DSE Deputy Secretary Kevin Love opening the space with help from Jessie and Billie to cut the ribbon.
Image: Benjamin Healley
Source: Museum Victoria
On Sunday 14 March, a Family Day was held to launch the new learning environment, We Depend on Nature, in the Children’s Gallery at Melbourne Museum.
The space was created in partnership with the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) to celebrate this year’s status as United Nations International Year of Biodiversity. It was designed for children under eight years old to explore the theme of biodiversity through play, imagination and learning. The activities foster children’s appreciation of the natural world and their own place within it.
On Family Day, DSE staff and their families tested out the displays and activities after We Depend on Nature was officially opened by DSE Deputy Secretary Kevin Love. The kids made masks and enjoyed a visit by Greta from Live Exhibits who brought along a lizard. They also decorated leaves to hang from the Biodiversity Tree, a large sculpture created from papier-mâché over a wire frame by Melbourne artist Tom Ripon. The tree will continue to grow as children add their own paper leaves to its branches.
We Depend on Nature is open until the end of 2010.