2 Sep 2011A Hidden KalgoorlieHonorary researcher from the Monash University’s Indigenous Centre, Dr Sue Taffe, will speak at the Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder on the move for equal rights by indigenous Australians in the 1960s and the important role that Kalgoorlie played in this. The lecture, A Hidden Kalgoorlie, is part of the WA Museum’s Harry Butler: In the Wild West lecture series.Read more News Western Australian Museum
31 Aug 2011Cosmic gemsMeteorites and related materials have been used for human adornment for millennia. The oldest examples come from the tombs of ancient Egypt, but the practice of making jewellery continues to the present day.Dr Alex Bevan head of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Western Australian Museum will present his lecture Cosmic Gems on 8 and 9 September 2011, as part of the Museum’s Harry Butler lecture series: In the Wild West.Read more News Western Australian Museum
26 Aug 2011Problem of longitude in relation to the discovery of AustraliaFour hundred years ago a sailing voyage from Europe to Java, via Madagascar, would take almost 12 months, with an enormous toll on the health of all aboard. In 1611 Dutch captain Hendrik Brouwer made a calculated venture across the southern Indian Ocean with the Roaring Forties winds before turning north, and in doing so cut the voyage to six months. Brouwer’s journey became known as the Brouwer Route. Read more News Western Australian Museum
15 Aug 2011Ark of discovery: Evolution of fauna on the Houtman AbrolhosFor up to 8,000 years the fauna on many of the 170 islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos off Geraldton have evolved in isolation, providing a fascinating laboratory in which to study adaptive patterns in many species.As part of the Western Australian Museum’s second year of the Harry Butler: In the Wild West lecture series and National Science Week activities, the Museum’s terrestrial vertebrates senior curator Professor Ric How will present An ark of discovery: evolution of fauna on the Houtman Abrolhos.Read more News Western Australian Museum
12 Aug 2011Desert camera network gives clues to meteorite originsAn independent camera network set up in the Nullarbor desert is making it possible to track and recover observed meteorite falls, as well as identify their origin in the Solar System.Associate Professor Alex Bevan, head of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences will be talking about the ‘Australian Desert Fireball Network’ during National Science Week as part of the Western Australian Museum’s 2011 Harry Butler lecture series: In the Wild West.Read more News Western Australian Museum
10 Aug 2011WA Museum project provides virtual field trip beneath the prehistoric NullarborIn a WA Museum first, people will be able to follow virtually the action of a real scientific field expedition into the many caves beneath the Nullarbor Plain. Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said people will have unprecedented access to website streams of video footage, interviews and blogs allowing them to see a scientific field trip as it happens. “This is a case of science and technology coming together to tell the story of prehistoric Australia,” Mr Day said.Read more News Western Australian Museum
8 Aug 2011The chemistry of shipwrecksThere are more than a thousand shipwrecks located along the Western Australian coastline, however due to a combination of biological deterioration and the movement of water and sand the majority of WA wrecks are rarely found intact Read more News Western Australian Museum
8 Aug 2011Investigating the CosmosIn the last century our view of the Universe and our place within it has undergone a revolution every bit as dramatic as Galileo's assertion 400 years prior that the Earth was not the centre of the Solar System. We live within a normal spiral galaxy that hosts 100 billion stars similar to our own Sun and forms but one of 100 billion galaxies. The last decade has taught us that all these galaxies make up less than five percent of the entire Universe. Read more News Western Australian Museum
2 Aug 2011Ark of discovery: Evolution of fauna on the Houtman AbrolhosFor up to 8,000 years the fauna on many of the 170 islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos off Geraldton have evolved in isolation, providing a fascinating laboratory in which to study adaptive patterns in many species.As part of the Western Australian Museum’s second year of the Harry Butler: In the Wild West lecture series and National Science Week activities, the Museum’s terrestrial vertebrates senior curator Professor Ric How will present An ark of discovery: evolution of fauna on the Houtman Abrolhos.Read more News Western Australian Museum
1 Aug 2011Shipwrecks and Chemists How do shipwrecks interact with the marine environment and how can maritime archaeologists uncover how the cargoes and vessels degrade with time? Read more News Western Australian Museum
1 Aug 2011Creepy crawlies of WAWestern Australia is home to a variety of fascinating and ancient creepy crawlies, such as centipedes, spiders and scorpions. Are they dangerous? When should we be concerned, and when should we be delighted to have them in our neighbourhood?As part of the Western Australian Museum’s second year of the Harry Butler: In the Wild West lecture series, the Museum’s Head of Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Dr Mark Harvey will present a talk on Creepy crawlies at 6.30pm on Tuesday 9 August, 2011.Read more News Western Australian Museum
29 Jul 2011Final days to visit AC/DC Australia’s Family Jewels exhibitionThere are only a few days to go before the WA Museum’s AC/DC Australia’s Family Jewels exhibition closes on 7 August. Visitors are urged to take advantage of this great ‘rock n roll’ exhibition before it leaves Australian shores for overseas.WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said since the exhibition opened on 16 April it has been a huge success.“The exhibition has attracted more than 70,000 people to date and we expect a surge of visitors before the doors close on Sunday 7 August,” Mr Coles said.Read more News Western Australian Museum
26 Jul 2011Dr Harry Butler – ‘Almost’ in the WildJoin renowned conservationist and naturalist Dr W. H. (Harry) Butler to hear his tales of travels to remote Australia to record his legendary wildlife television series In the Wild.Dr Butler will be talking about his adventures as part of the Western Australian Museum’s 2011 Harry Butler lecture series: In the Wild West.One of the first of its kind, the wildlife documentary In the Wild aired from 1976–1981, continued to play into the 1990s and is now available on DVD. The series has reached an estimated 480 million people in 43 countries.Read more News Western Australian Museum
19 Jul 2011Blue China: single female migrationSingle women, encouraged to migrate to the colonies during the late 1880s to fulfil the shortage of domestic servants, had their freedom restricted and were kept isolated from their fellow colonists.‘Woman, it has been said, is like blue china, very valuable when sound, but very worthless when damaged or broken’ is a quote showing one such example of this attitude.Read more News Western Australian Museum
13 Jul 2011In the pink: The story of diamonds in WASince the discovery of the diamond-rich Argyle volcanic pipe in 1979, Western Australia has risen to world prominence as a diamond producer.As part of the Western Australian Museum’s second year of the Harry Butler Lecture Series: In the Wild West, Vulcanologist and WA Museum curator of minerals and meteorites Dr Peter Downes will present a fascinating lecture on the formation and mining of diamonds in Western Australia.Read more News Western Australian Museum
8 Jul 2011Dinosaur Encounters!Come and see the fearsome and spectacular 4-metre tall T-Rex dinosaur brought to life and thrilling the crowds at the Western Australian Museum – Perth these school holidays! FILMING OPPORTUNTY WEDNESDAY 13 JULY from 9am Dinosaur Encounters Read more News Western Australian Museum
5 Jul 2011William Dampier: Pirate and travel writerWilliam Dampier became famous after his epic pirating travels were published in his book ‘A New Voyage Round the World’. This became an international best seller overnight and influenced many literary greats such as Coleridge (The Ancient Mariner), Swift (Gulliver’s Travels) and Defoe (Robinson Crusoe). Join Western Australian Museum Maritime Archaeology curator, Dr Michael (Mack) McCarthy as he presents a public talk about the life and times of the pirate and hydrographer as part of The Harry Butler: In the Wild West lecture series.Read more News Western Australian Museum
5 Jul 2011Adult programs during the school holiday period at the WA Museum – AlbanyThe Western Australian Museum – Albany has more than just kids activities this school holiday season. Adults will be treated as well, to stories of pirates, songs of seafarers and tales of steamships and whalers. In the Wild West Lecture Series William Dampier “Pirate and Hydrographer” Adjunct Professor Michael McCarthy, Curator of Maritime ArchaeologyRead more News Western Australian Museum
28 Jun 2011The Rottnest deepwater graveyardHidden beneath the deep waters off the coast of Rottnest Island is a mysterious graveyard of old unwanted vessels and military vehicles. As part of the Western Australian Museum’s second year of the Harry Butler Lecture Series: In the Wild West, Head of the Department of Maritime Archaeology, Jeremy Green will take us on a journey to the watery grave and see how aerial surveys, technical diving and remotely-operated vehicles have been revealing its buried treasures.Read more News Western Australian Museum
28 Jun 2011Fun in the Parlour!The Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder will be full of fun activities these school holidays as it uncovers what life would be like living in the early 1900s, sets a puzzle trail to discover and teaches kids how to draw cartoons.Fun in the ParlourRead more News Western Australian Museum