Lectures Archive
Welcome to the Museum Victoria's online Lecture Archive. Listen to lively discussion about a range of important issues including our environment, society, indigenous culture, mammoths and infrared astronomy.
Experience it for yourself.
Lecture topics cover the following subject areas:
For information about current events at Museum Victoria, visit What's On.
Science & Environment
In Search of King Solomon's Ring: Cognitive and Communicative Studies on Grey Parrots
Presenter: Dr Irene Pepperberg
Parrots and other talking birds have fascinated mankind since Aristotle. Once thought to be mere mimics, birds are now known to possess remarkable intellectual abilities.
June 27 2000
Unwrapping the Helix: The Human Genome Project
Presenter: Dr Susan Forrest, Associate Professor Julian Savulescu, Associate Professor Loane Skene, Robyn Williams
This important forum explained the Human Genome Project, a global initiative to map and sequence the human genome. Three Melbourne-based experts addressed the issues relating to the current research being undertaken in this international project.
May 10 2000
Raising the Mammoth: The excavation of a pre-historic woolly mammoth
Presenter: Dick Mol
In October 1999, the first fully preserved woolly mammoth was excavated from Taimyr Peninsula and airlifted to an ice cave in Khatanga, Siberia.
February 24 2000
Slaughter, Subterfuge and Survival
Presenter: John Landy
Find out how beetles lose their wings to mimic wasps, how parasites feed on their own larvae and how certain insects feign death, during this insight into slaughter, subterfuge and survival in the insect kingdom.
October 12 1999
Secrets of the Tall Timber Forests
Presenter: Dr Tom Griffiths, Dr Richard Marchant
Take the opportunity to hear about the issues relating to the ecological integrity and the biodiversity of the important Victorian environmental habitat of the vast mountain ash forests north and east of Melbourne.
June 10 1999
New Adventures in Infrared Astronomy
Presenter: Martin Harwit
Infrared astronomy has revolutionised and transformed the way we view the makings of the Universe and our place in it. These new infrared observations now reveal the physical processes which took place in the formation of galaxies and stars billions of years ago.
May 5 1999
Exploding Stars and Smoke Rings
Presenter: Dr Bryan Gaensler
Listen to Bryan Gaensler talk about the most amazing picture ever taken of the sky, the Hubble Deep Field, our Milky Way Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, open clusters and more.
May 2 1999
Space, Place and Spirit
Presenter: Margaret Wertheim
Over the past four hundred years physicists have developed an ever more sophisticated understanding of physical space. Margaret explores early perceptions of humanity’s place and destiny in the universe and suggests that cyberspace lacks a moral dimension and questions whether it can have any truly redemptive significance.
March 4 1999
Curiosity
Presenter: Professor Pat Vickers-Rich
Phillip Crosbie Morrison was a pioneer naturalist, environmentalist and a natural history broadcaster from 1938 to 1958. The lecture is named in his honour, and is the major annual lecture of Museum Victoria.
November 26 1998
Sex, Survival & Variety: Marine Biologists reveal the private lives of whales, seals & squid
Presenter: Dr Sally Troy, Dr Mark Norman, Micheline Jenner, MSc
To celebrate 1998 International Year of the Ocean, three of Australia’s most adventurous biologists presented an insight into the amazing private world of sea creatures and explore current issues in marine conservation.
June 5 1998
Australian Society & Technology
Flora's Box: Empty Spaces, Memory and Migration
Presenter: Sara Wills
Noting how personal experience informs research, and drawing on interviews conducted with British migrants in Frankston, this paper discusses the voices that echo around objects such as Flora's Box; both those that reflect memories under erasure and those coming to terms with their routes.
September 10 2003
Dame Nellie Melba - An Australian Icon
Presenter: Moya McFadzean
Melba's relationship with Australia was often ambivalent but her place in Australia's search for identity was significant and permanent. Melba remains one of our greatest cultural icons.
May 13 2001
Telling Tales: Representing the History of Melbourne
Presenter: Janet McCalman, Arnold Zable, Richard Gillespie, Tony Birch
Three writers examined the use of historical fact, oral history and story telling to represent the history of Melbourne. The forum included discussion between the speakers and the audience.
August 25 1999
Use It or Lose It
Presenter: Isabelle Ryan’s Golden Tappers, Dr Andrea Horvath, Dr Dina LoGiudice, Dr Keith Hill, Professor John Carlson, Mrs Elizabeth Brown
Museum Victoria's Human Mind and Body Program in partnership with the National Ageing Research Institute and proudly sponsored by Pfizer Pty Limited presented this dynamic public forum which addressed some important issues regarding the human mind and body and ageing.
May 27 1999
Toward a Sustainable Future....Will the Arts be Leading or Following?
Presenter: Robert Theobald, Morag Fraser, Des Griffin, Lesley Alway
The seminar focussed in particular on the role of the arts and cultural institutions such as museums, libraries, art galleries and educational institutions. Can they be vital leaders in creating a sustainable future?
October 17 1998
Drugs and the Community
Presenter: Dr David Smith, Professor David Penington, Bill Severino, Kaye Ely, Vito Doquile
Following brief position statements by members of the panel, the audience was encouraged to ask questions and share their own experiences.
July 2 1998
Indigenous Cultures
A Century at the Centre: Spencer, Gillen and The Native Tribes of Central Australia
Presenter: Professor John Mulvaney
In 1999 it was 100 years since the publication of the extremely influential Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen book, The Native Tribes of Central Australia, which remains an academic and popular classic. When originally published, it was heralded as a breakthrough in anthropological description, quickly becoming fodder for the development of social and psychological theories about both Aboriginal peoples and humans generally.
October 2 & 3 1999
Indigenous Arts in Australia
Presenter:
The seminar series, convened by the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne and the Indigenous Cultures Program, Museum Victoria, investigates current issues and practices in the indigenous visual arts industry in Australia.
September 8 & 15 1998
Shades of Grey: Community Perspectives on Native Title in Victoria
Presenter: Rodney Carter, Graham Atkinson, Wayne Atkinson, Geoff Clark
Depending on where you stand, the native title debate offers many options for discussion. This forum presented perspectives from communities in Victoria that are living the native title experience.
July 8 1999
Art, Culture & Identity: sharing an evening with Aboriginal artists
Presenter: Doug Abbott, Ricky Maynard, Donna Leslie, Koori Arts Collective
Museum Victoria invited Aboriginal artists to give a short illustrated presentation of their work during NAIDOC Week. The artists discussed how their art relates to their life histories and views of cultural, community and personal identity.
July 7 1998
Wik: What does it mean for you?
Presenter: Mark Grist, Sue Kee, Peter Seidel, Wayne Atkinson
Museum Victoria presented an evening of public information and discussion about what native title means in Victoria.
April 7 1998
Museums & Exhibitions
The Looting Continues: A Forum on the Archaeology and History of Iraq
Presenter: Dr Leah McKenzie, Dr Nabil Sulaiman, Ms Marilyn Truscott, Tom Harley
A forum describing Iraq's cultural heritage from its earliest beginnings through to recent times, showing its continuity and importance to the cultural identity and pride of Iraqis today.
September 14 2003
Reporting the World - The Power of Dissent in Words and Pictures
Presenter: John Pilger
How photo-journalism can portray stories of people and events to the world.
December 2002
Museum Theatre
Presenter: Catherine Hughes
Catherine will talk about and illustrate a variety of performance styles in the context of using theatre in museum settings as an innovative interpretative technique.
October 12 1998
Snapshots from Behind the Scenes
Presenter: Martin Hallett, Anne Wright, Ruth Leveson, Melanie Raberts, Sue Boyd, Marcelle Scott
Museum Victoria hosted an evening of short illustrated talks from expert staff revealing the work involved with relocating its vast collections.
May 18 1998