What's New

  • 10 May 2010

    Museum exhibition to celebrate people who shaped Kalgoorlie

    The Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie Boulder is marking the 20th anniversary of its new museum building with the opening of an exhibition about iconic people who have helped make the Goldfields what it is today.

    In Kalgoorlie today to launch the exhibition Diggers, dealers and doers – 20 people who made Kalgoorlie great, Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the exhibition featured 20 stories of individuals who had lived, worked and changed Kalgoorlie over the past 116 years.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • 10 May 2010

    WA Museum special opening to honour our heroes Victoria Cross medals from Gallipoli on display

    The Western Australian Museum – Perth will open specially this ANZAC Day, Sunday 25 April, from 1.00pm to 5.00pm and on the ANZAC Day public holiday, Monday 26 April from 9.30am – 5.00pm, so that people can visit the exhibition This company of brave men; the Gallipoli VCs.

    Chief Executive Officer of the WA Museum Alec Coles said it was important for the Museum to be open on ANZAC Day so visitors attending the parade and services could also visit the Museum to see first hand the extraordinary stories associated with the nine Gallipoli Victoria Cross medals.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • 10 May 2010

    Earthquake rattled collections assessed by conservation experts

    Conservation staff from the Western Australian Museum will be in Kalgoorlie-Boulder this Thursday, April 29 to provide advice to local heritage organisations on collections that were damaged in last week’s earthquake.

    Ulli Broeze-Hoernemann and Richard Garcia will be running a free seminar looking at the range and type of damage sustained by collections in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area.

    The seminar will also include advice for conservation treatments for damaged objects and repacking and storing artefacts that may have been moved during the tremors.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • Illustration of an eruption of Mount Vesuvius

    10 May 2010

    A Day in Pompeii to erupt in Western Australia

    Western Australians will have a unique opportunity to experience one of the world's most fascinating cities in a new exhibition at the Western Australian Museum – Perth.  

    Tourism Minister Liz Constable and Culture and the Arts Minister John Day today announced today announced that the Museum would host the highly successful exhibition A Day in Pompeii from May 21 to September 12, 2010.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • 10 May 2010

    Victoria Cross medals from Gallipoli go on show

    Media are invited to attend a preview of the special touring exhibition This company of brave men; the Gallipoli VCs, at the Western Australian Museum – Perth this Friday 19 March 2010, at 10.30am.

    The Gallipoli VCs is presented by the Australian War Memorial and made possible through the generous support of Mr Kerry Stokes AC and Seven Network Limited.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo pair

    10 May 2010

    Cockatoo Care

    Cockatoo Care was introduced in September 2001 as a joint initiative of the Water Corporation and the Western Australian Museum. The objectives of the program have been to research the distribution and ecology of Carnaby's, Baudin's and Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoos and threats to their survival, and to implement measures to encourage the conservation of these birds. This has been through habitat enhancement including the development of artificial nest boxes and tubes, feral bee research and community education and involvement.

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    Online Exhibition
    Western Australian Museum

  • A fish with a large number of its eggs in its mouth

    10 May 2010

    Sea Week at the WA Museum – Geraldton

    It’s there every day and very much a part of life in Geraldton. But what do we really know about the Indian Ocean and its incredible biodiversity?

    To celebrate International Year of Biodiversity and Sea Week, the WA Museum – Geraldton will be diving into a program of activities aimed at putting the spotlight on the unique marine environment of the Mid West.

    Sea Week will kick off on March 2, with the launch of Mini Muses and the adventures of Wendy the Whiting.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • A Bearded Velvetfish camouflaged on a reef

    10 May 2010

    Clever camouflage helps bearded fish avoid detection

    Fish curators Sue Morrison from the Western Australian Museum and Jeff Johnson from the Queensland Museum have identified a new species of fish as a result of the recent field work they undertook in the far north Kimberley.

    The team of scientists, led by the WA Museum and partnered by Woodside, travelled to Adele Island and Montgomery Reef to collect and document the marine flora and fauna of the area.

    Over both locations they found a total of nine specimens of the previously unidentified Bearded Velvetfish.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • Dr Mikael Siversson holding a large shark jaw

    10 May 2010

    The rise of super predatory sharks

    As part of the Western Australian Museum’s International Year of Biodiversity lecture series, Museum curator of palaeontology Dr Mikael Siversson will present a fascinating public lecture on the rise and subsequent decline in diversity of super predatory lamniform sharks.

    Specialising in fossil sharks and rays, Dr Siversson has also co-authored several publications on extinct marine reptiles and dinosaurs and is considered by his peers as a leading authority on Cretaceous lamniform sharks (an order of shark from the latter part of the Age of Dinosaurs).

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    Western Australian Museum

  • A scientist seated near a microscope

    10 May 2010

    Spiders. Friends or Foe?

    To mark the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, Dr Mark Harvey Senior Curator and Head of Department of Terrestrial Zoology at the Western Australian Museum will present a public lecture on how to determine whether a spider is a friend or foe.

    Dr Harvey’s lecture on Spectacular spider stories: a guide to our eight-legged friends will provide a light-hearted and insightful approach on arachnids and their important role in maintaining a healthy environment.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • Portrait of Alec Coles

    10 May 2010

    Western Australian Museum welcomes new CEO

    The Western Australian Museum Board of Trustees and staff have welcomed the announcement of a new director for the Museum.

    Culture and the Arts Minister John Day today announced the successful candidate as Mr Alec Coles, Director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums in the United Kingdom.

    Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the WA Museum Tim Ungar said the Museum looked forward to welcoming Mr Coles to Western Australia.

    “Mr Coles’ experience with museum development, major exhibitions and public engagement strategies will significantly benefit the Museum.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • A new species of spiders found in South-Western Australia that was later named after Charles Darwin

    10 May 2010

    Eleven new species named in honour of Charles Darwin

    Scientists from the Western Australian Museum have led a team of Australian researchers in naming 11 new species after the founder of the theory of natural selection, Charles Darwin.

    To mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of the Species and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Darwin, the WA Museum has published a special edition of the Records of the Western Australian Museum which includes 16 newly named species from Australia, 11 of which are named darwini.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • Screen grab from the original Nick Cave website

    10 May 2010

    Equilibrium, WA Museum and Nick Cave website dominate the Australian Web Awards

    Perth web development company, Equilibrium, in partnership with the Western Australian Museum scooped the pool at the Australian Web Awards on Friday night winning four major awards for ‘Nick Cave – the exhibition’, including Fast Hit Most Outstanding website.

    The site stood out from more than 200 national entries winning the awards for Best Government website, Best Not for Profit website, Best Arts and Events website and Most Outstanding website in Australia.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • A Blue Ringed octopus swimming through coral reef

    10 May 2010

    Australian museums collaborate to uncover the mysteries of Kimberley coast marine life

    A new project led by the Western Australian Museum and partnered by Woodside Energy, is set to extensively add to our understanding of the marine biodiversity of Australia’s remote north-west.

    The Marine Life of North Western Australia Project has a high likelihood of discovering species in the region for the first time and is a collaborative work involving the WA Museum along with four other Australian museums in a three-year research program.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • Left to Right: Former Australia II crewmen John Longley and Skip Lissiman present the Boxing Kangaroo flag to Tim Ungar, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the WA Museum.

    10 May 2010

    The original Boxing Kangaroo flag heads home

    After 26 years on American soil the original Boxing Kangaroo flag, made famous by Australia II when it won the historic 1983 America’s Cup, today returned home to Fremantle.

    Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships Event Director John Longley and Perth 2011 Board Member Skip Lissiman, two of the original crew members from Australia II, presented the famous Boxing Kangaroo flag to the Western Australian Museum.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • Black and white portrait of Duncan Merrilees

    10 May 2010

    Duncan Merrilees 1922 to 2009

    Duncan Merrilees was born in 1922 and spent his childhood years in Sydney. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1942 with a degree in chemistry. Like many chemists in Australia during WWII, his services were put to use in industry and he was transferred to Tasmania were he worked at a paper mill. At this time he had already developed a fascination for geology and in particular the chemistry and physics of igneous rocks. After the war Duncan pursued a career as science teacher as a means of supporting himself and his wife.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • One large piece of a meteorite on the ground

    10 May 2010

    Desert cameras detect space fireball

    Researchers from the Western Australian Museum, the Imperial College in London and Ondrejov Observatory in the Czech Republic have identified a unique meteorite and its orbit in the Solar System.

    The meteorite was tracked through a network of cameras as it fell to Earth in July 2007. The cameras take a single time-lapse picture every night to record any fireballs in the sky.

    The Desert Fireball Network Project of All-Sky Cameras is set up in the Nullarbor Plain to monitor incoming meteors and track any possible meteorites to the ground so scientists can recover them.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • 10 May 2010

    Children launch their own exhibition at the WA Museum – Albany

    The WA Museum – Albany is launching a new exhibition on 8 August, featuring themes and objects selected and created entirely by young people.

    xHIBIT aLBANY is the culmination of a joint project between the Commissioner for Children and Young People, the Western Australian Museum and Millennium Kids aimed at giving young people the opportunity to have a say about how they think museums should present exhibitions.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • Nick Cave, 2007

    24 Jun 2009

    Nick Cave: the exhibition photo gallery

    This photo gallery contains a selection of images that feature in Nick Cave: the exhibition, on show at the Western Australian Museum from 23 May – 19 July 2009.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

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