I was in the museum’s collection store the other day, the one that houses a lot of technology items, and wondered what it would sound like if it came alive at midnight. Would it be a noisy place? The historic clocks would chime, the wind-up toys would clatter and buzz, the industrial machines would hum a rhythmic bass and some old computers game would beep and bop while the phonograph players would wind-up waltz. Then again, it might be such a cacophony that it would sound like the pots and pans cupboard collapsing. In this episode, we ask one of the Museum Victoria curators to activate objects that usually lie silent so we can celebrate the sounds of some unusual collection objects.

Of sound mind, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS | Subscribe in iTunes

Detail of the music box showing metal pins. | David Demant with the music box. | David demonstrating the cardboard phonograph. Photos by Andi Horvath.

More...

Ever wondered why so many Australians pay homage to Phar Lap the racehorse at Melbourne Museum? Is your knowledge of Phar Lap simply that he lived fast, died young and left a beautiful corpse? Here is your opportunity to get versed up with Jackie Kerin, the author of Phar Lap the Wonder Horse.

Incidentally, Phar Lap’s skeleton is exhibited at Te Papa Museum in New Zealand, his preserved heart is at the National Museum in Canberra and his beautiful hide is on display at Melbourne Museum, but his tale (irresistible pun intended) is right here.

Championing your trivia quiz cause, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS | Subscribe in iTunes

Phar Lap at Melbourne Museum, photo by Earl Carter | Jockey Silks, Telford Colours, worn by Phar Lap’s jockey in the 1930s, photo by John Broomfield | Storyteller and author Jackie Kerin in her finest racewear, photo courtesy of Jackie Kerrin

More...

The ‘relics’ of history have been housed in museums for hundreds of years. Museum Victoria was officially started in 1854 by British colonialists who collected items deemed to be significant to the nation’s identity, culture, and education. 

Today the tradition of acquiring and housing what is significant to the nation’s culture continues but it’s performed by representatives of the broad Australian public, in the form of historians, scientists, and indigenous consultants, collectively known as curators. 

While Phar Lap is one of Museums Victoria’s most famous relics, it’s the succession of three Phar Lap curators that we explore in this podcast.  Their research and interpretation has allowed the stories of Phar Lap to be gathered, authenticated, understood, preserved and enjoyed.

Curating the curators, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS | Subscribe in iTunes

The three curators, left to right: Eddie Butler-Bowdon (photo by Jon Augier) | Elizabeth Willis (photo by John Broomfield) | Michael Reason (photo by Andi Horvath)

More...

The great thing about museum objects at Scienceworks is you don’t have wait til midnight for them come alive. You can attend one of their seasonal Machines in Action days (‘MAD’ events as they call it) to experience the sights, sounds and smells of old giant steam engines, a gold and money van from the 1930s, and vintage motors on four wheels. That day the Mini car club were out there celebrating their 50th birthday. When it comes to motor vehicles, I have to ‘fess up the only thing I was really interested in was the sound of their ‘toot’, but after meeting the people who know their machines inside and out, I got excited about them too.

Rolling on, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS | Subscribe in iTunes

Visitors checking out a Mini car. | The Super Sentinel Steam Waggon in action. | Matthew Churchward with the 1930s van for transporting gold and money. Photos by Andi Horvath

More...

Where you find the wild things is right here at Melbourne Museum! There is a new exhibition called Wild: amazing animals in a changing world. There are over 700 specimens on display and it’s a wonderful zoo of animals playing 'freeze'. The extinct Tasmanian Tiger specimen is on display but what you become sadly aware of is so many endangered creatures may join him. The exhibition also celebrates amazingly effective conservation efforts and climate change awareness. Let’s act so museums and zoos are not the last places we find our wild friends.

In fine furriness, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS | Subscribe in iTunes

Red-crowned Barbet. Photo: Heath Warwick | Tracey-Ann Hooley in the exhibition gallery. Photo: Andi Horvath | Malayan Civet. Photo: Heath Warwick

More...

Good crime fiction finds out whodunnit by asking why and how they did it. Evidence can lead us to the culprit but can also lead us to erroneous assumptions. In this episode we talk to one of history’s detectives – the archivist.

Ross Harrison Snow, Museum Victoria’s (former) archivist, uncovered a long-forgotten but fascinating story about a butterfly theft that occurred from museums in Australia and New Zealand in the late 1940s.

The evidence, such as old museum correspondence, documents, court proceedings and media clippings, tells the story through what’s said but also and what isn’t said.

Arrestingly yours, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS | Subscribe in iTunes

Drawers for butterfly collections. Photo Kate Chmiel | A specimen with a tell-tale yellow label. Photo Kate Chmiel | One of hundreds of butterflies on display at Melbourne Museum's Bugs Alive exhibition. Photo Jonny Brownbill

More...

If I said we were going to visit old relics, valuable treasures and strange creatures, you might think we were going into the museum’s collection store. But no, we’re venturing into another restricted place: the rare books section of Museum Victoria’s library, where even staff need special permission for access.

The rare books section contains rare resources and famous books accumulated by the museum over the past 150 years. The illustrations in the rare books are a visual treat, but the stories behind the books, as told by library staff, are just as vivid. We meet the diligent librarian who found a forgotten rare and famous book during a spring clean, and hear tales of printing presses working in the freezing Antarctic.

Thanks for visiting this page that one day will be an archive,
Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS

Dr Ely Wallis among the rare books | Bizarre inhabitants of Seba's cabinet of curiosities | Ely shows the museum's copy of Aurora Australis | Val Hogan with her fishy find. Photos: Andi Horvath

More...

We humans have been posting our comments around the place for centuries. Mobile phones and Twitter may be the tools we use today, but back in 79 AD, the Romans recorded their opinions about life as graffiti on the walls of their cities.

We know this because aspects of Roman life in Pompeii were preserved in the many metres of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. The evidence remains even after centuries of looting and unauthorised excavations.

Over 200 artefacts are on loan to Museum Victoria for this very special Melbourne Museum exhibition, A Day in Pompeii. It was opened by the Minster for the Arts and I really wanted to take a picture of her next to the statue of Minerva, the Roman Goddess of the Arts, but didn't get a chance.

Gladiatorial-ly and curatorial-ly yours, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS

Roman Gods. Photo: Andi Horvath | Garden Fresco House of the Golden bracelet. Source: © William Starling, Alabama, USA. | Gladiator's helmet. Source: Alfredo and Pio Foglia.

More...

Be my guest as we gatecrash another special exhibition event, this time at Scienceworks. A long, long time ago (in 2005) in a Museum of Science far, far away (in Boston) some exhibition people got together with a crowd from LucasFilm Ltd and joined forces to create an exhibition called Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination. It’s designed to ignite interest in science and technology and interestingly one of the scientists interviewed in the exhibition mentions that Star Wars inspired her to study robotics!

May the fourth is international Star Wars Day, but every day is Star Wars Day at Scienceworks for the next 5 months while this travelling exhibition is in Melbourne. So go forth with the force that is science and imagination.

Electrostatically yours, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS

C-3PO is enjoying being adjusted for display. Photo: David Collopy | Storm troopers and clone trooper welcoming patrons to the preview night Source: David Loram D.D.L. Photographics Pty Ltd. | Nick Crotty with an R2D2 version of Mr Potato head and Robbie a robot who features in the Scienceworks collection store tour. Source: Dr Andi

More...

Have you seen Wolfram|Alpha? It’s not an internet search engine, even though it seems like one, but rather a computational knowledge engine. You ask it a question, and it actually computes the answer. Seems the perfect way to double-check if the meaning of life is really 42, like Douglas Adams wrote in A Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy.

However, it occurred to me that the answer should actually be 94 not 42. Here is my theory. Things that have meaning …matter, all life is made up of …matter, therefore the meaning of life is …matter! Since there are 94 types of matter naturally found on Earth, the number 94 must be the secret to ‘Life, the Universe and Everything’ and the periodic table of the elements must be the map!

Nobelium-ly yours, Dr Andi

Download MP3 | Subscribe via RSS

Lauren Bartlett (also known as Lawrencium to her brother) with her lithium battery collection. Photo Andi Horvath | Drink with the table. Photo www.campusgifts.co.uk | Dan Robertson has time for Caesium. Photo Andi Horvath

More...