We get a lot of mail coming through this centre - photographs, requests for information, offers to donate items, insects to identify. In recent days, our mailbag has been leavened with some delightful letters from junior fans of the Museum. Here is a selection of our favourites:

Photo: Siobhan Motherway  Source: Museum Victoria

Kirby gave us some great feedback! Kirby's favourite things in the Museum are the dinosaur bones, followed closely by "the Phar Lap". I can tell you that the various relevant curators and managers were well chuffed, and that copies of this letter occupy pride of place on office walls. Kirby expresses an interest in working at the Museum "when I grow up" - Kirby, judging from the folk we work with, I don't think you need to wait to grow up...it doesn't seem to be a prerequisite of employment around here!

Photo: Siobhan Motherway  Source: Museum Victoria

This batch of letters came from a grade one class in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. Not only does their handwriting put mine to shame, but all letters were carefully dated, politely opened with "Dear Sir or Madam", and signed off with "Yours sincerely". They embellished their letters with beautiful garden drawings, and each included a question. "Why are plants green?" (Chlorophyll - it's a pigment found in most plants that enables them to absorb energy from sunlight) and "What is Victoria's tallest tree, and how tall is it?" (Eucalyptus regnans, or the Mountain Ash, which can grow up to 100m tall!).

Thank you to all of our correspondents, and we look forward to more mailbag excitement.

The important question of the visibility of the moon will become even more resonant, this weekend, as Muslims around the world look to the skies for a glimpse of the lunar sliver that will signal the end of Ramadan.

This morning I was on the telephone to a devout man in the "naked eye tradition" - those who will only end the fast when the moon has been spotted - who wanted clarification of the moon's rise and set times on the website of Melbourne's Planetarium. Where should he look? When will it rise? At another (American) website a dismal-looking black square signified invisible moons until halfway through the weekend, but the man on the phone insisted that he could see the hint of reflected light, on his own screen, "like a reversed C." I said: "you look with the eyes of faith..." 

Photo: James W. Young  Source: NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.org

Īd mubārak!

Photo: Siobhan Motherway  Source: Museum Victoria

Here at the Discovery Centre, we receive all sorts of finds from all sorts of people. A 9 year old beachcomber finds a "shark tooth" which turns out to be millions of years old, for example. Today, an enquirer came in with this fine specimen he found with his metal detector, in suburban Melbourne. It certainly is heavy, with a metallic cast. It warms to the touch and has an intriguing scalloped surface. Of course, our visitor would like to know if his find is of extra- or terrestrial origin! 

Photo: Siobhan Motherway  Source: Museum Victoria

Looking at it through the eye of one of our Discovery Centre magnifying lenses yields little more information, so off to the Senior Collection Manager of Mineralogy it goes!

An 86-year-old woman phoned the Immigration Discovery Centre asking about a certain lane in Melbourne, wanting to know if it was still a lane, and where it was located. I found Rankins Lane using Google maps and described it to the woman: "I can see the Commonwealth Bank building, and bins, and chefs eating their lunch, and an old sign advertising a printer." In turn, she told me about the Rankin family, and how her pioneering ancestor had run a funeral parlour from this tiny back street. She used to come into the city quite a lot, she told me, but today had to depend on my voice and my eyes to tell her the story of this shady corner of the CBD. "I can see some graffiti," I explained - "but it's nice graffiti." 

Photo of street art in Rankins Lane. By Doogsta via Flickr

Photo: Siobhan Motherway  Source: Museum Victoria

This attractive item came into the Discovery Centre today, identified by the enquirer as a Sioux Dance Fan, beaded and trimmed with Eagle feathers.

His purpose in bringing the fan in was to have the type of fur used in the trim identified. The only hint he could offer was that it was from North America, and that the animal products in the fan had been sourced from roadkill.

Well, at least it's a beautiful outcome from an unfortunate demise!

Whilst we don't specialise in North American mammal hides, our stalwart Mammalogist dutifully came down to inspect the item when he had a moment. It wasn't beaver - too coarse. It wasn't dog - too fine. His conclusion? Hare. Another mystery solved!