What's New

  • illustration of Earth's crust and uppermost part of the hot mantle below

    8 May 2014

    Drifting Continents

    During the Cretaceous, as well as throughout the Earth’s history, the continents have slowly moved position. This movement affects the evolution of life on Earth including dinosaurs. How do they move?

    The Earth’s lithosphere (the crust and uppermost part of the hot mantle below) is divided into seven large and a few smaller, curved plates that move constantly, relative to each other. Continents have old, thick, but relatively light crust, whereas the ocean floor has young, thin and dense crust.

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    Article
    Danny Murphy

  • Dinosaur Triceratops skull

    8 May 2014

    Dinosaur Types

    Dinosaurs diversified into two main groups after they evolved some 230 million years ago in the Triassic Period.

    One group, called Saurischian dinosaurs includes the four-legged, long-necked, planteating sauropods and their relatives as well as the two-legged theropods. Most theropods were (and some continue to be) carnivores. The other group, called Ornithischian dinosaurs, were herbivores. The key differences between the two groups are in their hip bone and lower jaw structures.

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    Article
    Danny Murphy

  • Volcanic eruption

    8 May 2014

    Cretaceous Greenhouse World

    In the Late Cretaceous, around 94 million years ago, the Earth experienced extreme global warming.

    During this time the ocean floor changed greatly as the continents drifted apart. This increased plate movement and produced a surge in volcanic activity, both on the land and on the ocean floor. The increase in young and hot oceanic crust and a rise in water temperature resulted in a major sea level rise. A massive release of carbon dioxide (CO2) from volcanoes and sea level rise are intimately linked to the vast oil and gas fields that date to this time.

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    Article
    Danny Murphy

  • A Nepalese woman hauls a load of tinder across an alpine landscape.

    7 May 2014

    Hauling Baskets

    As the name implies, hauling baskets are designed carrying large loads of material from place to place. In many ways, hauling baskets are used like backpacks, with the wheight of a load distributed across the shoulders. This is often achived through hanging two baskets from either end of a pole (usually a large stick) and slinging the pole behind the neck. 

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    Article
    Xavier Leenders

  • Iconic Numbats grace the cover of the Field Guide

    1 May 2014

    WA Museum puts West Australian wildlife in your hands

    Get to know your local bugs, birds and beasts when the Western Australian Museum launches its new Field Guide to Western Australian Fauna app today.

    This free app provides descriptions, photos, distribution maps and endangered species status of more than 250 species of birds, frogs, mammals and more, found on the land and in waters across Western Australia.

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    News
    Jane Rosevear

  • A close up view of a slender mud-dauber wasp

    30 Apr 2014

    Slender mud-dauber wasps: genus Sceliphron

    Mud nests are constructed by a wide variety of wasps representing the families Vespidae, Sphecidae and Pompilidae, with the greatest number belonging to the first of these. This information sheet relates to just one genus, Sceliphron, in the family Sphecidae. 

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Native bee facial view

    30 Apr 2014

    Native Bee – Presumed Extinct

     Native Bee – Presumed Extinct Hesperocolletes douglasi Michener 

    Fig. 1. Facial view of Hesperocolletes douglasi, holotype, male. Image copyright WA Museum 

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • In-flight near miss between a young osprey and a spoonbill

    28 Apr 2014

    Amazing ANZANG reaches the Goldfields

    The Western Australian Museum tour of The Australian Geographic ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition will reach the Goldfields this Saturday 3 May.

    The Australian Geographic ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year showcases the unique natural beauty of the Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea region via the winning works of the world’s best amateur and professional photographers.

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    News
    Jane Rosevear

  • A model posing with stolen items

    28 Apr 2014

    Convicts in the Mid West

    Visitors to Western Australian Museum – Geraldton will experience a unique perspective on convict settlers, the crimes that landed them in Australia and links to their living descendants, when A Convict in the Family? opens this Saturday 3 May.

    This thought-provoking photographic exhibition by documentary photographer Mine Konakci visually explores and exposes petty crimes that changed the course of many family histories.

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    News
    Jane Rosevear

  • A montage of face portraits

    17 Apr 2014

    WA Faces

    We are all Western Australian.

    We each have stories about who we are, our connections to family, friends and Country, and how we came to live and work in Western Australia.

    Each face has a story to tell.

    Join the WA Faces album; share your portrait and your story and help us show the world what it means to be Western Australian.

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    Online Exhibition
    Western Australian Museum

  • Freshwater crayfish which belongs to the species Cherax preissi, commonly known as Koonac

    11 Apr 2014

    A behind-the-scenes look at our crustacean collection

    This small photo gallery gives a behind-the-scenes look into the crustacean collection. It will be enhanced in the near future with a Smartphone and tablet app that the Western Australian Museum is currently developing. This Smartphone and tablet app will reveal what happens behind-the-scenes at the Museum, explaining the research performed and showcasing our collections.

    The Western Australian Museum is developing a variety of new products for our audiences, and invites you to give your opinion about this app project by answering a short survey:

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    Photo Galleries
    Jessica Scholle

  • Zebedee render of Hackett Hall gallery

    8 Apr 2014

    Zebedee generated maps of the WA Museum

    In March 2014 the Museum was lucky enough to welcome the CSIRO robotics team to talk about 3D mapping of physical spaces and digital preservation of significant locations.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Native Australian butterfly; underside of a Belenois java teutonia, family Pieridae; commonly known as Caper White

    1 Apr 2014

    A behind-the-scenes look at our butterfly collection

    This small photo gallery gives a behind-the-scenes look into the butterfly collection. It will be enhanced in the near future with a Smartphone and tablet app that the Western Australian Museum is currently developing. This Smartphone and tablet app will aim to reveal what happens behind-the-scenes at the Museum, explaining the research performed and showcasing our collections.

    The Western Australian Museum is always aiming to offer products that our audiences want, and invites you to give your opinion about this app project by answering a short survey:

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    Photo Galleries
    Jessica Scholle

  • Baler shell specimens which belong to the species Melo miltonis

    28 Mar 2014

    A behind-the-scenes look at our volute collection

    This small photo gallery gives a behind-the-scenes look into the volute collection. It will be enhanced in the near future with a Smartphone and tablet app that the Western Australian Museum is currently developing. This Smartphone and tablet app will reveal what happens behind-the-scenes at the Museum, explaining the research performed and showcasing our collections.

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    Photo Galleries
    Jessica Scholle

  • A sea turtle crawling over the beach to return to water

    11 Mar 2014

    Turtle talk to help Gnaraloo’s unique program

    The Western Australian Museum – Geraldton is doing its bit to help a unique program to protect residents of a remote stretch of WA coastline in the world famous Ningaloo Marine Park.

    The Gnaraloo coastline is building fame in its own right because of its endangered sea turtle populations.

    Sea turtles nest and hatch on beaches along the Gnaraloo coastline annually, generally from November to April.

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    News
    Western Australian Museum

  • Divers working on a large coral reef

    28 Feb 2014

    Offshore treasures found in WA Museum fieldtrip

    Scientists and researchers led by a team from the Western Australian Museum have made a series of surprising and exciting discoveries in waters nearly 350 kilometres off the Kimberley coast.

    Among them were previously undocumented fauna, species recorded for the first time in Western Australia and, in some cases, Australia.

    The data and specimens collected are being analysed and documented in the Museum’s Welshpool laboratories.

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    News
    Western Australian Museum

  • Two Australian soldiers standing with two young East Timorese men, known as criados

    7 Feb 2014

    Albany explores an enduring Debt of Honour

    The incredible story of 270 Australian commandos who defied all odds to hold down more than 10,000 Japanese troops in East Timor during a critical point of World War II will be told at the Western Australian Museum – Albany from February 14.

    Debt of Honour: Australia’s First Commandos and East Timor recounts the little-known story of one of Australia’s most defining campaigns of the Second World War.

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    News
    Niki Comparti

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