Scienceworks

The Phryne Fisher detective series by Melbourne author Kerry Greenwood has been delighting and exciting those of us who have a passion for, or even a passing interest in, the dynamic and ever changing history of Melbourne. The television adaptation of the adventures of the sassy super sleuth has set the scene of 1920s Melbourne for avid readers of the series.

We are excited to say that Museum Victoria’s very own Spotswood Pumping Station will star in this Friday night's episode of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (27 April 2012, 8:30pm on ABC1, repeated Sunday 29 April, 10:15pm on ABC1). To help you spot our beloved Pumping Station, we have included some terrific images from our collection in this post.

Spotswood Pumping Station, North Engine House interior, 1930s.
Source: Museum Victoria  

The heritage-listed Spotswood Pumping Station was built by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works and completed in 1897. It formed a crucial link in Melbourne’s first sewage collection system by pumping the raw sewage from the underground sewers around Melbourne to Brooklyn, from where it flowed under gravity to the final processing site in Werribee.

Melbourne’s growth as an internationally renowned city was dependent upon being able to manage its waste in a safe and efficient fashion, and the Pumping Station certainly played a most important role.

Spotswood Pumping Station, eastern frontage, 1930s.
Source: Museum Victoria  

Imagine our delight and intrigue when we heard that the Spotswood Pumping Station, located at Scienceworks, would play host to a TV shoot and be transformed into a 1920s factory. The upshot of which: this Friday night, episode ten of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries sees Phryne (Essie Davis) investigate the death of a young female worker in a factory 'accident'. She soon learns that the woman's death might not be the misadventure the police think it is. Faced with a wall of secrecy and lies, Phryne sends her trusty maid Dot (Ashleigh Cummings) undercover into the factory to investigate. When a second suspicious death occurs, Phryne fights desperately to save one of her closest friends from the gallows.

Dr Mac (Tammy MacIntosh) in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries episode 10, 'Death by Miss Adventure', in a scene shot in the Spotswood Pumping Station.
Source: Provided courtesy of ABC TV  

In the above image, Phryne’s best friend Dr Mac is standing in the South Engine Room in front of one of the electrically powered air compressors built by local engineering company, Kelly & Lewis, circa 1926. Most of the Pumping Station interior and machinery seen in the background of factory scenes during the episode have barely changed since the decade in which the series is set.

Spotswood Pumping Station, North Engine House interior, 1930s.
Source: Museum Victoria  

The Spotswood Pumping Station has been the site of many a dalliance with the silver screen and we are all excited to continue our sleuthing into the many uses of this wonderful part of Melbourne’s history in film and television. To be continued...

When I heard Gideon Defoe’s book, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists, was being adapted into a stop-motion animation film by the highly revered Aardman Animations, I was extremely excited.

The Pirate Captain from The Pirates! Band of Misfits movie.
Image: Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures
Source: Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Australia.  

After almost a year of anticipation, The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in cinemas today in Victoria and Queensland, 5 April nationally, and I can’t wait! Why am I so excited? Well, for two main reasons:

1. The Pirates! is an Aardman Animations studio film

Wallace and Gromit - the world's most famous inventors.
Image: Aardman Animations
Source: (C) Aardman Animations Ltd 2012  

Aardman are famous for creating two of the world’s greatest inventors, Wallace and Gromit. At Scienceworks, we’re not only busy preparing the jumbo crates to send the animatronic dinosaurs from our Explore-a-saurus exhibition to Scitech, Perth, we’re also busy preparing for our next exhibition, Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention. More about that exhibition another time, lad.

While researching for this blog post, I was fascinated to learn that The Pirates! movie took Aardman over five years to create - two years of scripting, one and a half years of storyboarding, designing and building puppets and sets, one and a half years of shooting and a final thre months of post-production to stick it all together. Phew! That’s about the same amount of time it takes to develop some of Museum Victoria’s major exhibitions.

2. My love for stop motion animation film

I adore stop motion animation film. I love the attention to detail. The little figures in their little costumes holding little props standing in little sets, all meticulously handmade and painstakingly moved a fraction of a centimetre at a time, that magically culminates in living, breathing characters acting out wonderful and moving storylines.

For The Pirates! it took 70 talented model makers to make over 250 puppets, including 23 background pirates, 18 background scientist characters and 55 special characters. Check out this behind the scenes video from Aardman on ‘Puppet Maintenance’ during the making of The Pirates! movie.

Arrrrggghhh, now for the fun part - the giveaway. And it's just for you, me hearties!

WIN The Pirates! Booty Pack

From the creators of Wallace and Gromit, The Pirates! Band of Misfits film opens in cinemas this Thursday 5 April.
Image: Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures
Source: Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Australia.

To celebrate the movie coming to Australia (and really, to start the ‘Wallace & Gromit are moving in to Scienceworks in May’ celebrations), we’re giving away ten The Pirates! Booty Packs to MV Blog readers.

Each Booty Pack is packed with cool The Pirates! treasure including a digital watch, activity kit, stationery set and a copy of the The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists (a book more suitable for big kids).

To be in the running to win, simply leave a comment on this post telling us which scientist (or historian) would you love to go on an adventure with and why. Submit your comment before 9am, Friday 6 April. We’ll select 10 of our favourite scurvy dog answers.  

So get cracking and tell us about your dream adventure!

P.S. A big thank you to Sony Pictures Australia for providing us with this awesome Booty Pack of The Pirates! treasure to giveaway to you! And, if you want to win tickets to see the film, make sure you follow Scienceworks on Facebook and Twitter.

P.S.S. Don't miss hearing David Tennant as Charles Darwin in the film too! Swoon!

Links:

The Pirates! website

Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention exhibition at Scienceworks - buy your tickets online now!

This guest post is by Damien Currie, Monash University Journalism student and Public Relations Intern with Museum Victoria.

Fifteen Scienceworks displays can be found inside Melbourne's new Royal Children's Hospital, acting as a distraction for sick kids needing medical care.

Child playing with Scienceworks exhibit at the Royal Children's Hospital.
Image: Damien Currie
Source: Damien Currie  

Andrew Lewis, Manager of Exhibitions at Scienceworks, led the team who designed and constructed the displays that are scattered around the hospital.

"The majority of ideas are typical Science Centre exhibits, albeit adapted to suit their intended environment. Not having to adhere to any specific theme broadened the list of possibilities," said Andrew.

Child playing with Scienceworks exhibit at the Royal Children's Hospital.
Image: Damien Currie
Source: Damien Currie  

Christine Kilpatrick, CEO of the Royal Children's Hospital, said they were delighted at the opportunity to work with the team at Scienceworks.

"In our new hospital, we have created an environment that reflects the unique nature of a children's hospital. Art, nature and learning are reflected throughout recognising the importance of all these to the healing process. We recognise that despite being in hospital, children are still actively learning and developing," she said.

"The Scienceworks interactive learning displays support this philosophy and invite children to explore, engage and learn in the hospital environment. They are not only a welcome distraction, but challenge children to think and solve problems in a fun and surprising way."

Children playing with Scienceworks exhibit at the Royal Children's Hospital.
Image: Damien Currie
Source: Damien Currie  

The brief given for the designs of the 15 exhibits was quite specific, as they needed to be educational as well as entertaining while being durable and accessible to a wide window of ages.

"The biggest constraints were the tight budget and selecting concepts that provided repeat and ongoing appeal for children who may be required to attend the hospital for extended periods," said Andrew.

Where possible, the displays are wheelchair friendly and able to be used simultaneously by two or more kids. They also needed to not be mechanical or powered by electricity or batteries and be able to be moved with ease so they can be rotated around the hospital to remain fresh and exciting to patients.

The original idea for the project was secured in late 2006 when Scienceworks agreed to participate as a Community Partner to the new hospital project, along with other institutions such as the Melbourne Zoo and the Melbourne Aquarium.

“Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

This remarkably ordinary sentence, spoken by Alexander Graham Bell 136 years ago on 10 March 1876, comprises the first clear bi-directional transmission of speech via telephone. One of Bell's original experimental phones is set to go on display at Scienceworks in the upcoming Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention exhibition.

  Bell Double-Pole Magneto receiver (ST 035633).
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria  

This Bell Double-Pole Magneto receiver is not the one Bell used when uttering that famous first sentence but it is very similar. It too was made in 1876 prior to Bell's first public demonstration of the telephone at Philadelphia's Centennial Exhibition in July of that year. It was used with the transmitter also in the museum's collection.

"These highly significant objects were originally brought to Melbourne by Bell's uncle, Edward Symonds, who visited his nephew's Boston laboratory in August 1876. Bell remained in contact with his uncle afterwards, and Symonds went on to assist in administering Bell's Australian patents," said curator David Demant. The transmitter, receiver and other Bell material were eventually donated to Museum Victoria in 1974 by Symonds' descendants.

"It is nowadays very hard to imagine life before the telephone, so deep has been its social and technological influence," said David.

Most workers on a smoko break shoot the breeze or maybe have a cuppa, but on rare occasions, smoko engenders creative genius. In the railyards of Newport in the late 1920s, a new sport emerged as workers improvised a game played with bits and pieces around the workshop. This uniquely Melburnian game, attributed to a Mr. Thomas Grieves of Yarraville, is called trugo.

Workers at the Newport Workshops, circa 1925. Perhaps a champion trugo player stands among them. (MM 8099).
Source: Museum Victoria  

Every aspect of trugo is linked inextricably to its railyard origins. The thirty-yard field of play is the ength of a railway carriage. Teams of players hit a rubber ring – a buffer from a train –backwards through their legs with a wooden mallet. If the ring makes it through the goal, which is as wide as the distance between train seats, it's a 'true go'.

Trugo clubs sprang up all over the blue-collar suburbs of Melbourne. The first were in the west – Yarraville and Footscray – but it spread to Brunswick, Preston, Prahran, South Melbourne and beyond. By 1938, the social pages of the Healesville and Yarra Glen Guardian were raving about the game that was "like croquet, only different". From boom times in the 1940s, many clubs have struggled to remain open in recent years. Preston Trugo Club is shuttered up and looking grim, while the second-oldest club at Footscray is gone and replaced with a housing development.

Trugo equipment from the MV collection is on display in the Sportsworks exhibition. A group of History and Technology Department staff decided it was time to learn first-hand how it was used, so at the end of last year, they visited Brunswick Trugo Club to meet club president (and trugo champion) Gerald Strachan. Curator Bec Carland was among the MV guests and loved every minute of it – the history, the community, and the game itself.

Ben ‘get outta the way’ Thomas with his strident trugo technique.
Image: R. Carland
Source: Museum Victoria  

She described the set-up of the game as a "beautiful ritual of measuring out. It takes about half an hour to set up each pitch and they measure them out painstakingly as everyone stands around chatting. You can see how workers set up this process that's a little bit drawn out to make the break go longer."

Michelle Stevenson and David Crotty attempting a 'true go'.
Image: R. Carland
Source: Museum Victoria  

"The rules are simple but they flew out the window after a little while because we were all having a go. There were some standout performances – it's really quite difficult." Bec said. "No one could get three for three yet Richard arrived late, picked up a mallet, hit three for three straight away."

Richard ‘4 for 4’ Gillespie and ‘Liza ‘strongarm’ Dale-Hallett on the trugo field.
Image: R. Carland
Source: Museum Victoria  

The clubhouse is carefully maintained by the club members and is filled with memorabilia, trophies, and a rack of hand-made mallets. There's even a vegie patch out the back and a club dog. "Gerald's got this beautiful dog that chases the buffers that go off straight," according to Bec. "He says, 'don't worry, if it's on track he won't go near it'. Every time he'd follow it half-way down and if the dog veered away, you knew it was true. And if he stayed with it, you knew it 's not going to go in."

Left: Brunswick Trugo Club's prizes are on display inside the clubhouse. Right: Hand-made wooden trugo mallets on racks at Brunswick Trugo Club.
Image: R. Carland
Source: Museum Victoria  

In January, Gerald put out a call for new players in the Melbourne Times. He and other long-time members are worried that the game won't survive unless younger people start playing. Said Bec, "there wasn't a point in the day when the club members weren't discussing its past and its threatened present."

If you'd like to try trugo, Gerald would love to hear from you.

Links:

Victorian Trugo Association

YouTube video: Trugo

Curator Michael Gregg, of the Maritime History department of the Western Australian Museum in Fremantle, recently visited the Scienceworks collection store to take highly specialised photographs of a model ship in our Transport Collection.

Michael Gregg with the model of pearling lugger Mary.
Source: Museum Victoria  

The model is an exact replica of the pearling lugger Mary that operated out of Broome and Darwin in the 1920s and 30s. It was commissioned and partly constructed by Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Ingleton RAN in the 1930s to document a uniquely Australian type of vessel that was rapidly disappearing.

In 1913, the pearling industry was worth a fortune to Western Australia in exports. As Michael puts it, "Australia didn't ride on sheep's back, it was on the pearl oyster's back." In one year alone, 300 new luggers were registered. "At one stage, the guy who built this boat was turning out a new lugger every 14 days."

Michael is interested in the model because it captures details of design and construction that have been lost with the demise of the pearling lugger. "There are no Fremantle-built pearling luggers still in existence in their original form," explains Michael. This is in part due to mechanisation; the original Mary was herself fitted with an engine by the 1930s. But more significant was the illegal rebuilding of luggers and recycling of registration numbers by unscrupulous operators. World War II took a toll on the lugger fleet also, as boats were requisitioned by the Navy or destroyed ahead of a feared Japanese invasion..

"There were all sorts of shenanigans that went on with the pearling industry," Michael says. "The best way to run the industry economically was to import Malay and Japanese labour. Come the early 1900s, the White Australia Policy meant you could bring in indentured seamen to work on ships for up to two years but they were only allowed to work as crew, not boatbuilders." Pearling masters got around this technicality by signing up imported labour as crew, but quietly issuing them boatbuilding tasks as 'maintenance'.

There were three distinct types of pearling lugger built to cope with the different conditions in Broome, the Torres Strait and Shark Bay. The nature of these vessels – rapidly built to a standard pattern and considered reasonably expendable – means they were rarely preserved in model form. It was only Ingleton's interest in recording history that inspired the construction of this model, and it's being used now exactly as Ingleton intended.

Detail of the Mary model showing its beautifully detailed rigging and fittings.
Source: Museum Victoria  

"We were just gobsmacked when we discovered this model because we thought we knew of all the significant lugger material in Australia," says Michael. "We regularly trawl the net looking for references to pearling luggers. Because there was sufficient information in your Collections Online and it's searchable, it popped up in Google." One of the most exciting prospects for the model, and the reason for Michael's visit, is that he's using it to help develop photogrammetric software and techniques that will conserve Australia's maritime technology.

Michael Gregg at work taking photos of the pearling lugger model in the Scienceworks collection store, experimenting with a 3D camera.
Source: Museum Victoria  

Photogrammetry uses a series of photos analysed by a computer to build a 3D virtual model of an object. According to Michael, it's commonly used by police to help reconstruct road crashes. "It's great for working out the distance between two points in space, but we're really pushing the boundaries of what it can do." While the process will be most useful in recording full-sized ships, the Mary model invites some experimentation; he was using a 3D camera see if it would help simplify the laborious process of matching target points between different photographs. "It's much easier to work on a full-sized boat because you can stick targets all over it and nobody minds. With a museum-quality model, we can't do that. This is the first time I've recorded rigging simultaneously, too."

Michael sees photogrammetry as an incredibly useful tool for museums and more. Ultimately he hopes the software and techniques he and his colleagues are developing can do something absolutely extraordinary: use historical photographs to create something you can hold in your hand. The craze for stereoscopic photographs around the turn of the century produced countless images of one view from two slightly different angles, and these might one day allow 3D recreations of long-gone ships, buildings, artefacts and more. "It's very, very exciting."

Links:

Western Australian Museum - Maritime

Pearl lugger Mary on Collections Online

Your Question: Does Museum Victoria have the only working Australian-made traction engine?

It is believed that in 1916, Cowley’s Eureka Ironworks of Ballarat built one of Australia’s last steam traction engines. The Cowley Traction Engine, acquired by the Museum in 1985, was restored with the help of about 30 staff and volunteers over 16 years with a total of 10,000 paid hours and 6,000 voluntary hours.

Cowley Steam Traction Engine (1916) at Lake Goldsmith.
Image: Matthew Churchwood
Source: Museum Victoria  

It was dismantled and major mechanical repairs were carried out. New parts were manufactured when the old parts were found to not be restorable or could not be repaired in a way that could be reversed at a later time. Such parts included the steam boiler, the boiler fittings, tender, roof, crankshaft, feed pump, and many of the gears. All components that were replaced have been retained in storage for future reference and research.
 
Scienceworks 10th Birthday Celebration - Cowley steam engine from 1916 in action on the arena.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria  

The Cowley was used to move houses and other timber-framed buildings, as well as hauling logs for the Sawmilling industry in Western Victoria and is unusual in that it has solid sided wheels, rather than spoked ones. This design serves the dual purpose of not only being cheaper to produce, but the wheels can then double as extra water tanks – a handy advantage in the dry Australian bush.

Detail of Cowley Steam Traction Engine at Machinery in Action show
Image: Paoli Smith Photography
Source: Museum Victoria  

In 2001 the Cowley was fully restored and ready to go. It made its debut at the Lake Goldsmith steam Rally and can now be seen at Scienceworks on Machines in Action Days.
Men in the boiler shop at Cowley 's Eureka Ironworks, Ballarat, Victoria, circa 1910
Source: Museum Victoria  

Got a question? Ask us!

Links:

Podcast: Roll out the Steam Engines!

MV News: Roller returns

We love our MV Members. We appreciate their ardent support of our museums, we love that they help us plan exhibitions and to improve what we do. But why do our members choose to join Museum Victoria?

Chris and Janet Wright have held a family membership for many years and also donate to MV. We asked them a few questions to find out why.

The Wright family on the House Secrets monster couch.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria  

What made you decide to become MV Members?

Our children were babies and pre-schoolers and we wanted to pop in for an hour or so every few months. We'd meet relatives and their kids there, and stay for a little while. It was fun, stimulating and educational. Membership was an economical way for the whole family to go to the museum. We've stayed on as members both to keep the value for money, but increasingly to support the work of the museum. Janet has a personal connection to the museum, with one of her friends working there when she was at university, and the collection houses some of Chris's grandfather's firearm collection. Our daughter Annie did work experience there during her secondary school.

What do you value about Museum Victoria?

Having access to the world of knowledge, and to the world of finding out, is central to our way of life. We value that MV makes science accessible, interesting and attractive to Victorians, and it supports the work of scientists in our state. The Immigration Museum preserves wonderful stories of the history of so many Victorian families and the staff there continue to add to our knowledge.

Do you have a favourite memory or experience from your visits?

I remember as a little boy going to visit the museum when it was housed in the State Library Building on Swanston St. I was completely fascinated with the working models - these were to-scale replicas of various machines - steam engines, motors, dynamos, generators, 4 and 2 stroke petrol motors, diesel motors - all in their own wooden / glass display case, with a lovely white button in a brass bezel on the front. When you pushed the button: THINGS HAPPENED!!! The motors went around, the electric motors whirred - quite a miracle for an eight-year-old to see!

The Wright family in the Perception Deception exhibit at Scienceworks.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria  

When we visited Scienceworks as a family, we'd all try to race Cathy Freeman - we'd laugh at the skeleton pedalling and wonder at mechanics of the Pumping Station. The Immigration Museum brought back memories for Janet - when she was seven she went to the US on an ocean liner. The mock cabin brought all those memories flooding back.

The Wright family racing Cathy Freeman at Sportsworks.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria  

Are you an MV Member? What draws you back to membership each year? Do you have a favourite museum memory you'd like to share?

Links:

MV Members

Donate to MV

Scienceworks: What's On today

Alexandra is the Early Learning Program Coordinator at Scienceworks. She loves exploring the ways in which science engages young children.

We just trialled the brand new early learning Discovery Kit called 'Looking' with four- and five-year-old kindergarten children from Laverton North Children's Centre. Rosemary Monagle, the kindergarten teacher, uses a noticeboard to communicate with parents of the children she teaches. This is the notice she wrote about my visit:

Alexandra from Scienceworks visited the kindergarten today. She brought pictures of Nitty Gritty Super City and discussed what the children could see and what materials or tools were used in each picture. Alexandra then introduced the children to her 'yellow box' of 'looking' tools. The children learnt each tool's name and the correct way to use it.

The children collected natural materials from the yard or home and used the looking tools to see the objects close-up. The children drew their favourite looking tool and what they could see when using it.

Drawing of looking at a ladybug through a magnifiying glass.
Image: Angel
Source: Angel  

Drawing of looking at flowers through a microscope.
Image: Olivia
Source: Olivia  

The 'Looking' kit will be accompanied by a DVD of interviews with MV scientists, historians and curators talking about their favourite lens tools and how they use them.

Links:

Nitty Gritty Super Kids

Interactive PDF trial

I’ve always loved summer – nothing beats the summer holidays, trips to the beach, warm sunshine and lazy summer evenings. But this year it means even more to me, because right now we are putting the finishing touches on a new planetarium show that opens on 26 December.

The summer solstice (22 December) is that day of the year when the Sun's path reaches its highest and longest across the sky. Our new show Tilt is a whirlwind adventure that describes how the seasons work.

In the new show Tilt, Kelvin (the robot) shows Annie and Max the long path of the Sun on the summer solstice.
Image: Melbourne Planetarium
Source: Museum Victoria 

The changing seasons are so important to the way we live our lives. The summer holidays, the changing colours of autumn, the cosiness of winter and the blossoming of spring. And all this happens because our Earth spins on a tilted axis.

Without this tilt our days, year-in and year-out, would be the same. The Sun would always rise due east and set due west. The Sun’s path through the sky would be constant, reaching the same height every day. There’d also be 12 hours of daylight followed by 12 hours of night.

The tilt is what shakes this all up. Most importantly, the tilt varies the direction at which sunlight hits the Earth. Our warm days of summer occur when sunlight beams down most directly because our part of the world is tilted towards the Sun.

So enjoy the summer solstsice and the remarkable difference a little tilt on the world can make.

Links

Session Times for Tilt

The Sun and the seasons

Alexandra is the Early Learning Program Coordinator at Scienceworks. She loves exploring the ways in which science engages young children.

The first trial of the Nitty Gritty Super City interactive PDF on iPads went well last week!

Child playing with an iPad at the trial of the interactive PDF.
Image: Jackie McWiliam
Source: DEECD  

The interactive PDF was designed to work like a series of games based on the much-loved Nitty Gritty exhibition content. It functions like a low-tech app, and will soon be available to download from the Scienceworks education pages. It is full of physical and environmental science concepts specifically developed for early learners, in accordance with the Early Years Learning and Development Framework.

Alexandra demonstrating the Nitty Gritty Super City interactive PDF section about microscopes.
Image: Jackie McWiliam
Source: DEECD  

Out of the group of 22 four and five year olds, two children had iPads at home and five children said they had seen an iPad before.

When I showed the children the iPad for the first time, I asked the group, 'What is this?' One child yelled at the top of his voice, 'It's an iPad!'

When I asked the group what an iPad was, one child said, 'It's a rectangle!' Completely wonderful.

Kids learning what to do when the 'Oops!' screen pops up.
Image: Jackie McWiliam
Source: DEECD  

And while we have a little tweaking to do based on this inaugural trial, apparently Christmas came to Laverton Children's Community Centre a little early this year.

Links:

Nitty Gritty Super Kids

Kearston presents public programs at Scienceworks.

On Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 of November, Scienceworks Pumping Station was transformed into a LEGO® haven for young and old. The Melbourne LEGO® User's Group (MUG) along with hundreds of fans and visitors created a huge, moving road train whilst raising awareness for the benefits of LEGO® as therapy for patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Two of our volunteers getting involved in the train building.
Image: Kearston Bloxidge
Source: Museum Victoria  

MUG describe themselves as "Adult Fans of LEGO®" and say that they have witnessed the power of LEGO® play to help children with ASD communicate and grow. They are dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding of ASD around the world. It is believed that the systematic and highly structured nature of LEGO® appeals to children with ASD, while giving them the opportunity to share tasks with their peers. Studies have shown that ASD children receive long-term benefits from this kind of play, too.

The train under construction as each individual trailer was added.
Image: Kearston Bloxidge
Source: Museum Victoria  

The goal was to construct the largest road train possible in the two days. Once the individual trailers were built, visitors could let their imagination run wild in building the cargo for the train to haul. After two days, up to 3000 visitors to Scienceworks had contributed to the construction of 190 trailers which combined made a road train just over 46 metres in length.

This dinosaur robot was just one of the many amazingly creative lots of cargo seen on the trailers.
Image: Kearston Bloxidge
Source: Museum Victoria  

This event wasn't exclusively for the kids; in fact there were just as many big kids! Some visitors stayed all day Saturday and then came back for more on Sunday!

Links:

ASD Aid

Yahoo group for Melbourne LEGO® User Group (MUG)

Do you have about five minutes? Great! Come and “Meet Me at the Museum”. It’s a new online video series about items from the Museum Victoria collection.

Objects and specimens always have a few fascinating people moments. We glimpse at those moments and marvel at the objects.

Here's episode one.

Watch this video with a transcript.

This post is by Science Program Manager, Frances Haire.

On Saturday 5 November we held the inaugural Big Kids' Night Out at Scienceworks. Over 600 big kids took over what is usually the realm of little kids. They played in the exhibitions, took a trip through our galaxy in the Planetarium, saw a show about the science of alcohol and learned how to make the perfect layered cocktail.

Two big kids playing in the little kids' Nitty Gritty Super City exhibition.
Image: Dylan Kelly
Source: Museum Victoria  

In the Experiment Zone, 'Test your senses' checked our visitors' eye dominance. When you look at something with both eyes, each eye is looking from a slightly different angle. The brain then pieces the two images together to form one three-dimensional image. Most people have a dominant eye, which means that when the brain compiles information from both eyes, the view from the dominant eye is favoured.

To test your eye dominance, make a circle with your thumb and forefinger. With both eyes open, look at an object and centre it inside the circle. Shut one eye, then open it and shut the other. Did the object move out of the circle when you shut one of your eyes? If so, that eye that you shut is your dominant eye. If not, you have no dominant eye.

At Big Kids' Night Out we tested the eye dominance of 223 big kids. Of the men tested, 48% were right eye dominant, 49% were left eye dominant and 3% showed no dominance. In women, there was slightly more variance with 43% favouring their right eye, 51% their left and 5% showing no dominance.

A graph showing the results (in percentages) of our eye dominance test.
Source: Museum Victoria  

The big kids were all old enough to vote but they played like they weren't! Some were reliving childhood excursions while others had never been to Scienceworks and grabbed the chance to visit while the galleries were child-free.

A big kid testing his perception skills in the Perception Deception exhibition.
Image: Dylan Kelly
Source: Museum Victoria  

Next up for adult programming at Museum Victoria is the Cross(X)Species Adventure Club edible cocktail extravaganza at Melbourne Museum on 1 December. Keep your ears and eyes open for the next adults-only event at Scienceworks.

Links:

Scienceworks

Big Kids' Night Out media release

Alexandra is the Early Learning Program Coordinator at Scienceworks. She loves exploring the ways in which science engages young children.

As part of a fabulous partnership with DEECD Western Metropolitan Region (WMR) Laverton Community Children's Centre recently made their very first visit to Nitty Gritty Super City. These children hail from the fastest-growing region in Australia, as well as being identified as amongt the most culturally and linguistically diverse.

This is what it looked like on the big day:

Finding clothes to wear on a sunny Melbourne day.
Image: Kimalee Reid
Source: DEECD  

Using the lever to operate the digger.
Image: Kimalee Reid
Source: DEECD  

We played in the Scienceworks playground.
Image: Kimalee Reid
Source: DEECD  

The kids had a great time and the day's event was a great first step to encourage an interest in science for these early learners. We hope to see them back again soon! 

Links:

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

Education programs for Nitty Gritty Super City

Avvy is a Programs Officer at Scienceworks. She develops science-related activities and shows for visitors, and organises various community science events.

There was an assortment of chills, thrills and spills at the 2011 Victorian Model Solar Vehicle Challenge held at Scienceworks on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October.

Scienceworks Arena is transformed for the solar vehicle challenge.
Source: Dione Read

This competition, now in its 19th year, brings together teams of school students from all over Victoria to race solar powered model cars and boats that they have designed, built and tested throughout the year. The two-day event allows participants to discover who is the ‘fastest under the sun’.

Two solar boats prepare to race.
Source: Museum Victoria

In what has almost become tradition for this solar-powered event, the weather on Saturday morning was overcast, cold and drizzly. This did nothing to dampen the spirits of over 700 students and their supporters, fiercely competing in a number of different divisions – primary school teams start their model solar education building junior boats, while the more complex cars and advanced boats are usually built by secondary school students. Teams spend several months building their vehicles, working with science and technology teachers, parents and lab techicians.

Two solar cars competing on the race track.
Source: Museum Victoria  

Taking on the challenge, one of the solar cars that competed at Scienceworks
Source: Museum Victoria  

The patchy conditions and rain over Saturday led to some accidents, as cars that had been tweaked to deal with low levels of sunlight found it hard to maintain a solid grip on the slippery track, while other cars had difficulties to facing the challenging slope of the track. However, Sunday dawned bright and sunny, allowing the solar vehicles to perform at their zippy best – sometimes to their detriment, with some speedy cars losing grip when cornering and spilling off the track.

Scienceworks Arena is transformed for the solar vehicle challenge.
Source: Museum Victoria

After many rounds of knockout races, ‘Comet’ from Geelong College emerged victorious in the car division. ‘Rainbow Warrior’ from Ruskin Park Primary was the winner of the junior boats category, while ‘Interim Name’ from Torquay College took the trophy for advanced boats. These top competitors will receive invitations and sponsorships to attend the national championship in Hobart in November.

Links:

Victorian Model Solar Vehicle Challenge

Michelle is the Facilities Coordinator at Scienceworks, and as such has had to quickly learn the ins and outs of the building in her 10 months with the museum – every day brings new discoveries.

I've been at Scienceworks for only a short time in the big scheme of things, and was really proud to finally be able to take part in the training session for Machines in Action Day held here on the arena in September. The folks out here at Scienceworks kept referring to this 'MAD' day, and I couldn't help but wonder what it actually was - some very strange imagery certainly entered my mind I can tell you!

Upon seeing the giant old steam trucks brought out from their garage, it suddenly took me back to my childhood days (both in sights and smells) of visiting Puffing Billy. We had several enthusiastic volunteers shovelling coal, and driving these magnificent old engines around the arena. How easy we all have it now in our quiet cars that require only a keystart!

I jumped on board for a ride on the Super Sentinel Steam Wagon with Tom. Tom's a fitter and turner by trade, but he just loves being a part of the crew that get the old machines running. He told me how he had several at home he liked to tinker with, and it was really heartwarming to find out that the volunteers offer so much of their time to Scienceworks and to our lucky patrons, their only payment being opportunity to be a part of the fun.

Tom and another volunteer outside the garage at Scienceworks.
Image: Michelle Ladgrove
Source: Museum Victoria  

Des Lang, our supervisor for the Scienceworks Engineering workshop, jumped aboard and decided we'd take the Wagon out on the road to Willi (Williamstown for those who may not know)! Apparently they've taken her all the way to Mitcham before too, at a reasonable pace of 30-40kph mind you - not bad!

  Inside the Sentinel, with Des and Tom.
Image: Michelle Ladgrove
Source: Museum Victoria  

View from the driver's seat of the Super Sentinel Steam Wagon.
Image: Michelle Ladgrove
Source: Museum Victoria  

The MAD Training session came to a close, and after a few rounds of the arena where I got to wave to the crowds and pull down on the steam whistle, we carefully backed the lovely old Sentinel back into the garage. I can honestly say that I am SO looking forward to the next Machines in Action Day on Sunday 9th October and will be bringing my family in to experience it too.

Thanks to the wonderful volunteers we have here at Scienceworks, and to Paula Collins who coordinates such an enormous group to which we owe so much. Hope to see you all there!

Links:

Access All Areas podcast Episode 20 - Roll out the steam engines

Machines in Action Day

At 2pm today it was exactly 100 years ago, on 28 September 1911, that the No. 8 Steam Pumping Engine in the Spotswood Pumping Station was fired up for the first time. You can still see the it in motion in the Engine Room but these days it runs in demonstration mode, powered by compressed air.

Steam Pumping Engine - Austral Otis, No.8 Pumping Engine, MMBW Spotswood Sewerage Pumping Station, 1911 (ST 038266).
Source: Museum Victoria  

Built by local company Austral Otis, the No. 8 Engine was a modified copy of the earlier Hathorn Davey engine. It is one of five surviving engines at the Pumping Station which remain some of the most sophisticated steam engines ever built in Australia. It took four men to run the No. 8 Engine: an engine driver, a greaser, a pump attendant and a fireman. It was one of the engines that moved sewerage from Melbourne to Werribee following the welcome introduction of Melbourne's sewerage system in the 1890s.

Original blueprint for an Austral Otis Steam Pumping Engine.
Image: Austral Otis
Source: Museum Victoria  

Of the bank of engines, one or two were run continuously with additional machines brought on to handle peak sewerage flow. The Pumping Station log books show that from 1912, the No. 8 Engine was used heavily for the first decade of its life. In the 1920s and 30s the old steam engines were progressively replaced by electric engines which were cheaper to run. No. 8 was used less often, but was still important for managing peak periods.

There was a regular flow pattern coinciding with the daily cranking up of industrial and domestic activities. Curator Matthew Churchward describes a peak on Mondays when many women did the week's laundry. The superintendant would also keep a close eye on the weather and impending rainfall, and counted raindrops to predict how many staff would be needed to manage the stormwater that would be on its way to Spotswood within a couple of hours. During big storms, all the engines might be running to prevent sewerage from entering the Yarra River.

During its working life from 1911 to 1947, the No. 8 Engine pumped the equivalent of four billion toilet flushes out of the city. It was a filthy job but vital to the health and quality of life of 20th century Melbourne. If you're at Scienceworks today, be sure to wish this gleaming hulk of pistons, valves, cranks and pipes a happy birthday!

Workshop volunteer and casual engine driver Graeme Kerrs running a pumping engine demonstration in front of the No. 8 Engine.
Image: James Geer
Source: Museum Victoria  

Links:

Centenary of the Austral Otis Steam Pumping Engines

Spotswood Sewerage Pumping Station

MV Blog: World Toilet Day

The mornings are getting lighter, as the days are getting longer. The promise of warmer weather is just around the corner and hayfever season is upon us. Welcome to Spring!

This Friday is the Spring Equinox. In truth, the equinox is a mere moment in time and this year it will happen at 7:04pm, 23rd September.

Of course, this means that the equinox will occur after the Sun has set in Melbourne. So what's so special about that time?

 At 7:04pm on Friday 23rd September, the Sun sits on the celestial equator, the sky's equivalent to the Earth's equator. This year the equinox will occur when the Sun is below the western horizon.
Source: Museum Victoria

The equinox is the moment when the Sun crosses the celestial equator. Just like the Earth is split into two hemispheres by its equator, the celestial equator does the same, splitting the stars into those of the south and those of the north.

In fact the celestial equator is intimately linked with the Earth’s equator. Just pretend for a moment that the stars sit on a sphere surrounding the Earth. We call it the celestial sphere. Now take the Earth’s equator and push it off our planet and out into space – there you have it, the celestial equator.

So at 7:04pm, the Sun will cross the boundary between the northern and southern stars. We welcome it back to our hemisphere and as it returns our weather warms.

In the Sun and the Seasons you'll find more explanation of the link between the equinox and the seasons, along with the path of the Sun around the time of the equinox.

And there's one last thing to mention  – the 23rd isn’t when day and night are equal. That was last Tuesday and the September Skynotes explains why.

Today, students from Spotswood Primary School attended Scienceworks to participate in an online conference with NASA astronaut, Rex Walheim. Rex is in Australia as a guest of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) to launch their new exhibition Star Voyager, Exploring Space on Screen.

To coincide with the launch, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development organised an online conference using their Elluminate software. Rex was speaking to students in the ACMI theatre at Federation Square. Scienceworks' Program Coordinator, Bronwyn Quint organised for Spotswood PS students to participate in the session which was projected onto the big screen in the Auditorium. MV Astronomer, Dr Tanya Hill was also on hand to answer questions from the Spotswood students.

Bron Quint and Tanya Hill preparing for the online conference (fingers crossed that the technology works).
Image: Pennie Stoyles
Source: Museum Victoria  

Dr Tanya Hill answering questions from Spotswood PS students.
Image: Pennie Stoyles
Source: Museum Victoria  

Over 100 other schools throughout the state also participated. Many questions were submitted throughout the 45-minute session and those that could not be answered by Rex during the presentation will be posted on the DEECD website.

Astronaut Rex Walheim answering student questions via online conference.
Image: Pennie Stoyles
Source: Museum Victoria  

We've lent a number of objects to ACMI for the Star Voyager exhibition, including a space glove, a large number of magic lantern slides, a urine collection device and an altitude and azimuth instrument.

Altitude and Azimuth Instrument - Troughton & Simms, London, circa 1836 (ST 022216)
Source: Museum Victoria  

Links:

Rex Walheim's Biography

Star Voyager, Exploring Space on Screen.

MV Blog: Lost in Space

This episode of Married to the Job features Nick Crotty, Collection Manager, History & Technology, at Museum Victoria. He is based at Scienceworks.

In the spirit of tradition, we ask Nick to tell us about himself and his work by showing us something old, new, borrowed and blue.

Watch this video with a transcript

Bronwyn is Scienceworks' Program Coordinator for Physical Science.

On Wednesday 3 August 2011, 55 teams of young engineers in years 8 and 9 brought bridges of their own design, built by themselves using a kit of materials supplied by Aurecon to Scienceworks. There they loaded the bridges to breaking point to see whose bridge could carry the greatest load. Made from balsa wood, string, cardboard and glue, the bridges were very diverse with many having interesting designs.

Bridge-building teams in Scienceworks Amphitheatre waiting for their chance to have their bridges tested.
Image: Bronwyn Quint
Source: Museum Victoria

Bridges were weighed on arrival and the teams registered and photographed. At noon the testing started. Bridges were judged on not only the load they carried but also their aesthetics, workmanship and creativity. A formula was then used to give each bridge a score out of 50 based on the weight of the bridge, the weight supported, the maximum weight carried by a bridge on the day and the aesthetics score.

Testing the Kaniva College mixed team bridge under the watchful eye of The Hon Dr Denis Napthine MP.
Image: Bronwyn Quint
Source: Museum Victoria

A fun day was had by all who attended with prizes being awarded by The Hon Dr Denis Napthine MP (Minister for Major Projects) who chatted with many of the teams present.

The winning teams in 2011 were:

• 1^st    Kaniva College (mixed) 115.5kg
• 2^nd   Kaniva College Girls’ team 100.2kg
• 3^rd    Leibler Yavneh College (boys) 78.0kg

The two Kaniva College teams pose with their winning cheques and The Hon Dr Denis Napthine MPpose with their winning cheques and The Hon Dr Denis Napthine MP.
Image: Bronwyn Quint
Source: Museum Victoria

A new prize, the Aurecon Innovation Award (sponsored by Major Projects Victoria), went to Tintern Girls Grammar with a stylish pink bridge modelled on the Golden Gate bridge.

Tintern Girls Grammar team with their innovative bridge and The Hon Dr Denis Napthine MP.
Image: Bronwyn Quint
Source: Museum Victoria

Kaniva College have now made it a hat trick winning the last three years of the Aurecon Bridge Building Competition.

Links:

MV News: Aurecon Bridge-building Competition (2010)

MV News: Breaking bridges (2009)

Aurecon Bridge-building Competition

Whilst the animation of our key characters for the show "Tilt" is well under way, another part of the story is taking shape (and colour). Max's rocket.

With the details still highly classified, it is expected that "Ptolemy" will be able to fly.
Image: Brendan Williams
Source: Museum Victoria

With its chic retro styling and awesome pull-back action "Ptolemy" is just the vehicle for our protagonists.

It may appear to be just a tin toy with painted on details but this rocket packs quite a punch. For reasons of security most of the technical specs are still classified, but we can confirm that the ship does indeed have a lever. The other main technology that gives this ship its futuristic edge is a great deal of buttons and switches, not to mention screens with wiggly lines on them.

Based largely on second hand accounts, this image shows some of the future-tech we can expect in the ship.
Image: Brendan Williams
Source: Museum Victoria

I was reminded by my mother the other day that I had once refused to eat microwaved food. It was the 1970s and I’m not sure if it was teenage rebellion or whether I was spooked by the thought of microwaves. Here are five things about microwaves - some are spooky but some are fascinating.

1. In 1945 Percy Spencer had an “Aha!” moment after a melted lolly. Percy was doing military research on radars when he noticed that the peanut choc treat in his pocket had totally melted. It was the first item of food to ever be microwaved and luckily it was a lab accident that ended well. He realised the goo in his pocket was due to the modified radio waves - or microwaves - that he was working on.

An early commercial microwave on display at the House Secrets exhibition. This is a 1959 Swedish Husqvarna, Electronic 2001 ‘Cupol’. (I suppose the number ‘2001’ must have seemed like a space age term in 1959).
Image: Andi Horvath
Source: Museum Victoria 

2. The mid 1970s became a microwave bonanza and they began selling like hot cakes. Up until then, microwaves had been used in the food industry, restaurants and even submarines. But it wasn’t until the various components, including the new microprocessor, had come down in price and early myths about radiation were dispelled that the commercial domestic market finally took off.

A salesman looking to make a bonanza of a commission. From the State Electricity Commission of Victoria collection, Museum Victoria. (MM 009529).
Source: Museum Victoria

3. Microwaves work by jiggling water and fat molecules. A rather unattractive metal box called a ‘magnetron’ is at the heart of every microwave oven; the rest is just insulated casing. The magnetron generates the microwaves that jiggle molecules so fast that they heat up the food.

 The magnetron - rather a good name for a super hero or a grunge band, don’t you think?
Image: Andi Horvath
Source: Museum Victoria 

4. Some things don’t belong in a microwave oven. The House Secrets exhibition at Scienceworks has a display of things not to microwave because it destroys your appliance. We sacrificed a number of microwaves making this film so you don’t have to ruin yours. So don’t try this at home.

The video of microwave mistakes is inside a microwave in the House Secrets exhibition. Marshmallow will puff up and then flump, thin metal creates mini lighting (electricity arcs form between the metal and the microwave) and an unpierced egg will explode due to build up of steam.
Image: Andi Horvath
Source: Museum Victoria

5. Making a tasty gourmet meal in a microwave oven is still a challenge. The pictures in 1970s cookbooks always seem rather unappetising – perhaps the food stylist’s profession was in its infancy. When I asked around the office, most people told me they just use their microwaves to heat things. Perhaps if MasterChef runs a microwave cooking challenge it may inspire people to give it a go.

 Are those chicken skewers with lemon pieces? It doesn’t seem to me to be a microwave thing but maybe that’s why they chose it for the cover: to surprise you. This 1970s microwave cookbook is on display in the House Secrets exhibition.
Image: Andi Horvath
Source: Museum Victoria

The other day when I went out for some milk, I passed by a shop window display and noticed some lovely ceramic jugs in the shape of cardboard milk cartons and a range of colourful silicon rubber versions of paper coffee cups. All these iconic containers in unexpected materials! It got me thinking about my milk and my milk carton I just purchased. Here are five things from Museum Victoria about milk containers...

1. In 1860s Europe, if you wanted milk, the only milk container was a cow or possibly a metal milk can. By the 1870s, Europe saw the emergence of large metal milk cans. I found some old milk cans in the MV collection but then I stumbled across this beautifully decorated milk can from our Immigration and Creative Practice Collection.

Milk Can, painted by Yoka Van Den Brink, 1993, using Hindeloopen craft techniques which date back to the 16th century port of Hindeloopen, in Friesland, North of Holland. (SH 931248)
Image: Taryn Ellis
Source: Museum Victoria

(I also just had to show you this intriguing image...)

International Harvester McCormick-Deering 3-S Cream Separator with Female Model, 1939. (MM 115002)
Source: Museum Victoria

2. Glass superseded metal. Some of you will remember the glass milk bottle. Invented in 1884, it meant milk could be stored for several days without spoilage because bottles could be sterilised, plus pasteurised milk (quickly heated and cooled) restricted bacterial contamination.

 Left: How cute is the Imperial half pint milk bottle from the Gilchrist Dairy, Fitzroy in use between 1930 and 1959? (HT 14148) Right: One imperial pint milk bottle painted white on the inside; we didn’t put the actual milk in the collection. (ST 038370).
Image: L: Cherie McKeich and Eloise Coccoli R: Unknown
Source: Museum Victoria

3. In 1915, John Van Wormer cried over split milk because it also involved broken glass (fair enough). He turned his frustration into an idea of a ‘paper bottle’ that had to be folded, glued and dipped in paraffin wax. He was granted the patent and ten years later he also had a machine to form, fill and seal the new ‘Pure-pak’ containers.

The humble milk carton in a gilded frame. The House Secrets exhibition at Scienceworks celebrates many domestic inventions like the milk carton.
Image: Andi Horvath
Source: Museum Victoria

4. Plastic convenience superseded wax. In the 1940s the paraffin wax was replaced by polyethylene plastic. But the milk carton did not catch on until the 1960s when cartons included a new feature: the open-able spout.

A large crowd watching the 1959 Moomba parade travelling along Swanston Street. Featured is the milk board float with a large milk bottle on top. (MM 051923)
Image: Unkonwn
Source: Museum Victoria

A one litre carton of milk, branded Pura, manufactured by National Dairies Limited. Looks familiar? It only entered the MV collection in 2010. Just like the milk bottles it will be kept for future generations to marvel at. (HT 27262).
Image: Matilda Vaughan
Source: Museum Victoria

5. It's possible we've gone full circle. If John Von Wormer were alive he would chuckle at this funky domestic accessory. I don’t think he would use it as a milk jug for coffee, I reckon he’d use it as a vase.

Glass Half Pint Milk Carton - Milk Jug
Source: Rockett St George

It's not every day that motorists share a freeway with prehistoric flying reptiles! Two huge models of pteranodons - with wingspans of six metres - crossed Melbourne by truck yesterday, ahead of their display in the upcoming Scienceworks exhibition Explore-a-saurus.

Pteranodon on a tuck arriving at Scienceworks.
Source: Museum Victoria

Moving crew wheel a Pteranodon model into the Scienceworks building.
Source: Museum Victoria

Did you see this unusual cargo make its trip from Coburg to Spotswood?

Explore-a-saurus will open to the public on June 1. You can pre-purchase tickets online now.

Links:

Explore-a-saurus

MV Blog: Developing a dino exhibit

National Volunteer Week (9-15 May 2011) is a celebration of the priceless contribution of the thousands of volunteers to charities, organisations, communities and institutions across Australia.

There are 529 active volunteers at Museum Victoria and their ages range from 17 to 91 years. They help manage the 16 million items in our collections, they run activities for visitors, they lead tours at each of our venues, they restore steam engines, and much more. To thank these generous people, MV throws a celebration in National Volunteer Week each year. Yesterday afternoon, volunteers gathered at the Melbourne Planetarium at Scienceworks to mingle, share food and drink, and enjoy a Planetarium show.

MV Volunteers assembled at this year's thank you event in National Volunteer Week.
Image: Heath Warwick
Source: Museum Victoria

Barbara Horn, Director of Museum Operations, read out some statistics about our volunteers. In 2009-2010, volunteers donated an incredible 52,639 hours of their own time to Museum Victoria. At Melbourne Museum, they helped visitors construct 6,792 cardboard models of the Titanic and 11,650 Earth Capsules in Dynamic Earth, plus 1,200 Mobile Skeletons as part of Humanoid Discovery at Scienceworks.

Two remarkable volunteers – Vic Wilks and Tom Brereton – have each reached the milestone of more than 10,000 voluntary hours. Both started at Scienceworks in 1992 shortly after the building opened. Tom, who regularly announces the steam engine parade at Machines in Action Days, joked that they’d known each other “for a year or two.”

Scienceworks volunteers Tom Brereton (left) and Vic Wilks (right) have racked up over ten thousands hours each.
Image: Heath Warwick
Source: Museum Victoria

Vic explained what has inspired him to volunteer for nearly two decades. “In retirement, you need something to stimulate your brain. It’s also the social side of it, meeting all the other volunteers and staff and also contribute something back... hopefully it provides some benefit to the community and the museum in the process.” As a local Williamstown resident, he sees Scienceworks as an important community hub. “It was one of the first things we got in the western suburbs that provided something to the people. Most other museums and art galleries are in the city or the east side.”

A big thank you to all Museum Victoria volunteers - we simply couldn’t manage without them.

Links:

Volunteering at MV

Aston Gibbs, Acting Manager, Collection Location Systems.
Image: Emma Hutchinson
Source: Museum Victoria

Why is Aston so happy? She’s jubilant at the completion of the History and Technology Lantern Slide Collection Rehousing project!

Collection managers, database gurus, History and Technology curators, conservators, photographers and many others joined in a huge, coordinated project to rehouse the museum’s entire lantern slide collection – that’s over 10,000 individual items – into new, custom-made storage systems. Lorenzo Iozzi, senior collection manager for the image and AV collections, has been coordinating this mammoth task for months, culminating in an intensive, week-long effort to ready the collection for its move from Scienceworks to collection stores at Melbourne Museum.

Eloise Coccoli, Assistant Curator for Collections Online, keeping the lantern slides in order.
Image: David Paul
Source: Museum Victoria

Collection Registration Officer Emma Hutchinson with the new storage system for the lantern slides.
Image: Lorenzo Iozzi
Source: Museum Victoria

Staff photographing lantern slides.
Image: Ria Green
Source: Museum Victoria

MV's lantern slides are a fascinating, eclectic snapshot of all manner of topics from the Victorian era to the early 20th century. Comprising a light source, a lens and a transparent image, magic lanterns were the precursor to the slide projector and were very popular entertainment before the advent of film. Some of the more complicated projectors had multiple lenses and projected slides with intricate moving components. The video below demonstrates a magic lantern show.

The museum's collection has come from a number of sources; the Francis Collection, containing over 5500 items relating to pre-cinematic technology, comprises is a large portion of it. Before the relocation project, some lantern slides were stored in wooden crates that were as old as the slides themselves, unregistered and inadequately described simply because there were so many of them.

It’s a huge achievement for all involved:

• they rehoused, registered and barcoded the entire collection of 10,600 lantern slides
• they photographed 3,400 lantern slides to preservation standard
• they prepared 2,000 object records and 4,600 photographs for upload to Collections Online

And you know what? Not a single one of the fragile glass slides was broken in the process! Congratulations, team!

The huge crew who all pitched in for the lantern slide project.
Image: David Paul
Source: Museum Victoria

Links:

Lantern slides on Collections Online

The Magic Lantern Society (UK)

Ben designs exhibitions at Scienceworks, Melbourne Museum and the Immigration Museum. He has previously worked designing sets for theatre, and running workshops for kids. Ben loves surprises and performing silly dances.

Over the next couple of months I’ll be working on the new animatronic dinosaur exhibition at Scienceworks called Explore-a-saurus. The dinos we’ve been given by Questacon are in need of a bit of a repair, repaint, and re-interpretation. We decided we needed to supplement the existing dinosaurs with new exhibits to present more scientifically-based themes and a more contemporary approach to palaeontology. No more daggy cargo pants and pith helmets for our paleos!

Our first step was to look at interesting overarching themes to base our interpretation on. They needed to respond to current research since paleontologists regularly make new discoveries that overturn previous understanding. They must be engaging for kids, put kids in the shoes of palaeontologists and demonstrate scientific practice. One element I am particularly interested in is the idea of absolute knowledge. The evidence is open to interpretation, and thus, our knowledge about dinosaurs changes due to new research on old material and discovery of new fossils.

An example of how our understanding of dinosaurs evolution has changed: this old chart in the MV collection suggests the dinosaur branch of the evolutionary tree was a dead end, but current research suggests some dinosaurs evolved into birds.
Source: Museum Victoria

We decided the most interesting angle would be forensic palaeontology – a kind of CSI Cretaceous. We’re using the phrase ‘how we know what we know’ as the exhibition focus. Our interactives will use evidence-based research to demonstrate particular theories, and, if possible, show the palaeontologist’s methods,

With this in mind we turned to popular dinosaur culture – what do people want to know? What are the interesting facts which we can debunk or expand upon? We started with the way dinosaurs are portrayed in films and TV because this is the most prevalent form of education for kids! We looked at the way dinosaurs moved, how we know the sounds they made, the colour of their skin, whether they evolved to become birds or reptiles; and how well they could see. We came up with a 'how we know what we know' list and then another list of types of exhibit that we know Scienceworks visitors have liked in the past.

The interactive elements of the exhibition are now in the final stages of design before we move on to the manufacturing side, then comes the exhibition installation! Before you know it, it will be June 1, when Explore-a-saurus will open and visitors can come and try the interactive components for themselves.

Links:

Explore-a-saurus

MV Blog: Open wide! 

Dave Pickering checking out the teeth of Tyrannosaurus rex.
Image: Benjamin Healley
Source: Museum Victoria

The crew at Scienceworks have just unpacked a shipment of animatronic dinosaurs from Questacon. They will be refurbished in our workshops before going on display in the exhibition Explore-a-saurus, which opens at Scienceworks on 1 June 2011. Palaeontology collection manager, David Pickering, was caught hamming it up in a photo shoot with the mighty models, but I don't think he'll get that close once they're switched on and come to life!

Among the dinosaurs are some of the superstars of the dino world - T. rex, Stegasaurus, Triceratops and others. They will be overhauled with some new animatronic technology and their appearance updated to reflect recent discoveries in palaeontology.

Eye to eye with Triceratops in the Scienceworks collection store.
Image: Benjamin Healley
Source: Museum Victoria

Explore-a-saurus will have moving, roaring models on a grand scale. The exhibition will also show how paleontologists reconstruct dinosaurs - what they looked like, how they behaved and where they lived - from fossil evidence.

Links:

What's On listing for Explore-a-saurus 

Dinosaur Walk

MV News: How old was that dinosaur?

Fireworks on New Year's Eve in St Kilda, 1935. (MM 8768)
Image: Cyril Henshaw
Source: Museum Victoria

With Melbourne temperatures predicted to reach 40ºC on New Year's Eve, I'm glad I'll be spending the working hours of Hogmanay in the cool of Melbourne Museum's air conditioning. A perfect time to visit one of our venues before celebrating the arrival of 2011. We're open on New Year's Day, too.

How will you be escaping the heat?

Links:

What's On at Melbourne Museum

What's On at the Immigration Museum

What's On at Scienceworks

An engineer friend of mine told me that an engineer friend of hers had recently wed at the Pumping Station. The ceremony took place in this Heritage-listed building amid its pumps and gleaming copper pipes - surely the perfect venue for an engineer's wedding! Congratulations Hannah and Ian!

Ceremony among the pipes and engines of the Pumping Station at Scienceworks.
Image: Clare Plueckhahn
Source: Hannah Clement

Links:

Pumping Station at Scienceworks

Scienceworks venue hire

World Toilet Day, held on 19 November each year, serves to point out that nearly half the world's population don't have access to proper sanitation. It's not the world's most glamorous issue, but it is an important one - globally, more people die from disease caused by poor sanitation than from any other cause.

There are several toilets of note in Museum Victoria collections. We're not shy about poo at MV, since the Spotwood Pumping Station at Scienceworks was once responsible for moving all of Melbourne's sewage out of the city. One particular toilet at the Pumping Station was installed in 1939 for the exclusive use of Lucey Alford, the first female scientist to work there. Her job was to determine if corrosion in the concrete pipes was caused by bacteria and her research was important to the proper functioning of the system.

Toilet - Fowler Ware, MMBW Spotswood Sewerage Pumping Station, circa 1939 (HT 2486)
Source: Museum Victoria

Before Spotswood Pumping Station and sewage treatment at Werribee were established in the 1890s, sewage disposal was a much dirtier job. The stink of cesspits and open sewers earned our city the moniker of 'Smellbourne' in the mid-1800s. Typhoid outbreaks killed hundreds of residents. With no internal plumbing, Melburnians used chamber pots or the 'dunny' at the back of the yard, which was emptied by nightsoil collectors. (You can still see many of these old dunnies from the laneways that run behind older houses in the inner city.) 'Nightsoil' - the coy term for human waste - was dumped in pits or depots in the outskirts of the young city, including the area that would become Carlton Gardens.

A fragment of a simple whiteware chamber pot from the Little Lon archaeological assemblage. (LL 068610)
Source: Museum Victoria

'Dunny' toilet and chicken coop in a suburban backyard, Glenroy, 1960 (MM 110571)
Image: John Cuff
Source: Museum Victoria

So today as you 'spend a penny', as my grandmother would say, spare a thought for those who don't have the convenience and hygiene of clean, safe, indoor toilets.

Links

World Toilet Day

Melbourne Water education resource - Lucey Alford

MV News: Royal Exhibition Building archaeology

Kingston Historical Website - Night Soil

On Monday 15 November 2010, Museum Victoria won two categories at the RACV 2010 Victorian Tourism Awards.

2010 Victorian Tourism Awards Winner logo
Source: Tourism Victoria

Melbourne Museum won the most prestigious prize of the night – best Major Tourist Attraction – and Scienceworks won best Tourist Attraction. Both awards acknowledge the outstanding achievements and successes during the 2009/10 financial year.

Highlights include:

• Melbourne Museum: Opening of two new permanent exhibitions Wild! and 600 Million Years: Victoria evolves and the presentation of two international blockbuster exhibitions (that were exclusive to Melbourne) A Day in Pompeii and Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition.
• Scienceworks: Hosting the international blockbuster exhibition Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, recorded best ever visitation since opening in 1992 (a total of 538,183 visitors) and Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise popped in for a visit too.

Scienceworks was also successful at the Hobsons Bay Business Excellence Awards in October winning the Tourism category. 

Fingers crossed Melbourne Museum and Scienceworks do well at the Australian Tourism Awards in March. 

Wish us luck!  

Titanic comes down, Tron Legacy goes up.
Source: Museum Victoria

It's been a mad week at Museum Victoria. It's the last week of Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition at Melbourne Museum and the crowds have poured in for their last chance to see. It closes on 7 November after an extended season. I took this picture today of workers in a cherry-picker updating the banner on the side of the building. I love that the Irish shipbuilders seem to be watching them work, too. Titanic has been a huge success for the museum and we're so pleased that visitors have liked it so much.

It's also Melbourne Cup Week - makring the 80th anniversary of Phar Lap's win and the 150th anniversary of the first running of the Melbourne Cup. The reunion display of this hide and skeleton at Melbourne Museum also has a new wonderful item borrowed for display, the Centennial Cup. It's so much bigger than you might expect, just like Phar Lap himself!

Speaking of size, did you know Phar Lap was 17.7hh? If you don't know what 'hh' means, have a look at Measure Island, which opened at Scienceworks this week. All your horse and horse-racing measurement questions will be answered!

And of course, another bit of news was announced this week. Coming in April 2011, the amazing exhibition of Ancient Egyptian artefacts in Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs.

Phew! That's a lot of exhibition news for one week!