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Birds, birds & more birds!

April 17, 2009 11:42 by Melinda Iser

Curator, Tracey-Ann Hooley and Exhibition Designer, Richard Glover create a showcase template, placing objects within helping with the process of designing showcase of Victorian birds for the upcoming Wild: amazing animals in a changing world exhibition.

Credit: Melinda Iser, Source: Museum Victoria

Birds selected for display.

Fairy Penguin, Eudyptula minor novaehollandiae / Plumed Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna eytoni / Shy Albatross, Diomedea cauta cauta / Eastern Yellow Robin, Eopsaltria australis

Source: Museum Victoria

 


Emu goes for a ride

April 3, 2009 07:43 by Melinda Iser

Credit: Melinda Iser, Source: Museum Victoria


Wild: amazing animals in a changing world

April 3, 2009 06:43 by Melinda Iser

Wild: amazing animals in a changing world opens September 2009.
 

Signage / Western Grey Kangaroo - Macropus fuliginosus / Gang-gang Cockatoo - Callocephalon fimbriatum

 

 

Credit: late Gary Lewis, Source: Museum Victoria

Visitors will be surrounded examples of mammals, birds and reptiles from around the world, including Australia .  They will be able to explore this wonderful diversity and discover which animals are thriving and which are merely surviving.

Victorian environments such as alps, grassland, wetlands will reveal what is changing and the connections between people and nature. Some aspects will be larger than life, others faster than life providing visitors with unique insights in each environment.

The exhibition explores why biodiversity is under threat and how we can create a more hopeful future.

Installing a Quetzalcoatlus

March 2, 2009 08:22 by Melinda Iser

Rencently we installed a Quetzalcoatlus at Melbourne Museum for the upcoming Dinosaur Walk exhibition. It ‘s a huge pterosaur with a wingspan of up to 15 metres - the largest flying creature of all time and existed the very end of the Cretaceous period. Being such a large animal it was suprisingly light and probably weighed no more than 100 kilograms.

Pterosaurs are not dinosaurs, but they lived alongside them during the Mesozoic era.

Credit: Rodney Start, Source: Melbourne Museum


Graphics installed

December 17, 2008 09:16 by Melinda Iser

Museum staff installs temporary signage advertising the upcoming Dinosaur Walk exhibition

Credit: Melinda Iser, Source: Museum Victoria


Meet the design team

December 8, 2008 06:35 by Melinda Iser

Credit:Benjamin Healley, Source: Museum Victoria

The science and life design team have backgrounds in exhibition design, industrial design, interior design and graphic design. They are creating dynamic environments for the display and interpretation of heritage collection material for this development project.


Designing a viewing platform

December 5, 2008 10:51 by Melinda Iser

Concept drawing & elevation of Dinosaur Walk exhibition showing viewing platform.

Credit: Richard Glover, Source: Museum Victoria

 

Platform template placed in space to establish hanging points in the ceiling| 3D rendered drawing of platform in space.

Credit: Melinda Iser, source: Museum Victoria | Credit: Peter Wilson, Source: Museum Victoria


Native Grasslands - field trips

December 5, 2008 10:44 by Melinda Iser

Mt Cottrell Grassland  |  Native grass tussock at Mulla Mulla  |  Convolvulus erubescens, Mulla Mulla Grassland Credit: Jenni Meaney, Source: Museum Victoria


A grassland environment will be created as part of an exhibition about Biodiversity, opening in September 2009. In order to catch the plants in flower this spring we had to research and select the best sites to photograph.

We started by driving to Mt Cottrell in Melton to look two grassland sites there. As well as a great view across the western plain to the CBD of Melbourne, we saw some unusual and intriguing grassland plants. We also visited Iramoo, in St Albans which includes a community education centre, protected native grassland and nursery.

Our next visit was to Derrimut Grasslands, a special patch of Grassland bounded by busy roads and industrial estates. These visit highlighted the beauty and the fragmented nature of Melbourne’s Grasslands.


Finding the Icthyosaur Fossil

December 5, 2008 10:15 by Melinda Iser

Credit: Tom Rich, Source: Museum Victoria

In August 2008 Dr Tom Rich headed an expedition to find and excavate an Ichthyosaur fossil in outback Queensland for display in a new exhibition.  The fossil they were looking for was of Platypterygius, a large ichthyosaur (marine reptile) which lived at the time of dinosaurs between 110 and 100 million years ago. It grew to 6 or 7 metres long in the inland sea, now western Queensland.

He was guided to a likely spot to find fossils by Dave Suter together with Tom and Sharon Hurley who had the local knowledge. They used a digger to excavate rocks which looked promising. There was no guarantee that they would find anything as there is always an element of luck in finding fossils. However, Tom has forty-seven years as a palaeontologist and extensive experience at dig sites. This combined with six experienced eyes who knew the local fossils, led to finding a fossil on the third hole they excavated. They found a skull and rostrum of the animal including wonderfully preserved teeth. The fossil was encased in plaster for a safe return journey to the museum in Melbourne. How complete the skull is, and what other bones they find, will not be known until work is done to remove the rock that surrounds the fossil.

Credit: Kate Phillips, Source: Museum Victoria


Dinosaur animation

December 4, 2008 10:44 by Melinda Iser

Tarbosaurus, one of the stars of the new Dinosaur Walk exhibition will ‘come to life’ with the aid of some clever animation.  Visitors will look through a viewer to see the skeleton transform into a moving animal in its environment. To create the animation, the exhibition team needed a photo of Tarbosaurus in position – but the skeleton was in pieces. Staff stayed at work late to assemble the dinosaur in the empty gallery. When Tarbosaurus was in exactly the right position they took the photos. Now the animators can do their magic.

Museum staff putting Tarbosaurs together

Credit: Melinda Iser, Source: Museum Victoria