were received in the Cracking Ideas Competition.

Our panel of judges, including a representative from Intellectual Property Australia (IP Australia), has selected the lucky winners from the tremendous pool of wildly creative ideas and contraptions we received as part of the competition.

A big congratulations to you, budding inventors! Your prizes are on their way!

The Recycling Robot
Image: Millie (5 years old)  

Littlies
• Animal Alive by Isla (5 years old)
• A Hair Machine by Zoe (4 years old)
• Rainbow Slide by Elliot (3 years old)
• Automatic Rooftop Window Cleaning Machine by Juliet (6 years old)
• The Arvi by Oliver (5 years old)
• Clever Night Light by Rohan (6 years old)
• The Recycling Robot by Millie (5 years old)
• The Super Car by James (6 years old)

The Super Car
Image: James (6 years old)  

Bigger kids
• Memory cap by Ned (8 years old)
• The Super Bed-O-Matic by Ned (7 years old)
• The Perfect House by Ashley (10 years old)
• Mandy Rin by Stephanie (9 years old)
• S.L.T.D.A.R (Stephanie Leonard's Trash Detector and Remover) by Stephanie (10 years old)
• Solar Powered Earmuffs by Phoebe (11 years old)
• The Future Tablet by Tristan (12 years old)
• The Unnecessary Tea Machine by Daniel (11 years old)

Teen kids
• Blue pen with stylus by Sam (16 years old)
• Traffic Jam Jam by Maya (16 years old)
• The "Wake up you lazy git" O-Matic by John (13 years old)
• Aerodynamic Wind Propelled Sustainable Car by Beatrix (14 years old)
• Doggy Seeds by Faith (13 years old)
• The Cup-Caker by Isabella (14 years old)
• The No Drip Cone by Dshamilja (17 years old)
• Giant Mechanical Ozone by Murray (19 years old)

Guinea pig cage mover
Image: Natalie (39 years old)  

Even bigger kids
• Water ladder by Rachael (38 years old)
• Idea-o-matic by Courtney (20 years old)
• Boot with tiny robot legs by Andrew (21 years old)
• Onion eyes by Anna (38 years old)
• Pot-o-gold locate-a-matron by Coralie (34 years old)
• Guinea pig cage mover by Natalie (39 years old)
• Pizza Player by Paul (45 years old)

Wallace & Gromit on the set of the World of Invention TV series.
Source: (c) Aardman Animations Ltd. 2012  

P.S. If you're in Sydney over the summer, don't miss seeing the Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum too.

Links:

IP Australia

The Giant Grasshopper is so named for being the largest grasshopper in Australia. The adult's body length, however, varies from an enormous 90mm to less than half that size. This gives it the scientific name Valanga irregularis, referring not only to the irregular colouration but also the irregular length. People who know the species well simply call it Valanga.

The mottled grey form of the Giant Grasshopper, common around Townsville, North Queensland.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

Unlike many of the better-known grasshoppers, this species feeds not on grass but on the leaves of shrubs and trees. They have a very variable diet, ranging from native plants to citrus, cotton, coconut and even coffee plants. This makes them a minor pest in some areas, due to their occasional habit of consuming every leaf on a food plant when present in large numbers.

The spectacular brown version of the Giant Grasshopper common around Iron Range, North Queensland.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

Giant Grasshopper nymphs change colour with each moult, varying from light green to a spectacular red with blue stripes. The eggs are laid in batches of up to 150 within 'pods', made of a frothy substance that hardens upon drying. The eggs are sometimes attacked by a tiny parasitic wasp (Scelio flavicornis), which lays its own eggs inside the grasshopper's eggs, the wasp grubs feeding on the embryo within.

Left: A young nymph. Right: An older bright green nymph.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

Adult grasshoppers are very sensitive to movement and will leap away at the slightest disturbance. They can fly upwards as high as two metres, then horizontally in a straight line until they hit the ground. However, Giant Grasshoppers tire easily and the length decreases rapidly with each consecutive leap.

A close encounter with a Giant Grasshopper from the Northern Territory.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

Giant Grasshoppers occur across the top of Australia and there are a number of closely related species, at least four of which are undescribed. They are all very difficult to distinguish from each other, due to variations in most of the important characteristics, including size.

A captive adult Giant Grasshopper satisfies its ravenous appetite with Orthopteran mix.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

This species survives very well in captivity, feeding on a combination of fish flakes, grass seed, muesli, and pollen (known as Orthopteran mix). Unlike other insect species, they show no signs of inbreeding – a single mated female may be sole progenitor to tens of thousands of descendants over many generations without a single sign of genetic deformities.

The Habitats exhibit, home of the Giant Grasshopper and many other spectacular creatures in Bugs Alive!
Source: Museum Victoria  

Giant Grasshoppers can be seen in the Habitats exhibit in Bugs Alive! at Melbourne Museum.

173 years ago today, on 11 September 1839, a reed necklace held in the MV Collection was collected in the Melbourne area by George Augustus Robinson. The necklace is one of five he collected during his tenure as Chief Protector of Aborigines for Port Phillip (1839-1849).

Reed necklace collected by GA Robinson in 1839. It is made from 162 hollow reed segments strung on vegetable string. (X84452)
Image: Photograph: Jon Augier
Source: Museum Victoria  

The necklace belonged to a man from Port Phillip whose name was recorded as Po.un.deet (elsewhere spelled Wo.un.deek or Porrundeet). In his later journals, Robinson recorded the name for the reed necklace as teer.er.rer.gone.burt, and observed the local custom of presenting necklaces as a greeting to friends. In an entry from 6 June 1841 he described what happened when a family visited his station:

Mar.ke, the native woman at Tulloh's [property], after some mutual exploration appeared highly pleased at meeting with my native attendants. She recognized an old acquaintance and, without ceremony, took the kangaroo teeth ornaments that adorned his hair and reed necklace that adorned his neck and decorated her child therewith. This I observed to be the custom of the natives when meeting with friends.

The wonderful story of Porrundeet's teer.er.rer.gone.burt will feature in the Many Nations section of the new First Peoples exhibition at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre.

Links:

GA Robinson, Protector of Aborigines (State Library of NSW)

Bunjilaka Redevelopment Project

Alice interned with MV for her Master of Art Curatorship at University of Melbourne. She researched science and medical themes for the upcoming Think Ahead exhibition at Scienceworks.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo diorama. Scenery painted by George Browning.
Source: Museum Victoria

At the height of their popularity in the 20th century, museum dioramas could be found in almost every natural history museum, both locally and internationally, and in a variety of shapes, forms and genres. In Australia, the former National Museum of Victoria, the Australian Museum in Sydney, the Australian War Memorial and the South Australian Museum were all eager to adopt this method of display from the 1920s onwards and allocated significant funds and energy into producing many fine examples of this art form.

Museum dioramas are three-dimensional life sized or scaled down models usually depicting a natural scene or historical event for the purpose of education and entertainment. In most cases they employ a painted backdrop combined with realistic foreground to create a trompe l'oeil effect, evoking the illusion of a real scene.

Young volunteers preparing leaves for a diorama, circa 1940s.
Source: Museum Victoria  

At its former location in Swanston St, Museum Victoria had an impressive array of dioramas. The earliest in the collection, initially built for the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London, illustrated scenes of Australian Aboriginal life. Another display, The Victorian Fauna Series, was first prepared in the 1940s and was housed in the alcoves of McCoy Hall. It remained on display until the closing of the Swanston Street museum in 1998. Other examples, such as the Lion diorama built in 1928, and the Polar Bear diorama built in 1930 were dismantled in 1973 and 1984 respectively.

Polar Bear diorama built in 1930 at the National Museum.
Source: Museum Victoria

African Lion diorama built in 1928. Preparation by Charles Brazenor and scene painting by Louis McCubbin.The lion on the left is now on display in the Wild exhibition.
Source: Museum Victoria  

Today some of the remnants of these displays persist, but are relegated to the collection stores of the museum, where intact scenes are shelved amid an array of taxidermied animal specimens. Hidden in their custom-built boxes, these smaller examples of habitat dioramas were at one stage earmarked for display but were replaced with more contemporary purpose-built exhibits, such as those found within the Wild: Amazing Animals in a Changing World and 600 Million Years: Victoria evolves exhibitions. Unlike their static historical counterparts, these new examples such as the Mallee Fowl diorama and Qantassaurus diorama employ interactive components, ranging from peep-holes to animatronics, to bring this historical method of display into the 21st century.

Visiting children enthralled by the animatronic Qantassaurus diorama in Melbourne Museum's 600 Million Years: Victoria evolves exhibition.
Image: Dianna Snape
Source: Museum Victoria  

To my knowledge, there are only a few examples of intact historical habitat dioramas currently on display in Australia. The oldest example is found within the skeleton gallery of the Australian Museum in Sydney; almost completely obscured, the Lord Howe Island diorama from 1921 can only be seen through several narrow peep-holes. The South Australian Museum has also retained one of its historical bird dioramas. Built in 1939, the Cormorant Rookery remains in its site-specific location to be included within the museum's recent South Australian Biodiversity Gallery redevelopment.

Links:

'The McCoy Hall Victorian Fauna Dioramas: at least some things stay the same' by John Kean. From A Museum for the People by Carolyn Rasmussen.

Sir David Attenborough, in Melbourne for a speaking tour, visited Melbourne Museum unannounced last Wednesday with his daughter. Although he's best known for his natural history work, Sir David is fascinated by anthropology. He has collected Australian Aboriginal shields for many years, including rainforest shields from Queensland, and was keen to see local examples from the MV Indigenous Cultures Collection.

The seemingly unfortunate timing of his visit – Bunjilaka's permanent exhibitions are temporarily closed for redevelopment – actually turned out to be very good timing. Sir David mentioned to Kim Kaal in customer service that he had hoped to see Aboriginal shields on display. Quick-thinking Kim grabbed Bunjilaka's John Patten as he was walking past. Within a few minutes, John and colleague Kimberly Moulton arranged a tour of the collection store where the Bunjilaka Redevelopment Team has been working on the object-rich Many Nations section of the new exhibition, First Peoples.

Sir David Attenborough with members of the Bunjilaka Redevelopment Team, looking at objects selected for display in First Peoples.
Source: Museum Victoria  

Sir David spent almost an hour talking with curators and collection staff about the objects selected for the exhibition. Rosemary Wrench, the curator of Many Nations, says that he was fascinated by the objects and asked detailed questions about their provenance, designs, creation and use. He was especially pleased to hear that First Peoples will have such a strong focus on the people and cultures of south-eastern Australia. His considerable knowledge about artefacts was apparent, but he was still wonderfully surprised by unfamiliar items, such as possum jaws used to engrave designs into tools and objects.

Curator Rosemary Wrench talking with Sir David Attenborough about objects selected for First Peoples.
Source: Museum Victoria  

Sir David's favourite object was an etched shield from New South Wales. He examined it for some time and said, "That is magnificent, and worth a trip all the way to Australia just to see this." He was also particularly interested in a Victorian spear thrower and its ornate designs; he studied it very closely and described it as "remarkable and intriguing." He was very glad to hear that these and other treasures will be on display in First Peoples.

Aboriginal shield from New South Wales, showing the elaborately carved front and the handle at the back. (X1047)
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria

Detail of the exquisite carving on the front of the NSW shield.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria  

Your Question: How do diamonds get their colours? What's so special about the pink ones?

Diamonds are made up of carbon atoms arranged in rigid tetrahedrons (triangular pyramids).  Pure diamonds are transparent and colourless. They are very rare and therefore very valuable.

Five diamonds from E.J Dunn collection found in Beechworth.
Image: Frank Coffa
Source: Museum Victoria  

Most naturally-coloured diamonds are created when trace elements interact with the carbon atoms during the diamond's creation. The presence of chemical elements such as nitrogen, sulphur, and boron can colour diamonds in shades of yellow, green and blue.

Diamond specimens from the Great Southern mine (Rutherglen, Victoria).
Image: Frank Coffa
Source: Museum Victoria  

Pink diamonds, however, are a different story.Trace elements have never been found in pink diamonds. Instead, the colour is caused by a distortion in the diamond's crystal lattice, created by intense heat and great pressure from all directions (non-isotropic stress) after the stone's formation in the earth. This distortion displaces many carbon atoms from their normal positions and alters the qualities of light reflected by the diamond. It is this special configuration of the molecules that allows us to observe the stone as pink.

Although pink diamonds are found throughout the world, pink diamonds from the Argyle Mine are said to have the finest colour of fancy, intense pink (colour saturation). This is because Argyle pinks possess densely-packed graining planes that emanate pink colour (twinning lamination). In contrast, non-Argyle pinks have few and indistinct pink graining and are therefore generally lighter in colour. The pink graining in Argyle stones is sometimes visible to the naked eye.

Pink diamonds are not just special because of their structure; they're also incredibly rare: for every one million carats of diamond produced at Argyle, only one carat will be of high-quality pink colour.

The Argyle Pink Jubilee diamond (from Argyle Diamond Mine, WA): the largest pink diamond ever found in Australia, donated to Museum Victoria by Rio Tinto.
Image: John Broomfield
Source: Museum Victoria  

The largest pink diamond ever found in Australia is the Argyle Pink Jubilee diamond (8.01 carats). It was donated to Museum Victoria by Rio Tinto and is currently on display in Melbourne Museum's Dynamic Earth exhibition.

Got a question? Ask us!

Links:

Museum Victoria: Australia’s largest pink diamond

Melbourne Museum: Dynamic Earth

Museum Victoria: Diamonds

The Age: Rare diamond puts Melbourne Museum in the pink