7 Nov 2011Caught in the Act – sex and the fossil recordUntil ground breaking fossil discoveries in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 2008, seeking evidence of fossil sex has been perhaps one of the most difficult endeavours in palaeontology.Professor Kate Trinajstic, QEII Research Fellow at Curtin University, will speak at the WA Museum – Perth on those fossil discoveries and the sophisticated technologies that give insight into the previously enigmatic sexual behaviour of vertebrate millions of years ago.Read more News Western Australian Museum
26 Oct 2011Thinker puts kids’ creativity in spotlightThe arts and cultural opportunities available to local children and young people and the positive impact creative learning can have on their development will be explored when the Western Australian Museum – Albany co-hosts a new initiative of the Commissioner for Children and Young People Michelle Scott.The Commissioner’s 2011 Thinker in Residence: Unlocking Creativity will examine how successfully Western Australia is using creative activity in and out of school to make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people and to the wider community.Read more News Western Australian Museum
26 Oct 2011Kimberley collector: Father Nicholas EmoOver its 120 year history the Western Australian Museum has often received donations of collections from members of the public that provide unique insights into the people and places of WA. Dr Moya Smith, Head of Anthropology and Archaeology at the WA Museum will present a public lecture about a special collection of Aboriginal artefacts donated to the Museum in 1911 by a Spanish missionary who was based in the remote communities of Western Australia’s Kimberley at the turn of the twentieth century.Read more News Western Australian Museum
25 Oct 2011Exhibition extended to meet demandStrong interest in Unearthed: Mining Stories from the Mid West has resulted in the Western Australian Museum - Geraldton extending the exhibition until Sunday 20 November 2011.Unearthed: Mining Stories from the Mid West explores the mining history that is key to the region’s past, present and future.Since opening on 21 May, 2011 the exhibition has helped draw record attendance to the Museum for this time of year.Read more News Western Australian Museum
24 Oct 2011Exclusive British Museum collection in PerthMEDIA STATEMENT - http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx?ItemId=145258& Hon. John Day MLA 21/10/11 Minister for Culture and the ArtsRead more News Western Australian Museum
17 Oct 2011A swag full of lizards and frogsOne of the hottest and driest places on Earth, the deserts of Western Australia are home to one of the world's most diverse range of reptile fauna.Read more News Western Australian Museum
17 Oct 2011Aboriginal ochre mining in the MidwestIn the heart of the Weld Range hills in WA’s Midwest lies the Aboriginal site of Wilgie Mia where for thousands of years, extraordinarily bright red ochre has been mined from deep below the surface of the ground. As part of the Western Australian Museum’s The Harry Butler lecture series: In the Wild West, University of WA archaeologist Dr Vicky Winton and Wajarri Weld Range Traditional Owner Ansell Egan will talk about their research to trace the transport, trade and use of ochre from Wilgie Mia. Read more News Western Australian Museum
14 Oct 2011WA Museum wins web awardsThe Western Australian Museum has taken out top honours at the 2011 Australian Web Awards.The WA Museum won first prize in two categories; Arts and Culture for its AC/DC Australia’s Family Jewels exhibition website, and Government for its Pseudoscorpions of the World website.The two sites were judged against a competition of web development agencies from Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.Read more News Western Australian Museum
5 Oct 2011Clues to the origin of the Solar SystemMany of us are familiar with ‘shooting stars’ streaking across the night sky and then fading into the blackness. These celestial fireworks known as meteors, result from the destruction of tiny fragments of natural space debris hurtling through the upper atmosphere.Some of the larger objects fall to Earth to become meteorites, which can then be recovered and studied in more detail providing clues to the origin and evolution of the Solar System.Read more News Western Australian Museum
4 Oct 2011On your bike to the WA Museum - GeraldtonThe Western Australian Museum - Geraldton will be transformed into Bike Central these school holidays with loads of two-wheeled fun for children and their families.Children can join in Two-wheel trivia, and test their knowledge of bicycles. Or they can give their imaginations free wheel as they design their own dream bike on a felt board or click together amazing bike models in Zoobed.In You’re the Winner wear the highly prized yellow, green and polka dot winner’s jersey from the dress up box and take a photo of yourself on the winner dais.Read more News Western Australian Museum
3 Oct 2011Yachting shaping our StateIn a State flanked by stunning coastline, it is no surprise that Western Australia has a rich maritime history of yachting and sailing.As part of the Western Australian Museum’s The Harry Butler lecture series: In the Wild West, maritime historian Sally May will reflect upon the development of the State’s yachting and sailing history and the role the WA Museum has in showcasing this history and its heritage.Read more News Danny Murphy
9 Sep 2011Kimberley collector: Father Nicholas EmoOver its 120 year history the Western Australian Museum has often received donations of collections from members of the public that provide unique insights into the people and places of WA. Dr Moya Smith, Head of Anthropology and Archaeology at the WA Museum will present a public lecture about a special collection of Aboriginal artefacts donated to the Museum in 1911 by a Spanish missionary who was based in the remote communities of Western Australia’s Kimberley at the turn of the twentieth century.Read more News Western Australian Museum
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