discover - Australian Museum...discover ALEXANDER THE GREAT nature EDWARD LEAR DOWN UNDER people KEN COLES AND LIZARD ISLAND culture GAMELAN GETS A GONG J4548_MKT_Explore_343_Cover_FA.indd

VOLUME

34NUMBER

3

Spring September to November 2012

discoverALEXANDER THE GREAT

natureEDWARD LEAR DOWN UNDER

peopleKEN COLES AND LIZARD ISLAND

cultureGAMELAN GETS A GONG

J4548_MKT_Explore_343_Cover_FA.indd 1 3/09/12 10:45 AM

CONTENTS

NATURE

Science bytes Here comes the sun ... fish 5Meet one of the deep ocean’s strangest fish

From the archives Edward Lear down under 12Lear’s paintings of Australian animals brought to light

Science bytes Put the message in a box 19Look out for Museum2you – it’s coming your way soon,says Isabelle Kingsley

CULTURE

From the collection Gamelan: music for the people 2The gamelan comes alive every week – and has done so for 20 years

Australian Museum Foundation Connecting children, 10communities and culture Indigenous learning hub on the agenda

Culture connectThe Spirit of the Tent Embassy: 40 years on 17Librarian Emma Gray finds a treasure trove of Aboriginal publications

From the archives Garden Palace 26What was lost in the fire of 1882?What survived? Stan Florek tells

DISCOVER

Cover story Bringing Alexander the Great to Australia 6What can we expect in the new Alexander exhibition?

Xplorer young scientist liftout Climate change and you! centre

People in science Riding the wave 18Ken Coles reflects on a philanthropic success story: Lizard Island

In your backyard with Martyn Robinson 20

Xplanations Search > Discover 22

PhotofeastThey’re wrapped 23Surreal images behind the scenes

Members events Travel, talks and special events 33

OPINION

From the Director 1

On the agendaMaking land work? 30Who stands to gain from changes to land ownership in the Pacific?

Members message with Serena Todd 33


The 20th anniversary in June 2012 of the Mabo decision overturning the doctrine ofterra nullius in Australia has justifiably been marked and celebrated. But the questionof indigenous land rights is very much alive among several of our Pacific neighbours.

Kirk Huffman’s story ‘Making Land Work?’ in this edition of Explore demonstratesthis issue in Vanuatu extremely well, telling of the tension between traditional villagecustodianship of land and the temptations of modern Western, tradeable land ownership.Some argue that loss of connection to land resulting from sale or lease jeopardises thepreservation of customs and cultures, while others argue that financial gains from landsales or leases can enable positive development and self-determination.

pros and cons

To me the key underlying issue is how groups living a more traditional (perhaps ‘notmodern’ is a better expression) life obtain enough information about the pros and consof change to make an informed decision, and whether this is done equitably to enableall members of a group or community to have a view. A more insidious risk than a lackof information is ‘outsiders’ purporting to speak for or represent the traditional groups.We have seen this too often in Australia with missionaries or government-appointed‘protectors’ speaking for Aboriginal people. On the other hand some people can be veryhonest and effective spokespeople for traditional groups, enabling their views to beheard. It is a dilemma for museums like the Australian Museum too: are we observersand chroniclers of change, or advocates of positions about the pros and cons of change?

our role

The wider issue of the intrusion of the modern world onto societies living a traditional,relatively unchanged life is present right through the developing world. It can manifest astribes and communities fighting loggers in the Amazon or Indonesia, or electoral violencein Papua New Guinea. Going again to the role of museums of indigenous cultures, weneed to avoid the trap of being concerned only with what went before, that pre-datessome (ill-defined) point of modernisation, after which the culture is somehow devaluedby being no longer ‘traditional’. Our role is to record, think about and discuss all thathappens, the good and not so good, to facilitate the debate and, sometimes, from aposition of knowledge, offer trustworthy advice, just maybe to lessen the likelihood ofsociety repeating past mistakes. And we have to do that while acknowledging the viewsof pro-development lobbyists, cultural preservationists and more importantly the peoplewhose futures are at stake.

frank howarth

Director of the Australian Museum

frank howarth • from the director

culturechange

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from the collection

Twenty years ago, in the spring of 1992, the Australian Museum received an enormousconsignment of rough-hewn timber crates, which had arrived from Indonesia with thesupport of Garuda Airways.

After days of unpacking and assembling a great array of components, like a huge Ikeaflatpack with no instruction manual, the Museum became the proud owner of a completeBalinese gamelan orchestra. The new acquisition fulfilled an ambition of then-collectionmanager Zoe Wakelin-King and Sydney musician Gary Watson to establish the first activemusic scene in New South Wales for a growing Balinese community.

what is gamelan?

The gamelan is an orchestra of tuned percussion instruments and has been part oftraditional Indonesian culture for many centuries, the oldest known instruments datingto the 12th century. Apart from its rich visual appearance, with ornate gilded carvingdepicting scenes from the Ramayana epic, the gamelan produces unique and fascinatingsounds with five tone melodies, complex rhythmic patterns and scales.

Claude Debussy was said to have been transfixed by gamelan in Paris in 1889 and itinfluenced his compositions and those of many musicians since in the genres of jazz,electronic and rock.

The Museum’s gamelan includes bronze metallophones and gongs, cowhide drumsand bamboo flutes, and was acquired to be played rather than just stored or exhibited.Currently housed at the University of Sydney, the gamelan is used regularly by twodifferent groups for performances and teaching. For the Balinese community group andfriends, the gamelan is a cultural hub, and the weekly meetings provide opportunitiesfor children to learn dances, music and cultural traditions from their parents.

gamelan:music for the people

“The music, which though it wereof a very strange kind, yet the soundwas pleasant and delightful.”sir francis drake on visiting the east indies in 1580

Page 2Explore 34(3) Spring 2012


gong, the orchestra

Watson established the second group, which goes by the name Sekaa Gong Tirta Sinar(literally, ‘Club Gamelan Radiant Water’) as soon as the instruments arrived in 1992.This group includes trained musicians from many backgrounds as well as people simplyinterested in Indonesian culture.

Membership is open to anyone interested in the music, and the group has been active eversince it was formed, performing frequently for the public and at music festivals.

Gamelan music is a vital element in many Balinese cultural events – wedding, funerals,religious festivals and many other occasions. It accompanies a range of classic Balinesedances, performed in Sydney over the past 20 years most notably by Nyoman Sumerti.

To my mind, it is best experienced outdoors. The group often performs at Gadigal Green,behind the Seymour Centre, Camperdown, which can resemble a scene from a Balinesevillage, the lights under the trees bringing alive the gilded carvings of the instrumentsand the costumes of the dancers, while the exotic music ebbs and flows in the warmevening air.

Javanese or balinese?

Indonesia is one of our closest neighbours, yet its music and dance are not widely known.The rich diversity of cultures across the Indonesian archipelago has resulted in a myriadof musical styles, but the most complex and sophisticated are found in the gamelan musicof Java and Bali.

Although from the same Hindu cultural roots, Javanese and Balinese music are quitedifferent. Both styles are complex and multi-textured with layers of rapid ornamentationover the top of the melody. However, central Javanese music has a softer, more stately

abovethe gamelan group SekaaGong tirta Sinar performfor the living in harmonyFestival, March 2012, atCustoms house, Sydney.photo © Giles Gaskell.



sound reflecting its origins in the courts of Java. By contrast, the Balinese gong kebyarstyle has a faster, brighter and more energetic sound with explosive irregular sequences.

This style developed over the past 100 years as the old court structure waned andBalinese gamelan developed in the villages as a music of the people. Inter-villagecompetitions developed in the wake of the 1965 political carnage in Indonesia, andthese days competitive virtuosity reaches its peak at the annual Bali gamelan competitionin the capital Denpasar, where representative finalists are supported with the intensityof a football crowd.

if you are interested in learning to play Balineseor Javanese music, contact the author, [email protected].

topdetail of ornate carvingon the instruments. photo© Kin Kanazawa.

abovethe late i Wayang Gandera(far left on drum) leadsthe Balinese communitygroup at the opening ofthe Beyond the Java Seaexhibition in 1992. photoaustralian Museum archives.

bali learning

In 2000, Tirta Sinar organised its first group visit to Bali for intensive lessons withprominent Balinese musician Pak I Wayang Gandera, who had visited Sydney in 1992to teach gamelan. Earlier, Gandera had helped establish Balinese music teaching in theUSA in the early 1960s during a spell as guest teacher at the University of Los Angles.

The group was fortunate to have had his guidance and teaching, and although Ganderahad died just one year after this visit, we have returned to Bali on several occasions,including in 2007 to attend his cremation in Peliatan. In December 2010, the entiregroup spent ten days in Bali rehearsing and performing with a professional Balinesetroupe, Sanggar Cudamani.

Twenty years old, and now with a life of its own, the gamelan remains an outstandingexample of how to use the Museum’s collections as a catalyst for community-based activities.Colin maCGreGor ManaGer, MaterialS ConServation and FoundinG MeMBer oF SeKaa GonG tirta Sinar.

weblink

For information about future performances visit www.tirtasinar.org.



TheMuseum exhibition Deep Oceansincludes a real Ocean Sunfish specimenthat was originally preserved and stuffedmore than 100 years ago.

The huge and weirdly magnificent OceanSunfish,Mola mola, is one of only fivespecies of sunfishes in the world. Withtheir large, round bodies, small mouthsand lack of a ‘normal’ tail, sunfishes areamong the most easily recognised of fishes,though the large dorsal fin can sometimesbe mistaken for that of a shark.

impact

The Ocean Sunfish can be found anywherebetween the warm, shallow surface watersand cold ocean depths greater than800 metres. At more than 3 metres inlength and weighing 1.4 tonnes, adultOcean Sunfish are especially noticeablewhen they collide with boats, whichhappens occasionally – perhaps becausethey aren’t fast swimmers.

Collisions aside, sunfishes are harmless topeople, feeding on jellyfishes, other smallinvertebrates and fishes. In some parts of theworld, they are caught by people for food.

shape-shifters

Sunfishes are amazingly fecund: a singleadult female can release up to 300 milliontiny buoyant eggs into the ocean at a time,where they mingle with sperm released bythe male. The fertilised eggs soon developinto larval fish.

At around 2 millimetres in length, ayoung larval Ocean Sunfish with itsrelatively large pectoral fins and spineslooks quite different to the adult andeven has a primordial tail fin. As it grows,the body spines become less prominent,the body deepens and the teeth fuse toform beak-like plates. By the time itreaches 35 millimetres, the young sunfishlooks a lot like a tiny version of the adult.

Instead of a tail (caudal) fin, the adultsunfish has a clavus – a ‘tail frill’ withrounded ossicles making up the margin.The number of ossicles is one characterscientists use to tell the different speciesof sunfish apart.

The adult Ocean Sunfish has no visiblespines and its abrasive skin is covered insmall coarse projections called denticlesthat are tough enough to strip thepaintwork from a ship’s hull.

science bytes

rightthe ocean Sunfish, Molamola, was first describedby Swedish biologist Caroluslinnaeus in 1758. photo byrandy Wilder © MontereyBay aquarium.

far rightthis spiny larval oceanSunfish (2 mm) resemblesa miniature sun. photoGd Johnson © uSnM.

here comes the sun . . . fishsearching for sunfish

In Australia, the Ocean Sunfish has beenrecorded from the central coast of NewSouth Wales, south to Tasmania and westto Mandurah, Western Australia. Thespecies occurs in subtropical and temperatemarine waters worldwide. Of the fourAustralian species of sunfishes, three occurin New South Wales: the Ocean Sunfish,the Southern Ocean Sunfish,Mola ramsayi,and the Slender Sunfish, Ranzania laevis.

But the easiest way to see one – the verysame specimen that has been in theMuseum collection since 1882 – is tohurry into the Museum’s Deep Oceansexhibition before it closes on 14 October.mark mCGrouther FiSh ColleCtion ManaGer

and Brendan atkinS editor

further reading

B Saunders, 2012. Discovery of Australia’s Fishes.CSiro Publishing, melbourne.

weblink

Read more about Australian sunfishes atwww.australianmuseum.net.au/Molidae-Sunfishesand see the sunfish photo gallery atwww.australianmuseum.net.au/sunfishes.



behind the scenes



oppositeexhibition project Managerliz Cowell. photo by Stuarthumphreys.

rightearrings with figures of nike.Greek, mid-4th century BC.Gold; h 4.8 cm. © the Statehermitage, St petersburg.

How do you go About StAgIng A MAJoR exHIbItIon LIke

ALeXANder The greAT: 2000 yeArs oF TreAsures? wItH

JuSt 100 dAyS to go beFoRe openIng, exHIbItIon pRoJect

MAnAgeR liZ cowell Spoke to brendan atkins.

how did the australian museum persuade the hermitage to

part with more than 400 of its treasures?

We’d been thinking about an exhibition that included Alexanderthe Great as just one of the characters, and were following thisup when we heard about an exhibition presented in St Petersburgin about 2004–05. Our colleagues at Macquarie Universityintroduced us to their Russian colleagues and that’s where ourcorrespondence started – very much one colleague to another.

Then through the Russian Embassy we had a direct introduction toDr Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and so our directorwas introduced to him and then visited the Hermitage in mid-2010.Again it was this personal contact that makes a difference I thinkwhen you are dealing with international institutions.

so there needs to be a matching of outlook, a fit?

Yes, definitely. They had packaged an exhibition about Alexanderfor Amsterdam, and I was fortunate enough to see it. It was verymuch a fine art show, quite spare, minimalist even, with modestinterpretation. I then met with our colleagues in Russia to discussthe exhibition further and develop it for an Australian market.

We’ve added the story of Alexander, a narrative, which we thinkis a better fit for our audience. We want the beautiful objects butalso want to know more about Alexander, who he was, what hewas up to ... so we wanted to provide a lot more depth.

it’s scheduled to open on the 24th of november – where are

you up to at the moment?

We’re about to start fabrication, the building of the sets. We’re justfinalising the 3D design and 2D graphics, which we’re presentingfor executive approval this week. We’ll show them what theexhibition layout and Atrium is going to look like, what the textand graphics will look like, and so on.

alexander the greatbringing



And we’re about to take delivery of some brand new showcasesfrom Italy. They’re going to be superb, and we’ve ordered themnot just for this exhibition, but for other shows and for some ofour following cultural exhibitions.

what can visitors to the exhibition expect?

I think firstly they’re going to be overwhelmed by the diversityof objects we have coming – over 400 objects from the Hermitagein St Petersburg. For example, we have things like an enormoustapestry of Alexander and Darius’s family that’s over four by sevenmetres, going down to small coins and tiny cameos that are just soexquisite and made of many precious stones. There’s quite a lot ofgold jewellery, marble statues, terracotta pottery ... the diversityis just enormous and I think people are going to be really taken bythat. They cover an enormous period, right from Alexander’s time– there’s even a few pieces that are slightly before him – right upto the 18th and 19th centuries.

We’re being loaned some signature pieces normally on the floor allthe time in St Petersburg. They can travel at this time only becauseit’s the Russian winter when visitation at the Hermitage is a littleslower than usual.

The exhibition also coincides with a big international conferencepresented by the Australian Society for Classical Studies in

January. They’re bringing out some very well-known academicsfrom the US and UK as key speakers, so that again was veryattractive to the Russians, who will be part of that conference.

Much of the exhibition is to do with the legacy of Alexander andshows how his story has been interpreted throughout the centuries... this can be seen in a design on a plate; or in a painting, or inan engraving for example. There are also pieces from areas that hewent through, like Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria – the modern-dayMiddle East through to the Pakistan–Indian border.

So the exhibition shows Alexander’s eastern campaign and thespread of Hellenism, of ancient Greek culture, which highlightsAlexander’s relevance today. You see it in architecture – our ownbuilding has that influence – in art, sculpture, language and politics.

so there’s a whole program of information sessions and talks

and workshops around it . . .

Yes, it’s not just the exhibition – there are many other programs.Members have a fantastic lecture series with eight or nine speakersand there’ll be a stunning cocktail event to celebrate the opening.We also have a variety of public programs within the holidayperiods, a wonderful theatre performance and creative workshops.So there’s a quite a lot happening around the exhibition – it’s amajor cultural event for Sydney.



what other things can we expect in the exhibition?

We wanted to give a deeper interpretation of the objects coming,so we have touch screens where interviews are presented withexperts providing more information, for example on ancientweapons and the logistics of warfare. So people can expect tosee not just the wonderful treasures but also interactive innovativedisplays. We’re having a fantastic touch table which will revealthe spread of Hellenism, as a kid’s trail app called Pack & Plunder.

can you tell me more about the touch table?

We’re in the process of developing it at the moment. We haveabout five or six topics where we look at art and architecture,science, language and trade, for example, so you’ll see a map of theMediterranean basin stretching as far over as the Pakistan–Indianborder. We’re selecting a number of cities or areas which you’llbe able to touch to reveal more information about those topicsthrough images and video.

I hope that visitors will take away renewed admiration for this oneman who could be such an incredible tactician and leader. Youhave to look at Alexander today and realise just how extraordinaryhe was – such a formidable character, such a tactical genius, sofocused and so driven. He could, however, be entirely ruthless andcruel, but there was also a compassionate side. His is a huge legacyto Western civilisations, as we hope this exhibition will make clear.Brendan atkinS editor

all photographs ©the State hermitage,St petersburg.

oppositetapestry: Alexander theGreat and the family ofDarius. Many stories aboutalexander were repeatedover the centuries, like thisone, which depicts themagnanimity or compassionalexander showed to thefamily of the defeatedpersian King darius iii.tapestry woven at theSt petersburg imperialtapestry factory in 1745,with a design based ona painting by the Frenchpainter Charles le Brun(1611–90).

above leftCameo: Alexander huntinga wild boar. this pieceshows the hero-kinghunting on horseback.Cameo, 2 x 2.2 cm. italy,1st century ad.

middleWine goblet showing themagnanimity of alexanderthe Great. another pieceshowing the legend ofalexander’s compassion.Silver and copper goblet,embossed, glided,enamelled and painted,by master esaias Busch iiin augsburg, Germany,before 1705.

rightMantel clock: The Vigilof Alexander the Great.the gilded figure ofalexander on the exhibitionpromotional material isa detail from this bronzeclock dating from the1830s or 1840s. it depictsthe legend of alexander’swill and diligence: toprevent himself fallingasleep he would hold aball in his hand; as hebecame sleepy, his handrelaxed and the ball wouldfall into a cup with a crash,waking him. Clock in castbronze, embossed andgilded, St petersburg.



australian museum

foundation

A new IndIgenouS LeARnIng HubAt tHe AuStRALIAn MuSeuM cAMeone Step cLoSeR wHen MoRe tHAn100 MuSeuM SuppoRteRS gAtHeRedFoR tHe InAuguRAL FoundAtIondInneR, Food For ThoughT, wRIteSanna gauchat.

Howmany tens of thousands, if not millions,of people have visited the AustralianMuseum’s Indigenous Australians gallerysince it opened in 1998?

The gallery is one of Sydney’s few sourcesof information about Indigenous issues,politics and history. Much has changed inthe 14 years since the gallery’s constructionand, minor updates aside, it’s now welldue for a revamp.

Yet Indigenous Australia – with ahistory spanning more than 45,000years, a diversity of cultures and a strongcontemporary voice – presents many achallenge for museum planners. Howdo you capture such a rich part ofAustralian history while incorporatingthe contemporary voices of Indigenouscommunities?

a first in indigenous education

Early on, the Museum adopted two clearprinciples: make it relevant to IndigenousAustralians and include the Aboriginalcommunity in the planning process.

‘We’re currently developing plans for anew Indigenous learning hub to be housedin the refurbished gallery’, said IndigenousEducation Officer Charlotte Galleguillos.

‘The learning hub aims to encouragereconciliation through understanding. It willprovide an interactive learning experiencefor visitors and it will show the realities oflife in Aboriginal Australia today.’

The ‘learning hub’ concept was bornfrom a philosophy that information canbe delivered as an exciting and immersiveeducational experience. In developingthe idea, the Museum has combined itsexhibition and education know-how withtraditional knowledge from Sydney’sIndigenous communities.

It employs the latest high-tech multimediateamed with real artefacts and realspecimens from the Museum’s collection.‘The hub will be a place where children forexample can connect with each other, tocreate a sense of community by sharingstories and ideas’, Charlotte said.

‘In particular, we want to encourage localIndigenous children to participate in thehub. This is where they can come to learnabout their ancestry, stories and beliefs andexperience their own unique relationshipwith Country.

‘We’re helping to build strong cultural linksfor the generations to come.’

supporting the learning hub

Backing the hub is the Australian MuseumFoundation, established solely to supportthe Museum and provide a sound financialbase for future work.

In May this year, the Foundation hostedthe inaugural fundraising dinner, Food forThought, which raised a staggering $55,000towards the hub. Through their generoussupport, guests at the dinner demonstratedan overwhelming desire to assist theadvancement of Indigenous education.

The hub is scheduled to begin operatingin January 2013 but needs further supportfrom the Museum’s community of Members,friends and well-wishers to make it a reality.If you’ve read this far, why not considermaking a tax-deductible donation towardsthe learning hub?

By supporting the hub, you’ll be takinga step towards reconciliation in Australiaand helping to create a valuable resourcefor generations to come.anna GauChat developMent oFFiCer

weblink

were you at the dinner? to see photos fromthe recent AMF dinner Food for Thought visitwww.facebook.com/australianmuseum.

childrencommunities and cultureconnecting



supportingthe learning hubdonations to the Australian MuseumFoundation of $2 or more are tax deductibleand assist the Museum to continue itsvaluable scientific research, education andcollection programs. to make a donationor for more information, please contactthe development branch on 02 9320 6216.

leftChildren from the KoolKids Club, an after-schoolprogram for inner-citychildren run by theWeave organisation,meet education officerCharlotte Galleguillos atthe australian Museum.photo by Carl Bento.

aboveKim Mackay ao welcomesguests to Food for Thought,the australian MuseumFoundation’s inauguralfundraising dinner, heldin May 2012. photo byStuart humphreys.



leftWhite (Sulphur-crested)Cockatoo, Cacatua galerita© houghton library, harvarduniversity. MS Typ 55.9 (15)



from the archives

down underedward learpoet And ILLuStRAtoR edwARd LeAR pAInted MAny

AuStRALIAn bIRdS And MAMMALS wItHout eveR SettIng

Foot In tHe countRy. JoIn ARt cuRAtoR robert mccrackenpeck AS He ReveALS LeAR’S FAScInAtIon wItH AuStRALIAn

wILdLIFe.

Edward Lear is fondly remembered as an ingenious nonsense poet,an engaging travel writer and a painter of luminous landscapesin Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Often overshadowed bythe enormity of these achievements is his remarkable success as ascientific illustrator. Lear’s early immersion in the world of sciencedid much to shape the rest of his extraordinary life. Although henever visited Australia, Lear seemed to have a special interest inthe continent’s birds and animals and singled them out for specialattention during his decade-long focus on natural history.

Zoo

The twentieth of 21 children, Edward Lear was born to aprosperous middle-class family in 1821 in the village of Holloway,just north of London, but was raised by his oldest sister, Ann, afterhis family suffered financial ruin when Lear was just four. WithAnn’s encouragement, he began his artistic career at a very youngage by drawing what he described as ‘uncommon queer shop-sketches, ... coloring prints, screens, fans ... [and] making morbid

disease drawings for hospitals and certain doctors of physic’.The work was hardly inspiring, but it generated a modest incomeand encouraged Lear to believe he might one day gain financialindependence through his brush, pen and pencil.

As a teenager, in the late 1820s, he shifted his artistic focus fromthe lifeless subjects of the factory and hospital ward to the farmore appealing, and demonstrably vital, occupants of London’sZoological Gardens. There he was particularly attracted to theexotic birds and animals sent from Australia and many otherBritish colonies.

At the newly built aviary in Regents Park, and at the ZoologicalSociety’s administrative headquarters on Bruton Street, he madea series of life studies that would earn him commissions toillustrate books of natural history by many of England’s leadingnaturalists. Most importantly, his first-hand observations enabledhim to publish his own groundbreaking monograph on parrots,Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots from 1830 to 1832.

Lear quickly developed a flair for capturing the distinctivepersonalities of his avian subjects, including Australian cockatoos,cockatiels, parrots and parakeets. His natural history paintingscombined scientific accuracy with an artistic verve rarely seen inthe science tomes of the period and established Lear as one of themost talented wildlife artists of his day. His Parrots monograph



“Fortunately, he left behind anextraordinary collection of paintings,many of which documented thewildlife of Australia.”

set a new standard for artistic excellence in scientific publishing.Remarkably, its creator was just 19 years old at the time hepresented his book to the world.

menagerie

Parrots drew enthusiastic praise from critics but was not acommercial success. Within a few years of its publication, Learwas happy to sell his inventory of unsold plates to John Gould(1804–81), then chief taxidermist at the Zoological Society.Gould had recently begun his parallel career as an ornithologicalpublisher. He recognised Lear’s enormous talent for illustrationand soon employed him to create plates for his own series oflarge-format bird books.

Among other admirers of Lear’s work was Lord Edward Stanley(1775–1851), who was president of the Zoological Society whenLear first sought permission to sketch in its aviary. Stanley (after1834, the 13th Earl of Derby) had a collection of exotic birds andanimals, many from Australia, which he kept in a large privatemenagerie at Knowsley Hall, his family’s estate near Liverpool.Stanley extended an invitation to Lear to make paintings of hisanimals, which Lear accepted enthusiastically.

Beginning in 1830 and for the next seven years, Lear divided histime between London, where he continued to create illustrationsfor John Gould and others, and Liverpool, where he made more

than 100 life portraits of the birds, mammals and reptiles inLord Stanley’s remarkable menagerie. It was during his extendedvisits to Knowsley Hall that Lear began to create the endearinglimericks and other nonsense verse for which he is so wellknown today. Self-illustrated in a loose, seemingly childlike style,these flights of whimsy may have provided Lear with just therelief he needed from the pressures of his demanding scientificcommissions.

travel

Despite his enormous talent for natural history illustration,and the secure livelihood it could have provided him,Lear found the close, exacting nature of that work bothphysically challenging and, over time, emotionallyunfulfilling. His few surviving letters from this periodreveal that he longed to devote more time to travel andto exploring the pleasures of landscape painting.





happy birthdayedward lear!the Australian Museum’s Rare book

collection holds several items to which Lear

contributed, including gleanings from the

Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley hall

(1846); John gould’s Monograph of the

ramphastidae (2nd ed. 1854); Illustrations of

British ornithology (1834); James Sowerby’s

Tortoises, Terrapins and Turtles (1872)

(for which Lear prepared the lithographic

plates); and The Naturalist’s Library by Sir

william Jardine (1833–41).

the Library also holds a lavish 2009 facsimile

copy of Lear’s monograph Illustrations of

the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots (1832).

to mark Lear’s 200th birthday, the Research

Library is hosting a small display of some

of these rare books. Australian Museum

Members can view the display during normal

business hours by appointment only, phone

02 9320 6384.

emma Gray, aCtinG ManaGer, reSearCh liBrary

A generous offer by Lord Stanley and his cousin Robert Hornbyto send Lear to Rome in 1838 gave the young artist the chancehe had been hoping for and brought to a close his short butdistinguished career as a natural history illustrator. Claiming pooreyesight, Lear never returned to the professional field in whichhe had established his first international reputation only six yearsbefore. Fortunately, he left behind an extraordinary collection ofpaintings, many of which documented the wildlife of Australia.

A selection of these are reproduced here, some for the first time.They are offered in commemoration of the 200th anniversaryof Edward Lear’s birth.roBert mCCraCken PeCk iS Curator oF art and artiFaCtS and Senior FelloW at the

aCadeMy oF natural SCienCeS oF drexel univerSity in philadelphia. earlier thiS year

he Curated an exhiBition oF edWard lear’S natural hiStory paintinGS at harvard

univerSity’S houGhton liBrary.

further reading

S hyman, 1989. Edward Lear’s Birds. longmeadow Press, Stamford, Ct, uSa.

V noakes, 2004. Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer. the history Press, Stroud, uk.

rm Peck, 2011. the natural history of edward lear. Harvard Library Bulletin 22, 2–3.

rm Peck, 2012. the wilder side of edward lear. Nature 485, 36–38.

page 14thylacine Thylacinuscynocephalus © tasmanianMuseum and art Gallery.

page 15tasmanian devil,Sarcophilus harrisii (privatecollection) and Spotted-tailed Quoll, Dasyurusmaculatus, © houghtonlibrary, harvard university.MS Typ 55 .12 (fol. 8)

aboveBrush-tailed Bettong(yowie or Woylie), Bettongiapenicillata © houghtonlibrary, harvard university.MS Typ 55.12 (fol. 9)

rightedward lear by Wilhelmnicolai Marstrand, pencil,1840 © national portraitGallery, london. NPG 3055

weblink

See more of Lear’s Australian animals at www.australianmuseum.net.au/explore-magazine, with kind thanks to Houghton Library, Harvard university.



culture connect

The Aboriginal Embassy was a symbolof the alienation felt by many IndigenousAustralians after a landmark court casein 1971.Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd(also known as the Gove land rights case)was the first Indigenous land rights caseto be heard in Australia. The SupremeCourt of the Northern Territory rejectedthe claim that the Yolgnu people of Yirrkalahad native title of the land and ruled infavour of terra nullius, paving the wayfor Nabalco, a mining company,to commercially develop the land.

The conservative government of PrimeMinister Billy McMahon released astatement on Australia Day 1972 statingthat there would be no Aboriginal titleto land. Instead, they encouragedIndigenous people to apply to leasetheir traditional lands.

activists

That day, four Indigenous activists fromSydney – Michael Anderson, Tony Coorey,Billy Craigie and Bert Williams – set upthe Aboriginal Embassy. Anderson toldThe Australian newspaper, ‘The land was

Magazines from 1972 in theMuseum’s research librarydocument the tent embassyand its establishment. photoby Stuart humphreys.

on 26 JAnuARy 1972, FouR Men Set up AbeAcH uMbReLLA on tHe gRASS outSIdepARLIAMent HouSe In cAnbeRRA. tHeycALLed It tHe AboRIgInAL eMbASSy.

taken from us by force ... we shouldn’thave to lease it ... our spiritual beliefs areconnected with the land’.

Over the next few months, the men werejoined by supporters from across thecountry. The lone umbrella became dozensof tents, and the protest was supported byuniversity students, visiting diplomats andsections of the press.

Meanwhile, the CommonwealthGovernment passed legislation that madeit illegal to camp on unleased land inCanberra. This meant that the Embassyprotestors were now trespassing and itpaved the way for the police to move in,dismantle the tents and arrest a numberof protesters, which they did just afterNational Aborigines Day (NAIDOC)in July 1972.

Not to be deterred, protesters erected thetents again, and again the police movedin and dismantled them. A week later,the number of protestors had grown fromaround 200 to 2000. The confrontationsbetween the protestors and police werecontroversial, with many members of

the general public and politicians sidingwith the activists.

progress

Many of the tensions were finally resolvedwith an election that year bringing theprogressive Labor Government of GoughWhitlam to power. Whitlam oversaw manyreforms, including the return of land, greaterreconciliation with Indigenous people anddismantling of the White Australia policy.Twenty years later, the Mabo case finallythrew out the concept of terra nullius,allowing Indigenous groups to legallyclaim ownership of their traditional lands.

The Tent Embassy still stands on thelawn opposite Old Parliament Houseas a symbol of Indigenous demands forrepresentation and a voice in Australiansociety.emma Gray ManaGer, auStralian MuSeuM

reSearCh liBrary

the australian museum research library has aselection of indigenous magazines and other mediareferencing the aboriginal embassy. members canview the material by appointment.

40 years onof the tent embassy:the


J4548_MKT_Explore_343_Text_FA.indd 17 3/09/12 10:19 AM

SInce ItS InceptIon In 1978, tHe LIzARdISLAnd ReeF ReSeARcH FoundAtIonHAS RAISed oveR $8 MILLIon toSuppoRt tHe woRk oF tHe AuStRALIAnMuSeuM LIzARd ISLAnd ReSeARcHStAtIon. HeRe, outgoIng cHAIRMAnoF tHe FoundAtIon, ken colesAM,ReFLectS on HIS 20 yeARS At tHe HeLM.

Ken Coles first visited Lizard Island in1993 as newly elected Chairman of theLizard Island Reef Research Foundation.It’s a visit that spurred him into action.

‘When I started, one of the first things wedid was go up to Lizard [Island] and have alook at what the research station was [like]and I was appalled at the houses. We wereentertained on a back veranda which hada dirt floor and, I think, even a canvas top.It was pretty makeshift and I thought,“this is no good; we have to fix this”.’

He immediately started an appeal, askingten people to donate $5000 a year for fouryears. The money raised was sufficient tobuild two permanent houses on the island.With this more substantial accommodationin place, the research station’s contractstaff could be permanently employed bythe Museum.

‘It made a difference to their attitudetowards the place immediately’, says Ken.

infrastructure

That increased commitment to the researchstation has continued through Ken’s tenure,resulting in a number of infrastructure anddevelopment projects.

The most transformative of these has beenthe 30th Anniversary Development, anappeal headed by Charlie Shuetrim AM,and today the station boasts four sharedand self-contained houses, a fleet of13 boats and a catamaran, two laboratories,an aquarium system and a library.

The Foundation continues to play acrucial role in raising funds to help coverthe research station’s running costs andinfrastructure, as well as fellowships forvisiting researchers, but it stays awayfrom directing research priorities.

‘My personal belief is that you shouldn’tdirect where [the funds go]. The scientistsknow enough about what they want to dowithout us interfering. Sometimes the verybest science comes out of left field ... thatwas not envisaged’.

fellowships

The Foundation provides funds for fiveresearch fellowships at Lizard Island –vital to the research station, says Ken, asthey not only attract the best early-career

researchers from around the world but alsoprovide an investment in the long-termviability of the station.

‘Fellows often return to Lizard lsland toconduct further research projects, payingbench fees and contributing to the runningcosts of the facility, so money raised throughthe Foundation and its members has aroll-on effect for years and even decades.’

Twenty years on, Ken remains a passionatechampion of the research at Lizard Islandand is a life member of the Lizard IslandReef Research Foundation.

He was made a Member of the Order ofAustralia in 2000 for service to business,industry and the community. In furtherrecognition, in 2007 a group of Germanresearchers visiting Lizard Island nameda new species of nudibranch (sea slug) inhis honour: Ercolania kencolesi.

In his farewell speech, Ken likened histime as Chairman to the privilege of ridinga ‘large, smooth, rolling wave’.

‘It was an incredible ride.’

maxine kauter proJeCt Coordinator

weblink

to find out more about research fellowships atLizard Island, visit www.australianmuseum.net.au/Awards-Fellowships.

people in science

Ken Coles aM continuesto champion research atlizard island. photo byStuart humphreys.

waveriding the



A MeSSAge In A bottLe? not quIte –but MySteRIouS cRAteS HAve begunARRIvIng ALL AcRoSS new SoutHwALeS to deLIveR A veRy IMpoRtAntMeSSAge, SAyS MuseuM2you pRoJectoFFIceR iSaBelle kinGSley.

The climate is changing, life on Earth isaffected and we all need to do somethingabout it. But how does a museum spreadsuch an important message to the widercommunity?

The answer is Museum2you, anenvironmental education program that,as the name suggests, brings the AustralianMuseum to you. In a box.

‘We need to build environmental citizenswho care about issues like saving waterand energy, reducing waste and lookingafter our biodiversity’, said Karen Player,Coordinator of Museum Outreach.

‘It’s important for the Museum to engagecommunities in learning about these issuesand empower them to be better custodiansof the planet.’

The contents of Museum2you boxes do justthat. Each focuses on the environmentalissues of climate change, sustainability andbiodiversity and contains real museumspecimens, resources and tools for hands-on investigation. They’re full of practicalideas for people of all

science bytes

put themessagein a box

with bookings filling fast for many othersuburban and regional centres.

‘It’s a wonderful display with excellentresources and is just a great idea!’ saidHayley Bates, Urban SustainabilityProgram Project Officer at North SydneyCouncil and recent Museum2you host.

‘The Museum2you resource is what’sneeded to help community groups becomecommunity action groups.’

As communities and as individuals, weneed to take action and consider how weuse, value and protect our fragile naturalworld. The choices we make now abouthow we live will determine our planet’sfuture and its ability to sustain life. It’s timeto send out an SOS – a message in a box.iSaBelle kinGSley MuSeuM2you eduCation proJeCt

oFFiCer

Museum2you is available for hire bycommunity organisations across NSW. It wasdeveloped by the Australian Museum andassisted by the NSW Government throughits Environmental Trust.

weblink

Find out how to book Museum2you atwww.australianmuseum.net.au/Museum-2-you

above isabelle Kingsley (right) discusses environmentalsolutions with a visitor to the Museum2you display at theCoal loader Centre for Sustainability in Waverton, May 2012.photo by Stuart humphreys.

ages (but are not to be confused withthe Museum’s popular Museum in a Boxprogram for schools).

bugs

One of the first to use Museum2you wasthe Coal Loader Centre for Sustainabilityin Waverton. A group of 25 people of allages took part in a backyard biodiversityworkshop, spending a leisurely morningsurveying invertebrates from a local stream,identifying spiders by their webs andsearching for insects.

‘She’d happily stay here all day lookingfor bugs’, said one proud grandad as hewatched his five-year-old looking forcreepy crawlies in a tray of leaf litter.‘I think we have a little entomologiston our hands.’

Taking a more sophisticated approach,the Coal Loader also hosted a CaféScientifique–style evening where morethan 30 adults debated the topic ‘Feral:friend or foe?’. After looking throughthe Museum2you display, the groupsettled down to enjoy a few drinks whilediscussing the pros and cons of introducedspecies with a panel of experts.

action

Launched in May 2012, Museum2youboxes have already travelled to Tamworth,the Blue Mountains, North Sydney, PortMacquarie-Hastings, Mulwala and Orange,



slimy slitherersmartyn robinsonIS tHe MuSeuM’SReSIdent nAtuRALISt

in your backyard • with martyn robinson

hanging by a thread

Slime makes gliding easier for snails andslugs but the slime trail they leave behindis not very thick at all. It doesn’t need tobe – just enough to protect the delicatemoist skin on the ‘foot’ of the snail or slugfrom the potentially abrasive ground it istravelling over. It also acts as an adhesiveto ‘stick’ the mollusc onto the surface.

Any more would be a waste of bothvaluable slime and – more importantly –the water that makes up most of its bulk(which is why slimy animals generally livein moist areas). This stickiness enables thesnail or slug to climb smooth surfaces oreven travel upside down, despite havingno limbs to grip with.

So how does the snail or slug actuallymove? Well, the under-surface of the footis covered in tiny hair-like cilia which themollusc can move backwards and forwardsin a wave-like pattern.

The cilia reach forward to make contactwith the slime-covered surface that themollusc is travelling over and then pushbackwards, sliding the snail forwards overits slime. The wave starts at the tail endand moves forward, allowing the animalto slide over the coating of slime producedfor this purpose.

To see this action for yourself, just place asnail on a windowpane and watch it fromthe other side as the ‘waves’ travel up thebody. Because the ‘silvery trail’ shrivels tovirtually nothing and disintegrates, youmight be surprised to learn how strong andprotective it is. The biggest land snail you

can find can easily and safely crawl up andover the sharp edge of a razor blade withno ill effects.

Even more surprising, the large andcomparatively heavy Leopard Slugs, Limaxmaximus, suspend themselves in mid-air,and mate, all while suspended from a thinstrand of slime like a bungy rope.

Don’t try this at home!

who’s the slimiest of them all?

The animals having the best descriptive,and perhaps most numerous, commonnames are the hagfishes.

Hagfishes, found in the deep oceans of theworld including around Australia, are veryprimitive in most of their features, havingskeletons of cartilage rather than bone,light-sensitive spots instead of eyes, and asort of rasping ‘tongue’ apparatus insteadof jaws. This, in no way, means that theyare at a disadvantage, however; they simplycame up with an excellent biology andphysiology very early on and didn’t needto change.

Their diet is mainly the sunken bodies ofall the other animals that die and drift tothe bottom of the ocean. Their extremelyflexible bodies and rasping tongues allowsthem to squirm their way inside thesecorpses and eat them from the inside out.

But perhaps one of their most successfuland memorable features, as far as humansare concerned, is their ability to producevast, instantaneous quantities of slime.Indeed, hagfishes are the world’s slimiestanimals and this has given them a wealth



the body until either the head or tail ispulled out of the knot and the animal isstraight again.

Any predator still with a grip on a hagfishhas the body pulled out of its jaws by thetravelling knot and retains only a mouthfulof gagging slime.

When feeding, the hagfish grips a mouthfulof food and pulls it through the knot alongwith the hagfish’s head to tear off a bite-sized chunk.

Lastly its protective but gill-cloggingslime can be stripped off the hagfishesbody and discarded at the tail end bythis same travelling knot.

So these may be relatively simple animalsbut they are far from inefficient.

aboveMottled hagfish, Eptatretussp. photo by Carl Struthers© Museum of new Zealandte papa tongarewa.

of other descriptive common names, suchas slime fish, slime hags, snot eels, slimeeels, hag eels and snot hags.

Deep-sea trawlers and crab-pot tendersgenerally hate them as they can render thenets and crab pots ineffective and mostdifficult to clean due to the sticky, stringyslime they leave behind.

A small hagfish can turn a bucketful ofseawater into jelly in seconds and a garbagebinful in minutes. So how does a relativelysmall and slender fish produce volumesof slime so much larger than its ownbody bulk?

The answer lies in the structure of the slimeitself. Glands in the hagfish skin producea concentrated micro-fibrous slime whichhas a strong ability to combine with water.As soon as it touches water, the filamentsand fibres of slime unravel and expand toform a large, gelatinous, sticky, slimy net.

This not only lubricates the already slimyhagfish, making it hard to grip, but it alsotends to choke would-be predators andclog their gills. It is a lesson they rememberfor a long time and don’t tend to botherhagfish again.

‘Ah, but doesn’t the hagfish have gills itself?’I hear you say? ‘Wouldn’t it choke on itsown slime?’

Well that’s where another interesting butsimple adaptation of hagfishes comes in:they can tie themselves in knots. Startingat the head or tail end, according to need,they form a ‘granny knot’ and run it down

oppositeleopard Slugs, Limaxmaximus, suspendthemselves in mid-air andmate hanging from a thinstrand of slime. photo ©torsten hiddessen.

weblink

See hagfishes in action at www.australianmuseum.net.au/blogpost/Fish-bits/Amazing-new-hagfish-behaviour



Q. Bill or beak? Which is correct avianterminology?

When referring to birds in general, bill orbeak can usually be used interchangeably.In common usage, each may be associatedwith particular groups of birds – forexample, the hooked beak of parrots andbirds of prey and the long, slender bill ofwading birds – but there is no hard andfast rule for this.

In birds, the bill (or beak) comprises thebony upper and lower jaws and the hardfingernail-like covering sheath. Theseterms are also used with some otheranimal groups – the Platypus has a bill,but the Echidna has a beak, as do turtles,octopuses, some fish and dinosaurs anda few insects.

kellie harriS

Q. Extinct or just hiding? We think this smallmouse from far-western New SouthWalesmight be a rare native species. Is it?

Based on the photo and description weare pretty sure it is the Desert Mouse,Pseudomys desertor, a critically endangeredspecies in NSW and one that until recentlyhadn’t been collected in the State since1857! Our Mammals Collections Manager,Dr Sandy Ingleby, requested a tissuesample which has confirmed the presenceof this species in its former range.

In 1866, Museum Director Gerard Krefftdescribed the mouse’s range from theMurray-Darling to Western Australia, butsince European arrival it has contractedto the central deserts. After 50 years ofabsence a mammal can be declared extinct,but in this case the Desert Mouse appearsto be hanging on in NSW!

SteVe VoGel

weblink

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.audeterminations/desertmouseFd.htm

Q. Can eels climb a dam wall?

When I first heard about eels climbingWarragamba Dam, I struggled to believeit, having recently seen the sheer size of thestructure. I already knew of their massivemarine journeys to spawn through projectsI had completed on eel traps (called hinaki)in New Zealand, but I decided to look intotheir life cycle more closely.

I found that they go through physicalchanges to aid them in their journey acrossthe Pacific to spawning grounds near NewCaledonia. Their pectoral fins enlarge, theireyes grow larger and the pigments changeso they can see better in the sea.

After hatching, the larval eels (calledleptocephali) cross the ocean to reachcoastal rivers, where they become moreeel-like (elvers) and swim upstream. Theydon’t actually climb Warragamba Dam, butascend a smaller side stream and even traveloverland for a short distance to reach thelake behind the dam, where they can growto adult size – typically up to two metres.

loGan metCalfe

Send your query to the Search & Discover team, email [email protected]

search discoVer

xplanations

the Channel-billed Cuckoo, Scythrops novaehollandiae, hasa long bill with a beaked tip. photo by Stuart humphreys.

the desert Mouse has been seen in new South Wales forthe first time since 1857. photo by ray dayman © npWS.

a longfin eel measuring 145 cm from the upper nepeanriver. photo by Jonathon doyle © industries nSW.



photofeast

they’rewrapped



photofeast

they're wrapped

No longer on display, and looking like something from television’sThe X-files, thesespecimens are going through a period of treatment that suffocates any tiny crittersthat may have hitched a ride in the hope of a free meal. I chose these images becauseof their surreal quality. What do you think?

Cate lowe photo editor



Previous pageMale lion, Panthera leo.photo by James King.

leftrhinoceros being moved byconservator Michael Kelly.in this form of treatment,specimens are kept in alow-oxygen atmosphere for anumber of weeks to kill pests.photo by Stuart humphreys.

topeuropean rabbit,Oryctolagus cuniculus.photo by James King.

BottomGibson’s albatross, Diomedeagibsoni. photo by James King.





A pAIR oF cARved SAndStone gAtepoStS And wRougHt-IRon gAteS on Sydney’S MAcquARIe StReet coMMeMoRAtetHe gARden pALAce exHIbItIon buILdIng deStRoyed In AnInFeRno 140 yeARS Ago, wRIteS tHe MuSeuM’S stan florek.

fire in the palace

from the archives

Built to house the Sydney InternationalExhibition in 1879, the Garden Palacewas created by James Barnet, governmentarchitect and designer of the General PostOffice, Customs House and the AustralianMuseum’s College Street building.

The exhibition itself was a grand event, anopportunity for the prosperous colony ofNew South Wales to showcase its industrialand economic achievements, and itsunique cultural character alongside exhibitsfrom Britain, the United States, Germanyand numerous other countries.

Unlike Barnet’s other colonial architecturein sandstone, the exhibition building wasbuilt hastily of rather inferior materials –timber, galvanised iron and glass. On theother hand, it boasted new-fangled electriclighting, one of the first in the colonyso equipped.

Whether from an electrical fault orotherwise, within an hour on the morningof 22 September 1882 fire had reduced thebuilding to a pile of smouldering rubble –

taking with it the Australian Museum’sextensive collection of cultural objectsand many other exhibits.

rich display

The story of the Garden Palace, well-known in Sydney’s cultural circles, bearsretelling as new detective work reveals ahandful of early objects that escaped thefate of many.

International exhibitions (precursors ofthe modern ‘expo’) were popular inWestern countries at the time. Incustomary fashion, the 1879 exhibitionhighlighted the colony’s achievementsin agriculture, arts and commerce. Theexhibition’s Ethnological Court showedover 3000 artefacts, nearly 2000 of whichwere from the Australian Museum.

Such a rich display would not have beenpossible, stated the official record of theexhibition, if not for the Trustees of theAustralian Museum who ‘lent their verycomprehensive ethnological collection,usually displayed in that institution aspart of its permanent treasures’.

“Following the fire,curators made aspecial effort . . . andwithin eight years hadacquired more than16,000 artefacts.”Imagine then what a devastating blowthe fire of 1882 must have been. In onefell swoop, the Museum lost its entireethnology collection built up over 50 years,with many irreplaceable objects fromthe indigenous cultures of Oceania andbeyond. Or did it?

lost

Finding out exactly what was lost in thefire is not necessarily easy because recordsand inventories from this period are oftenvague. The following examples offer someinsight into what the collection containedand its strengths before 1882.



The Museum’s earliest collection ofAustralian Indigenous artefacts consistedof 23 weapons, baskets and bodyadornments from the Darling River areaof western New South Wales. They wereassembled by explorer Thomas LivingstonMitchell (1792–1855), Surveyor General,on his 1835 pioneering expedition tothe interior. Another early collection of50 artefacts came from an expedition to theTorres Strait in 1836 led by CommanderMorgan Lewis and marine explorer PhilipParker King. They had set out to searchfor survivors of the Charles Eaton, whichhad sunk there two years earlier.

Other important collections included over250 artefacts from the Central Provinceof Papua New Guinea collected between1876 and 1878 by the naturalist andexplorer Andrew Goldie (1840–91), andover 100 artefacts from Port Darwin andPort Essington collected in 1878 by theMuseum’s Alexander Morton, who alsocollected about 100 artefacts from YuleIsland, Papua New Guinea.

These and other early collections from theindigenous cultures of Papua New Guinea,Torres Strait and the Northern Territorywere prominent in the 1879 exhibition.

catalogue

The official exhibition catalogue is of onlylimited value in determining what was lost,with entries such as ‘Collection of Spears’,‘Fish-hooks’ and ‘Boomerangs’ being toovague to identify individual items.

Other entries are more specific, however.On display were five shields from Mitchell’s1835–36 Darling River expeditions. Thecatalogue uses the same unusual namefor these items (heileman, of Aboriginalorigin) that Mitchell used in his bookThree Expeditions into the Interior of EasternAustralia, and the name also appears in theMuseum’s acquisition file. The cataloguelists an ‘enormous bamboo pipe’ collectedduring Commander Lewis’s rescue missionto Torres Strait – the same term used in

topthe former Garden palaceexhibition building onMacquarie Street. photo bySam hood, dixson Galleries,State library of nSW.SPF/268

Belowa rare photograph of theethnological Court showingsome of the 2000 culturalartefacts destroyed in thefire. australian Museumarchives. v11460



both the Museum acquisition documentand a book recounting the 1836expedition. It must be in our humannature to perpetuate odd terms and phrasesattached to objects beyond our daily use,but in this case they help identify thesame objects in different documents –and confirm their fate.

survival

These losses were catastrophic, buthistory is usually more complex than itlooks on the surface, and from the ashesof destruction there are a few stories ofsurvival that should be told.

The destiny of these artefacts was forgedmuch earlier as Museum curatorsattempted to build representations ofvarious world cultures through exchangeprograms. An early partner, dating backto 1857, was the Copenhagen Museum,now the National Museum of Denmark.In 1859, the Australian Museumexchanged eight objects with Copenhagen– masks, drums, body ornaments andsculptures from none other than the1836 rescue mission to Torres Strait –for 70 specimens of ‘ancient Scandinavianweapons, tools and utensils’.

So it is that a handful of artefacts fromTorres Strait avoided an inferno and wenton to survive the turbulence of Europeanhistory in the 19th and 20th centuries.Photos recently obtained from the NationalMuseum of Denmark neatly match thedescriptions of these objects in an 1836book by WE Brockett: a ‘rudely carvedimitation of fish – [an] animal called theDuyong or sea-cow’ from Mer (MurrayIsland); a mask described as ‘a frightfulrepresentation of the human countenance[see photo, right], rendered still more soby blackened and adorned with red andwhite paint’; and another with ‘tastefullyarranged cowrie shells.’

It is a pity that these, some of the earliestcollected Australian Indigenous artefacts,are no longer kept in the Australian

Museum; but, on the other hand, it isgood to know they are intact, helpingother people across the world learn aboutIndigenous Australians.

fate

In other good news, a set of 18 arrowsand a pubic cover brought from Mer in1836 were excluded from the exhibitionand survived perfectly well, stored snuglyin the Museum stores. And so too itappears that some spears from the Mortoncollection from Port Darwin and PortEssington were excluded, perhaps duringthe hasty preparations for the exhibition.In fact, curators of the Museum’s culturalcollections have identified about 100artefacts, mostly from the Pacific region,which, for various reasons, were notdestroyed by the fire.

Following the fire, curators made a specialeffort to rebuild the ethnology collections,and within eight years had acquiredmore than 16,000 artefacts – the largestanthropology collecting enterprise in thehistory of the Museum. By then, however,many original artefacts, equivalent tothose lost in the fire, could no longer beobtained. As the official record of theexhibition noted, ominously, it wouldindeed be ‘... almost impossible to getsuch a large collection together again.’dr Stan florek dataBaSe ManaGer,

Cultural ColleCtionS

further reading

Official Catalogue of the General EthnologicalCollection: Sydney International Exhibition, 1879.

we Brockett, 1836. Narrative of a voyage from Sydneyto Torres Straits, in search of the survivors of theCharles Eaton; in His Majesty’s colonial schoonerIsabella, CM Lewis, Commander. henry Bull, Sydney.

tl mitchell, 1836. Three Expeditions into Interior ofEastern Australia. t&w Boone, london.

weblink

See more artefacts from the garden palace story at

www.australianmuseum.net.au/explore-magazine.

abovetracings of bark paintingsfrom port essington(1878). a set of nine earlyaboriginal paintings on barkfrom port essington in thenorthern territory destroyedin the fire were among thefirst in any collection andthe first to be exhibitedto the public. australianMuseum archives.

topthis mask from torres Straitwas one of eight earlyindigenous artefacts toescape destruction in thefire. photo by Bente Wolff© national Museum ofdenmark.



on the agenda

land work?making



two SMALL pIeceS oF SAndALwood coLLected on

tHe ISLAnd oF eRRoMAngo, vAnuAtu HeLp to pRovIde

A key FoR undeRStAndIng tHe cuLtuRAL tIeS between

IndIgenouS peopLe And tHeIR LAnd.

These two short branches of seemingly ordinary wood seem outof place in the Australian Museum’s cultural stores, surroundedby shelves filled with all manner of cultural artworks and artefacts.Yet they reveal much about the history of conflict betweenWestern and traditional indigenous attitudes towards land andnatural resources – conflict that continues in various guises today.

incense

Heavy and fine-grained, but having now lost their wonderfulfragrance, these pieces of sandalwood, Santalum austrocaledonicum,were collected from the island of Erromango, Vanuatu in the early1900s by missionary Rev Dr HA Robertson.

Sandalwood, widely used in furniture and incense across Asia,was much in demand in the nineteenth century. Enormous profitscould be made from selling sandalwood to China, and Erromangowas a rare source of a particularly sought-after, fragrant variety.

Western traders were initially content to offer modest paymentsfor cutting this valuable resource. But from 1829 to 1865Erromango and its peoples were increasingly exploited to enableforeigners to extract maximum sandalwood at minimal cost.

From the late 1880s, foreign companies based in Nouméaand Melbourne moved in, laying claim to vast areas of theNew Hebrides (Vanuatu). Such a situation was completelyincomprehensible to the indigenous inhabitants and traditionalcustodians of these lands – ni-Vanuatu. Combined with theintroduction of European diseases, alcohol, firearms and theearly ravages of ‘blackbirding’ (labour recruiting), the populationof Erromango fell from an estimated pre-contact level of over10,000 to less than 400 by 1921. Over the same period the wholeof Vanuatu suffered a similar, catastrophic population declinefrom possibly 700,000 to around 40,000 by the late 1920s.

It was a story repeated over much of coastal Melanesia and onemight thus say that, for many Melanesians, the early ‘benefitsof contact with Western civilisation’ were extremely doubtful.

traditional land rights

In Western economic systems, land has always been a commodity –something to be bought, sold ... or usurped. Land with no written‘title’ or in an ‘unused’ natural state is essentially considereduninhabited no-man’s land, terra nullius or free for the taking.

By contrast, ni-Vanuatu have, from birth, an inalienable andautomatic right to use and enjoy their traditional lands. Theserights are communally held and cannot be sold off, the ultimaterights remaining permanently with the traditional custodians. Incertain areas, one could even go as far as to say that it is the landthat ‘owns’ the people, rather than the other way around.

This may over-simplify the vast number of differing and extremelycomplex Melanesian land custodianship systems still in existencetoday, but most have in common a respect for land as a livingforce that manifests itself in its people and its cultures.

Globally, the rights of indigenous peoples to their traditional landsare recognised by the September 2007 UN Declaration on theRights of Indigenous Peoples.

Yet the push to alienate land from its traditional owners continuesas governments, developers and investors attempt to ‘reform’traditional, communal, oral-based land tenure systems worldwide– in particular in Africa, South America and Melanesia. In theirplace, they are proposing forms of land agreements that couldeventually be misused to result in the loss of traditional ownership.

vanuatu today

One such proposal is ‘Making Land Work’, an aid initiativethat aims to delineate traditional land boundaries and areasfor agriculture, ‘zoning’ and subdivision. Now accepted by theVanuatu Government and called ‘Mama Graon’, the projectcontinues to raise concerns among many traditional landcustodians, and a cursory look at recent Vanuatu historyexplains why.

In the 1970s, the Anglo-French Condominium government ofwhat was then the New Hebrides banned the subdivision of landin response to an attempt by American investors to subdivideand sell land to US Vietnam War veterans.

This same threat to traditional land rights also inspired theformation of indigenous political parties and demands forautonomy. When Vanuatu achieved its independence in 1980,all land reverted to the traditional custodians, and this fact isenshrined in the nation’s Constitution.

That should have been the end of it, but by the late 1990s,pressure on traditional land rights was growing again. In 2000,an Act of Parliament to allow strata titles in the capital’s oneand only high-rise building, whether by accident or design,also seemed to apply to land leases.

Suddenly, subdivision was again on the agenda. It resulted in arash of expatriate ‘investors’ and real estate agents leasing andsubdividing land in Port Vila and coastal Efate. By the end of thedecade, nearly 60 per cent of coastal Efate was in foreign hands.



Many ni-Vanuatu, horrified by these developments, began anorganised response. Vanuatu hosted a National Land Summit in2006 and National Land Workshop in 2009 to raise awarenessof land alienation and bring public pressure on the governmentto protect indigenous land rights.

Emphasising that ‘land grabbing’ is rife in the region, and notjust in Vanuatu, representatives from throughout Melanesia metin Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, in June 2009 to formthe Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (MILDA).

This group held its second major annual meeting in the village ofMele on Efate in 2010, resulting in the Mele Declaration, whichoutlines concerns and recommendations for land rights canvassedfrom representatives throughout the region.

sustainable growth

Ancestral land has been working with and for Melanesians forthousands of years – and working well. When Melanesians lookat Land, they see the Mother (or the Father, depending uponthe culture); they see ancestors, myth, history and ritual; theysee food for the descendants of that Land.

The days of sandalwood exploitation and the calamities thatfollowed are history, and the population of Erromango hasrecovered to about 1600 – still a shadow of its former self butnow much wiser in the ways of the West. Vanuatu’s populationhas nearly doubled since independence in 1980 to around240,000, perhaps a third of its pre-Western contact level.

We should note that this recent population growth in Vanuatu hasbeen fed and sustained by the natural expansion of the traditionalagricultural economy, not the modern economic system. Thisgrowing population may eventually need access to any of itslands that have been leased and subdivided.

solution?

In this, the 20th anniversary year of the Mabo decision recognisingnative title in the Torres Strait, and nearly five years after theUN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, perhapswe should be thinking more seriously about what we really meanby ‘development’.

Do we mean promoting a good, sustainable life? Or does it meanhaving everyone adopt Western systems that are known to alienatepeople from their traditional lands and introduce poverty wherenone really existed before?

Page 30Sandalwood fromerromango was widelyexploited by Westerntraders in the 1800s.photo by Stuart humphreys.E12420 & E22590

“Who will be the majorbeneficiaries of Western-styleland subdivision?”

Vanuatu was nominated in 2006 as the ‘World’s Happiest Nation’by the New Economics Foundation based on intense studies of178 nations worldwide. Rural Melanesia was undoubtedly thearea of the world least affected by the 2008 (and ongoing) GlobalFinancial Crisis. Over 80 per cent of the populations live onancestral land and are largely self-sufficient.

Perhaps we can learn something here – that ours is neither theonly nor the best of all possible economic systems.

Melanesians, through groups such as MILDA, are asking who willbe the major beneficiaries from the implementation of Western-style land subdivision. Will it be the traditional land custodians,their families and cultures, or will it be foreign investors?kirk huffman honorary Curator, vanuatu Cultural Centre, port vila, vanuatu

and reSearCh aSSoCiate, auStralian MuSeuM.

further reading

t Bending & d wilson (eds), 2012. land rights and the rush for land. internationalland Coalition, rome.

k huffman, 2009. land in Vanuatu: the mother under threat. Sydney UniversityNews, 19, pp 4–6.

f Pearce, 2012. The landgrabbers: the new fight over who owns the Earth. BeaconPress, Boston.

weblink

what do you think? Leave your comments on our blog atwww.australianmuseum.net.au/explore-magazine

dedicationthis article is dedicated to the spirits and memory of the following recently-deceased ni-vanuatu: olfala Kaidip’sa of nemel venelu, SW Malakula (d.april 2012); Chief Kuaru of yanaolaol, SW tanna (d. oct. 2011); Chief Silasngarileo (vira doro) of labultamata, n. pentecost (d. Sept. 2011); douglasKalotiti of leleppa (d. april 2011); Fidel yoringmal of Wala, ne Malakula(d. Jan. 2011); Chief Matthias Batick of nemel Minduwo, SW Malakula (d.april 2010); Chief tom Kiri of umponyelo(n)gi, S. erromango (d. June 2006).



australian museum

members

Serena todd’s photo by Carl Bento.

We are beyond excited to be bringingAlexander the Great: 2000 years oftreasures to you.

It’s the largest exhibition ever seenin Australia from the State Hermitagein St Petersburg, and it’s showing onlyat the Australian Museum in Sydney.

footsteps

To complement the exhibition, we’veplanned a whole series of fun andinformative events for Members, withspectacular shows, edifying lectures,exclusive access behind the scenes andeven a themed sleepover for the kids.

And if you’re feeling adventurous, whynot join In the footsteps of Alexander, ourtour in 2013 through Greece and Turkeyled by historian Chris Matthew?

In other news, we have a fascinatingNight Talk on Indigenous astronomy(and a themed tour departing nextyear) and we welcome back expert MikeMorwood to expand on our new ‘Hobbit’display, located on the grand staircase.

Qr what?

For tech-savvy Members, we’re alsotrialling QR codes – simply scan thecodes to your mobile device to arriveat our website for the latest eventinformation and travel bookings.

There’s a lot going on for Members inthe coming months – I hope you’ll joinin the fun!

serena toddExecutive Officer,Australian Museum Members

night Sky dreaming withfred watson and ray norris

18–26 march 2013

Gazing up into a million-star sky in outbackAustralia is sure to take your breath away.Indigenous Australians created stories to makesense of the heavens above and the universearound them. Join Fred Watson and Ray Norrison this ten-day, fully escorted tour through themost indigenously interesting corners of Victoriaand New South Wales while unravelling thesecrets of astronomy old and new.

madagascar: isle of Biodiversity

may 2013

Madagascar is a natural history wonderlandunlike any other place on Earth. Its floraand fauna have evolved in splendid isolation:chameleons, lemurs, rare and gorgeous birdsand a thousand species of orchids are yours todiscover in this unforgettable Members tour.

traVelwith members

Scan this code to yourmobile device to find allmembers tours

above Mosque and pousse-pousse (rickshaws) in antsirabe,Madagascar. photo © amanda Berry.

new!in the footsteps of alexanderthe Great

29 September to 17 october 2013

For over 2000 years Alexander the Great hasexcited the imagination of people around theworld. Join tour leader Dr Chris Matthew(ACU) for this cultural and archaeological touras we follow in Alexander’s footsteps, exploringthe very best of ancient and modern Greece:archaeological sites, museums, mountainscenery and Mediterranean sea views.

Visit www.australianmuseum.net.au/Travel-program for more information aboutMembers tours.



all night talks

time 6.30 pm

cost Members $20, non-Members $30

booking phone 9320 6225 orwww.australianmuseum.net.au/Members

astronomy of indigenousaustralians

professor ray norris, Macquarie university

when thursday 20 September

Each of the 400 indigenous cultures inAustralia has distinct mythologies, ceremoniesand art forms, some of which have a strongastronomical component. Many sharecommon traditions such as the ‘emu in thesky’ constellation of dark clouds, and storiesabout the Sun, Moon, Orion and the Pleiades.These traditions reveal a depth and culturalcomplexity not widely appreciated by outsiders.Explore these wonderful, mystical Aboriginalastronomical stories and traditions and theirpractical applications with Ray Norris.

faunal biogeography in island Seasia: implications for hobbits and us

professor Michael Morwood, university ofWollongong

when thursday 25 october

All islands are difficult colonisation prospectsfor land animals, some more so than others.How did Asian land animals disperse to theislands between mainland South-east Asiaand Papua/Australia? Mike Morwood revealshow these lands were colonised by humans50,000 years ago using navigable craft andsophisticated technologies.

the adelie land meteorite -100 years of antarctic astronomy

professor Michael Burton, unSW

when tuesday 4 december

It’s been 100 years since explorers fromMawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expeditioncame across a shiny black object lying on theice – the first meteorite to be discovered inAntarctica. Today the frozen continent is acentre for astronomical investigations intocosmic background radiation and neutrinos,while its telescopes peer into the secrets of thecosmos. Join Michael Burton to discover moreabout the pioneering science of Antarctica.

night talks alexander lectures

left professor Mike Morwood and hobbit skull. photo byalas yorick © Mike Morwood.

opposite discover alexander the man – sign up for thesefascinating and authoritative lectures. photo and editingby erwin olaf.

1 alexander the Great:an audience with the curator

dr anna trofimova, State hermitageand liz Cowell, australian Museum

when Wednesday 16 January

CoSt Members $30 non-Members $40 (includesexclusive exhibition viewing from 5.30 to 6.30 pm)

This very special evening begins with exclusivetime in our Alexander the Great: 2000 yearsof treasures exhibition (from 5.30 pm) andrefreshments. Then Director Frank Howarthwill introduce curators Liz Cowell (AustralianMuseum) and Dr Anna Trofimova (StateHermitage, St Petersburg).

2 the macedonian background andalexander’s life till his accession

professor Bob Milns aM, university of Queensland

when thursday 31 January

Professor Bob Milns AM looks at the growth ofMacedonia under King Philip II, Alexander’sfather, to ‘superpower’ status in the Balkans.He describes the relationship between Alexanderand his father and mother, Olympias, withother major influences on his development untilhis accession following Philip’s assassination in336 BC.

Scan this code to yourmobile device to find allmembers events

alexander the Great: theman, the myth, the mystery

enhance your experience of theAlexander the Great, 2000 yearsof treasures exhibition with thesefascinating lectures from leadingauthorities.

time 6.30–8 pm

CoSt SerieS (9 lectures) Members $160,non-Members $260

SinGle leCtureS Members $20, non-Members $30 (unless otherwise indicated)

visit our website for more information



Mediterranean world. Through the riches of theHermitage Collection, Professor Miller showshow ancient peoples learned from each other.

7 alexander the Great oralexander the lucky?

dr Chris Forbes, Macquarie university

when thursday 7 March

Alexander’s remarkable achievements createda cult of personality that has lasted to ourown time. But voices were soon to argue thatwhat rules humanity’s fate is no more or lessthan luck. Let Chris Forbes take you throughancient literature to decide on Alexander’sachievements: ability or luck?

8 imagining the divine alexander

dr Kenneth Sheedy, Macquarie university


Alexander seems not to have portrayedhimself as divine, though this did not stopcontemporary artists from suggesting suchqualities. But after his death, many portraitsappeared in which his divinity was recognised.Dr Kenneth Sheedy examines how this wasconstructed and how it was influenced bythe power struggles among his successors.

3 not so alone – alexander’snearest and dearest

dr elizabeth Baynham, university of newcastle

when thursday 7 February

Who were Alexander’s nearest and dearest?Elizabeth Baynham uncovers the charactersand careers of the men and women who werepersonally close to the Macedonian conqueror:his mother, powerful mother figures, his wivesand his male lovers and cherished friends.Discover the select few who enjoyed Alexander’sintimacy and love.

4 the evolution of hellenisticwarfare

dr Christopher Matthew, australian Catholicuniversity


The Hellenistic way of war was a trueinnovation, changing the face of warfare in theancient world forever. Christopher Matthewexamines how such a revolutionary form ofwarfare came into being, who created it, whatit involved and how this style of combat cameto dominate the eastern Mediterranean worldfor nearly 300 years.

5 alexander the Great in india(Pakistan and afghanistan)

professor paul McKechnie, Macquarie university


Discover Alexander’s great campaign taking inTaxila, the Hydaspes and Hyphasis rivers andhis journey down the Indus River to Patala(north-west of Hyderabad) where in 325 BChe turned west for the desert march back intoIran. Professor Paul McKechnie discusses eachphase of the campaign and Alexander’s lastingimpact on India.

6 east and west before, duringand after alexander

professor Margaret Miller, university of Sydney


Professor Miller discusses how Alexander’sconquest of the Persian Empire added a newchapter to what was already a long story offruitful exchange between West Asia and the

9 alexander in popular culture

dr Craig Barker, Sydney university


The exploits of Alexander the Great fascinatedand inspired the ancients. Positive or negative,god or demon, Alexander appears in the Bible,the Qu’ran and other ancient texts. He isdepicted in modern historical fiction novels,films, plays, television, literature – and museumexhibitions. Dr Craig Barker discusses why thepopularity and interest in Alexander has notdimmed in the modern world.

memBerS diSCount Code

Book your discounted members tickets toAlexander the Great: 2000 years of treasures atwww.alexandersydney.com.au and when promptedenter the code word ‘classical’.

more alexander!

these alexander-themed events provide just aglimpse of what’s to come, from public programsto school resources. Get the whole picture atwww.alexandersydney.com.au.



australian museum members Since 1972, Supporting AuStrAliA’S firSt muSeum

adventurouswalks

the transformation of rhodes

when Wednesday 3 october


booking phone 9320 6225 or

www.australianmuseum.net.au/Members

Split by rail and road, the Rhodes peninsulain Sydney had two faces: waterfront suburbiaon one side, industry on the other. Glimpsehistory and the future as Keith Robinsonshows how this inner western suburb is beingtransformed from polluted wasteland to high-density apartment living.

special events

Sleepover: a not-so-spookyhalloween

when Friday 26 october

cost Members: adults $140, children $110non-Members: $170 children, $130

ages 5–12 years

Calling all witches, wizards and ghost hunters!Join us for a special Halloween-inspiredsleepover at the Australian Museum. You willenjoy a very special pizza dinner, tour theMuseum by torchlight and collect your lollies,dabble in some Halloween-inspired craft,watch a DVD with friends and then catchsome ZZZs in Australia’s oldest museum!

Sleepover: heroes and heroinesof the ancient world

when Friday 1 February 2013

cost Members: adults $150 children$120,non-Members: adults $180 children $140,

ages 5–12 years

Are you are a hero or heroine like Alexanderthe Great? Come to the Museum for a specialpizza dinner, make a sword, tour the Museumby torchlight including the Alexander the Great:2000 years of treasures exhibition, watch a DVDwith friends and then catch some ZZZs inAustralia’s oldest museum!

left Spooky Museum. photo art by Cate lowe, originalphoto by Stuart humphreys.

an evening of indulgence withalexander: conquests, cuisineand culture

when thursday 29 november from 6.30 pm


Let Alexander beguile you with his charmson this truly fanciful evening. Come incostume and enjoy a welcome champagnecocktail, delicious Hellenistic canapés, adramatic re-enactment by ACU dramastudents and then, appetites sated and thirstfor knowledge whetted, allow yourself to beconsumed by the Museum’s latest exhibitionAlexander the Great: 2000 years of treasures.

right Statue of heracles feasting, roman copy of Greekoriginal from about 330 BCe. © the State hermitage,St petersburg.



SAVE THE DATE!WEDNESDAY 5 DECEMBER

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING NIGHT ATTHE MUSEUM SHOP

Members receive 20% discount on allpurchases between 5.30 and 8 pm.

Exclusive – Members only.

VOLUME

34NUMBER

2

Winter June to August 2012

discoverDIVING INTO DEEP OCEANS

cultureCONTAINERS OF MEMORIES FROM PNG

natureHIDE AND SEEK IN A WARMING CLIMATE

peopleSCOTT MITCHELL TALKS REPATRIATION

Connect with us online

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logon!

EXPLOREVolume 34, Number 3, ISSN 1833-752X

Explore, the news and events magazine of theAustralian Museum and Australian Museum Members,is published four times per year.

Copyright Unless otherwise credited, all text andimages appearing in Explore magazine are copyright© Australian Museum, 2012. Except as permitted underthe Copyright Act 1968, you may not reproduce or copyany part of this publication without the written permissionof the Australian Museum. Please contact the Editorfor further information.

Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Museum.

Editorial committeeBrendan Atkins (Editor)Cate Lowe (Photo Editor)Serena Todd (Members Executive Officer)Maxine Kauter (Research Branch)Christine Callen (Marketing Manager)

Design and layout Amanda Teer,Australian Museum Design StudioOriginal design template Stephen GoddardProduction Jenny HookerAdvertising Brendan Atkins 02 9320 6249Printing Finsbury Green

We welcome your feedback, comments and enquiries.Email the Editor at [email protected]

Frank Howarth’s photo by Carl Bento

Australian Museum6 College Street Sydney NSW 2010Open daily 9.30 am – 5 pm (closed 25 Dec)t 02 9320 6000 (switch)t 02 9320 6225 (Members)www.australianmuseum.net.au

President Catherine Livingstone AO

Director Frank Howarth PSM

Members Executive Officer Serena Todd

Environmental responsibilityExplore is produced using carbon-neutral processesunder an ISO 14001 environmental management system.It is printed on ecoStar, a carbon-neutral paper made from100% post-consumer recycled waste, using alcohol-free,vegetable-based inks made from renewable sources.

Behind the scenes –selecting 400 treasuresfor the Alexander the Greatexhibition. Story page 6.Styling by Amanda Teer.Photo by Stuart Humphreys.


MAKE A DIFFERENCE!The Australian Museum strives to inspire the explorationof nature and cultures.We would like to acknowledgethe benefactors and corporate partners who supportus in achieving this vision.

PRINCIPAL PARTNERSAustralian Museum MembersBJ Ball PapersCity of SydneyCharles Sturt University WineryEtihad AirwaysGeddes GroupIBMJCDecauxLizard Island Reef Research

FoundationNational Geographic ChannelRio TintoScitechSydney Grammar SchoolSydney’s ChildThe Sydney Morning Herald

GIFTS TO COLLECTIONSSteven and Janine AveryUrsula BurgoyneLouise and Sam DawsonRod and Robyn Dent in

honour of Pat Dent and theWanindilyaugwa tribe

Charles M ElliasJohn L GordonMark HanlonMrs J HollidayThe Late John HumeDr Leighton LlewellynMineralogical Society of

New South Wales Inc.George and Edna OakesJohn RankinPaul Scully-PowerTrevor ShearstonMuriel SnellProfessor Günther Theischinger

President’s CircleChristopher GrubbIan and Stephanie HardyBill and Alison HaywardJudy LeeDiccon LoxtonHelen MolesworthRob and Helen RichThe Sherman Foundation

Director’s ClubPatrick and Ailsa CrammondTim GoodmanDr John and Mary HoltJohn Lamble FoundationReid Family

GuardiansKathryn ChibaBelinda GibsonAnn HobanRichard and Jane MalcolmsonTempe Merewether OAMMabs MelvilleAlice Arnott Oppen OAM

John PearsonJohn and Christina StittVonwiller Foundation

CustodiansJames and Belinda AllenMr and Mrs KR BellAlan CameronPeter and Rose CassidyJohn and Angela ComptonDr Terry and Dianne FinneganTim FosterDan Howard SC and

Dr Rosemary HowardFrank Howarth PSM

James E Layt AMAJ LoewenthalMargaret MashfordRobert McDougallRoss McNairAdrian and Dairneen Pilton

Martin Pool and Stephanie MillerKeighley and Jenny QuistDavid RobbJane and Neville RowdenVera VargassoffTony White AM and Doffy White

SupportersAntoinette AlbertMichelle AtkinsonJane BeniacSir Ron BrierleyElizabeth CameronKen Coles AM and

Rowena Danziger AMPhillip CornwellDebra CoxJenny CrivelliJohn DickinsonHugh DixsonEstate of the late

Clarence E ChadwickEstate of the late Patricia M PorrittEstate of the late Merrill PyeEstate of the late

Gwendoline A WestJohn and Marilyn Evers on behalf

of the late Christine NeildDavid Greatorex AO and

Dee GreatorexOwen Griffiths & Biodiversity

Conservation Madagascar AssnKen Handley AO and Diana HandleyDr Ronnie HardingDr David and Sarah HowellGilles KrygerDame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE

David NormanBruce NortonAndrew PardoeAndrew and Julia RotheryRosemary SwiftSenta Taft-HendryJennifer Wright

AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM FOUNDATIONThese generous individualscontribute to scientific research,education and public programs,and assist in the acquisition ofitems that enrich the Museum’scollections. We would especiallylike to acknowledge those whogenerously leave a gift to theAustralian Museum in theirwill – a lasting way to benefitgenerations to come.

Find out how your support canmake a difference to the importantwork of the Australian Museum.Contact the Development Branchon 02 9320 6216 [email protected] to the AustralianMuseum and its Foundationare tax deductible.


Documents

discover - Australian Museum...discover ALEXANDER THE GREAT nature EDWARD LEAR DOWN UNDER people KEN COLES AND LIZARD ISLAND culture GAMELAN GETS A GONG J4548_MKT_Explore_343_Cover_FA.indd