30 Sep 2010All the records, all the timeOne admirable decision that the WA Museum recently made was to publish all of the Museum’s records as a free resource on the website. http://museum.wa.gov.au/research/records-supplements/#recordsRead more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
7 Sep 2010ACDC: Australia’s Family Jewels exhibition designThe Exhibition Design team use some very expensive state-of-the-art software to design exhibitions on the OS X platform. One application called Google Sketchup© is a free download that everyone can use. We recommend downloading the software and drawing up your house. We have drawn up the Perth Museum in three dimensions using this software and you can see it on Google Earth©. This movie shows the layout of the ACDC: Australia’s Family Jewels exhibition that opened in Melbourne last year. Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
2 Sep 2010K-3 teachers - do you dig dinosaurs?We Dig Dinosaurs is a hands-on, interactive experience where students can uncover a large buried fossil, use tools to excavate a fossil from rock, reconstruct a dinosaur skeleton, as well as handle and identify real fossils that are millions of years old! At the end of the session, the students are awarded the honour of being one of the Museum’s honorary ’Junior Palaeontologists’ (business cards provided!). K-3 classes can brush, chip and sort their way through a range of dinosaur activities at our Perth, Albany, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie sites.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
31 Aug 2010Creature Feature: The Japanese Shame-Faced CrabThe Japanese Shame-Faced Crab, Calappa japonica Ortmann, 1892. The Japanese shame-faced crab was originally discovered in Tokyo Bay, Japan but has since been found as far away as Africa and can be found in depths up to ~250 m. This spectacular red and yellow crab was first reported in Western Australia only as recently as 1989 when crayfishers, off Rottnest Island, caught an unfortunate specimen in a craypot. The specimen in the photos was collected this year, near Ningaloo reef in 230 m.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
23 Jul 2010Nick Cave - the exhibition set-upThis video shows the WA Museum's exhibition and design installation team setting-up Nick Cave - the exhibition which showed at the Western Australian Museum - Perth from May 23 - July 19 2009. The Victorian Art Centre curated and designed this exhibition. This video is a time lapse recording with one frame taken every 72 seconds over a five day period. This film was recorded in late May 2009 by the talented and famous Julian Featherston of Two Feathers. Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
15 Jul 2010Darwin’s Opera House Barnacle - species of the monthCalantica darwini Jones & Hosie, 2009 Described and named only last year, these tiny stalked barnacles are only known from the deep water off the coast of north Western Australia and are easily overlooked due to their small size (<1 cm in height!) and their habit of attaching to the branches of deep sea corals. With a bit of imagination, a cluster of these tiny barnacles resembles the Sydney Opera House, hence their common name.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
15 Jul 2010HMAS Ovens - conservation and restorationAhoy there! Many of you who have visited the WA Museum – Maritime down at Victoria Quay in Fremantle would have noticed HMAS Ovens sitting proudly on the slipway next to the museum. HMAS Ovens is a former Royal Australian Navy Oberon Class submarine. Ovens was laid down by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at Greenock, Scotland on 17 June 1966, launched on 4 December 1967 by the Viscountess Slim, and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 18 April 1969.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum
28 May 2010mus-ed: education at the WA MuseumWelcome to mus-ed, the official education blog of the Western Australian Museum.Many teachers are surprised when they find out that the Museum offers excursion opportunities across our six sites located in Perth, Fremantle, Albany, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie-Boulder.Read more Blog entry Western Australian Museum