Explore – Summer 2021/22

Explore SUMMER 2022

Australian Museum magazine

2021’s most breathtaking nature photographs

Unstoppable: the trailblazing work of the Australian Museum Research Institute

Explore ISSN 1833-752X Summer 2022

Explore, the news and events magazine of the Australian Museum and Australian Museum Members, is published biannually.

Copyright Unless otherwise credited, all text and images appearing in Explore are copyright © Australian Museum, 2021. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, you may not reproduce or copy any part of this publication without the written permission of the Australian Museum. Please contact the editor for further information.

Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Museum.

Editor Alice Gage Design Julie Stinson Production Jenny Hooker Printing Special T We welcome your feedback, comments and enquiries.

Email the editor at: alice.gage@australian.museum Australian Museum 1 William Street Sydney NSW 2010 Open daily 10am-5pm T 02 9320 6000 (switch) T 02 9320 6225 (Members) Australian Museum Trust President David Armstrong Director & CEO Kim McKay AO Environmental responsibility Explore is printed on Revive, a 100% recycled paper.

W australian.museum Cover image: A tree dreaming

by Christian Spencer, Victoria.

Image © Christian Spencer Right: Better Together by Charles Davis, New South Wales.

Image © Charles Davis Both images appear in the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, A South Australian Museum exhibition.

The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the Custodians of the land and waterways on which the Museum stands. We acknowledge Elders past and present.

The Australian Museum is principally funded by the NSW Government in association with Create NSW.

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Contents 4

What’s on

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Kim McKay AO

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Museum news

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Dr Jodi Rowley

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Jodie Dowd

Welcome

Croaked: The 2021 frog die-off New acquisition: Kimberley boab nut collection

18 New to science: Meet some of the Australian Museum Research Institute’s discoveries, 2020-21 Professor Kris Helgen

24 A moment in time: Q&A with Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition winner Scott Portelli 26

Ancient fossils from Australia’s Red Centre Dr Patrick Smith

29 New acquisition: The Michael Abbott Bali Collection Stan Florek

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The Climate Cure: The inaugural Talbot Oration

Professor Tim Flannery

39 New acquisition: The Bill Sherwin Frozen Tissue Collection Dr Mark Eldridge and Dr Sandy Ingleby

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Fran Dorey, Acting Manager, Exhibitions

My Museum

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Great philanthropists

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Around the Museum

What’s on Exhibitions

Special events Unsettled exhibition tours Go deeper into the Unsettled exhibition with a tour led by a First Nations guide.

Every Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday Until 27 January 10.30am, 12pm, 1.30pm Summer school holidays Spark your curiosity and unleash your creativity at the AM these school holidays. Discover science and culture through a diverse program of interactive workshops for kids aged 5 to 16 years.

10 – 23 January Breakfast with a curator Join Dr Mariko Smith, one of the curators of Unsettled, for an intimate breakfast and an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at this groundbreaking exhibition.

Unsettled — Best Exhibition in NSW, 2021 IMAGinE Awards This land was not peacefully settled — Unsettled uncovers the untold histories behind this nation’s foundation story. In this powerful exhibition, First Nations voices reveal the hidden stories of survival and the fight for recognition, illuminating the power of truth- telling to realise change.

The 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, a South Australian Museum Exhibition Immerse yourself in the beauty of the natural world in this stunning photographic exhibition created by the South Australian Museum, with more than 100 sensational photos on display.

Witness unique flora, wildlife with attitude and incredible landscapes from our own backyard and the world around us.

Until 27 January, free entry

Until 30 January, free entry

Healing through weaving Learn weaving and string-making techniques and their cultural significance with Ngiyampaa Elder Aunty Daniella Chedzey in this early morning healing workshop.

26 January, 8 – 10am Ngalu Warrawi Marri (We stand strong) Celebrate continued resistance and ongoing resilience in this special after-hours event featuring an exciting lineup of First Nations artists and activists.

27 January, 5.30 – 9pm Early birds: Autism and sensory-friendly mornings A reduced sensory environment for visitors on the autism spectrum or those with other access requirements.

Dinosaurs Level 2 Get up-close to a life-size model of Tyrannosaurus rex and see the AM’s incredible opalised fossil collection.

Surviving Australia Level 2 Explore the secrets of Australia’s weird and wonderful wildlife including some of the giant prehistoric creatures that once roamed earth.

Changing Climate Level 2 (located in Surviving Australia) Understand the causes and impacts of our most urgent challenge and discover solutions to turning it around.

15 January, 8 – 10am

Museum highlights

Prehistoric Playground Level 2 Jump back to the Age of Dinosaurs in this creative play and investigative space.

Winhangadurinya: Aboriginal meditation Refresh your spirit in this authentic introduction to First Nations culture.

First Nations Galleries Level UG Witness the history and diversity of the world’s oldest living cultures.

Billabong Waterhole Level 2 Recharge and refuel at our family- friendly café.

Wild Planet Level UG Discover all sorts of amazing animal species from across the planet.

No. 1 William Level 4 Experience panoramic views across Hyde Park, Sydney Harbour and Kings Cross at the Australian Museum’s rooftop restaurant.

22, 23, 26, 29 & 30 January 10.30am – 1pm, 2 – 4.30pm Unsettled film series Experience three films that reveal stories of First Nations peoples that have been largely absent from Australia’s foundation narrative.

26 January, 10.30am – 4.30pm

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12 February, 8 – 10am

200 Treasures of the Australian Museum Level G & Level 1 Explore some of the astounding objects, specimens and national treasures of the Australian Museum Collection.

For more information on what’s happening at the AM visit australian.museum

Welcome

Sydney’s hub of science and cultural leadership As our nation’s first natural history museum and the second oldest science institution in Australia, it is fitting that much of this issue of Explore focuses on the research and conservation efforts of the scientists and experts at the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI).

Kim McKay AO Director & CEO

Despite the challenges of the last 18 months, the work of our scientists has forged ahead — in the last financial year, AMRI described a record-breaking 218 new species and our staff and honoraries produced 255 publications. That is a huge achievement representing over 25% of all natural history museums’ output in Australia. The work also has global significance, with the conservation of wildlife during a time of drastic climate shifts, at the heart of what we do.

Now that we are once again welcoming visitors back into our award-winning Museum, exhibitions will play an important role in communicating our science and engaging the community in First Nations cultures. As part of our commitment to cultural leadership, the groundbreaking Unsettled exhibition has been extended until the end of January 2022, giving more visitors the chance to see this powerful exhibition, which recently won Best Exhibition in NSW at the 2021 IMAGinE Awards. The spectacular 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition is in Hintze Hall until 30 January 2022, provoking us to better understand the changing nature of our environment. And there is much to come: the AM’s homegrown blockbuster Sharks is scheduled to premiere at the AM in summer 2022, and the international blockbuster Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs is scheduled to open at the end of 2023.

It’s my privilege to continue as Chair of the Museums and History Artform Advisory Board, contributing to the direction and priorities of the NSW Government’s investment in the arts and cultural sector. As trusted sources in the community, museums and cultural institutions are more important now than ever, providing lifelong learning opportunities and inspiration for curious minds of all ages.

It’s also great to see our state opening back up and we’re thrilled to welcome you into our treasured space, offering the transformed museum as a place for decompression, socialisation and an opportunity to expand our understanding of the world around us.

I hope the stories of science and culture in this issue provide you with inspiration and I look forward to seeing you at the AM soon.

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News

Coming soon: Burra Learning Place When the Australian Museum First Nations team was tasked with creating a new education space that would represent Pacific, south-east First Nations and Western ways of knowing, local First Nations custodians kept returning to one animal teacher: Burra, the Eel. Eels are born in the warm Pacific waters of the Coral Sea before swimming thousands of kilometres and across the East Australian Current to the Gadigal Coast and other eastern First Nations. Entering Estuaries and Rivers, the young Eels travel inland — including throughout the Sydney Basin — where they live and grow for up to 50 years. The mature Eels then return to the Coast to journey across the Ocean back to the Pacific to breed before dying.

In Burra Learning Place — opening in July 2022 — visitors are invited to join a mob of Eels as they make their amazing journey, meeting 6

different animal teachers along the way. Replacing Search & Discover on Level 2, Burra Learning Place will feature two multi-purpose teaching spaces and several versatile programming areas, an immersive theatre, custom-made touchable First Nations tools, sensory walls and dioramas showcasing the work of the Australian Museum Research Institute, and a range of multi-modal, accessible interactives.

The space will offer a ‘many-ways’ experience where First Nations and Western knowledge systems are brought together in layers of learning, breaking down the view that they are at odds with each other. School groups, children and adults will have opportunities to engage with different ways of knowing within each topic, providing a rich, multi- dimensional learning experience.

Above, left and right: Designs for the areas inside Burra Learning Place, opening July 2022 EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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News

The faces of mummies

In 332BCE, as Alexander the Great was conquering the Persian rulers of Egypt and the Great Pyramids were young at just 2000 years old, Egyptian mourners were continuing the centuries-old funerary practices that they believed were essential for the dead to attain immortality. Bodies were mummified and wrapped in linen bandages. Before being placed in wooden coffins or sarcophagi, masks and coverings made of cartonnage — an ancient form of papier- mâché involving layers of linen or papyrus bound together with a glue-like mixture called gesso — were also being used to decorate and assist in preserving the body.

The Australian Museum is fortunate to have four examples of these coverings in the collection.

Two belong to the same mummy, dating back to the Ptolemaic period between 332-30BCE. The other two are masks from separate mummies which date to around 30CE. Acquired in 1910 and 1912, the objects are incredibly special; adorned with images of icons and symbols, gods, depictions of people 8

and fashion, and importantly, an idealised image of the deceased. They are vital to understanding the funerary practices of the day and the belief systems of this society.

The Australian Museum Foundation has provided funding for the AM’s Collection Care and Conservation team to do intensive research and conservation treatments on the objects involving radiocarbon dating to establish dates of origin, and the stabilisation of any major tears or holes.

Once completed, the objects will go on display in the AM’s future permanent Egyptian exhibition.

Above: Front of cartonnage mask from Abydos in Upper Egypt. Attributed to the Ptolemaic period (332-30BCE). Acquired in 1912 via the Egypt Exploration Fund. Photo by Melissa Holt Inset: The inside of the cartonnage mask from Sedment.

Photos by Melissa Holt.

Hunting for hidden treasure in Sydney Harbour Curious what animals lurk around the submerged walls of the Sydney Opera House, cling to the pylons beneath ferry wharves, or flit around your ankles at harbour pools?

A new genetic tool may provide the answer.

With more than 240km of shoreline including beaches, bays, ports, seawalls and mangroves, Sydney Harbour is globally recognised as a biodiversity hotspot.

But the delicate balance of its ecosystem is under constant threat from human activity, invasive species and city animals.

That’s where the AM’s Ichthyology team comes in, with a powerful new tool in our arsenal — Environmental DNA (eDNA). eDNA works like this: when fish swim through the water they shed tissue, cells, secretions and excreta. By analysing the DNA present in the water, we can see which species have passed through it. This emerging technology provides a fast and inexpensive way to census the fishes in our beloved harbour, as well as any organisms they depend on — crabs, corals, sponges and algae.

The AM Ichthyology team has been busy sampling and filtering seawater at 59 locations, ranging from the Gladesville Bridge in the inner west to Watsons Bay in the east. Most of these seawater samples

are skimmed from the surface, but our scientists have gone “digging” as deep as 45m to the harbour floor near Blues Point, in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is the first time this kind of research has been conducted in the harbour. The Australian Museum is best positioned to do the work because of our vast collections of animals from the waterway that date back to the 1870s.

Our thousands of specimens of fishes, polychaetes, crustaceans and molluscs can be compared to the DNA we find in the harbour, helping us identify species, or the opposite — see which ones are no longer present.

Though this project is in its infancy, the AM aims to provide a roadmap for future cost-effective environmental monitoring in Sydney Harbour in the face of changing climates and urban impacts.

Below: AM scientists collecting eDNA in Sydney Harbour, 2019. Photo by Dr Joseph DiBattista

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News

All hands on deck to discover secrets of the deep In July 2021, a team of scientists from Australian museums and universities embarked on an expedition aboard the CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator, led by Chief Scientist, Tim O’Hara, from Museums Victoria.

sea stars, blood-red crustaceans, beautiful jellyfish, deep-sea worms and alien-like fish. Importantly, the scientists were able to collect environmental DNA and map the ocean floor for the seven seamounts around Christmas Island.

The voyage set out to characterise the biodiversity of underwater mountains, known as seamounts, 100 to 5000m below the waves in Australia’s Indian Ocean Territories, for the first time. Expeditions like this not only survey completely unknown habitats (specifically, these deep seamounts) but also provide specimens that scientists can identify and describe — including some species that are new to science.

The marine invertebrate specimens collected on the voyage are now being assessed at the Australian Museum by collection managers Dr Steve Keable, Marine Invertebrates, and Dr Mandy Reid, Malacology, and our scientists are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to start studying these fascinating deep-sea creatures. Watch this space — we hope the RV Investigator will return to the Indian Ocean in 2022 for part two of the voyage.

The RV Investigator departed Darwin on 30 June 2021 with a research team that included five AMRI scientists: Dr Frank Koehler, Dr Elena Kupriyanova, Dr Ingo Burghardt, Alice Yan and Claire Rowe.

Unfortunately, the voyage was cut short, but despite this, our scientists’ quest for deep-sea critters did not disappoint. They collected, sorted, preserved and tentatively identified a diverse range of marine life, including bizarrely shaped sea cucumbers, huge

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This research was supported by a grant of sea time on RV Investigator from the CSIRO Marine National Facility.

Below: RV Investigator docked at Hobart, November 2018. Photo by Ingo Berghardt

Celebrating ten years of DigiVol

Ten years ago, Dave Britton, Collection Manager of Entomology, removed a drawer full of cicadas from a vast cabinet of insects hidden away in a room below the Museum’s public exhibition halls. The drawer was handed to a team of excited volunteers; this was their first opportunity to put their skills to the test and get a glimpse of collections not accessible to the public.

Their task was to delicately remove each specimen from the drawer, along with its label, and take a photograph. This data would then be transcribed by online volunteers using a brand new, custom-built, crowdsourcing website.

This was the beginning of the successful collaboration between the Australian Museum and the Atlas of Living Australia, and the birth of

DigiVol is now used by institutions around the world as a way of combining the efforts of many volunteers to digitise their data. In the past decade, DigiVol lab volunteers have contributed 60,000 hours to create 682,000 digital records. The DigiVol online community has completed more than eight million transcriptions, and contributed more than 140,000 hours in the past two years alone. The Australian Museum congratulates our DigiVol volunteers and staff led by Paul Flemons on the remarkable achievements of this globally- recognised project, which has been adopted by over 70 other institutions around the world.

the crowdsourcing citizen science project known as DigiVol. Invaluable information is stored within natural history museum specimens and objects, on their

Above: DigiVol volunteers imaging specimens in the DigiVol lab at the Australian Museum.

Photo by Abram Powell

labels and in their archival records. Prior to digitisation this information was accessible only to researchers who could visit the collections' physical location. By creating a digital record of each item, the AM is providing access to a global audience.

Find out how you can get involved by going to www.australian.museum/get-involved/citizen-science

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Best museum exhibition 2021 IMAGinE Awards

Exhibition open until 27 January

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Unsettled exhibition tours Add to your Unsettled experience through a tour with our knowledgeable First Nations guides, as they illuminate the meaning of key exhibition objects and offer a deeper understanding of how we can reconcile this nation.

Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday until 27 January 10.30am, 12pm, 1.30pm

Book now australian.museum/event/ unsettled-exhibition-tours

Photo by Anna Kučera

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Investigation

CROAKED The 2021 frog die-off

Dr Jodi Rowley Curator of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Biology at the Australian Museum and UNSW 14

“

F rom bright green they started changing to fawn then brown, losing condition as time passed.

One of my favourites became dark brown and skeletal on dying. ”

The first reports of dead frogs came through in June. Posts of dead Green Tree Frogs (Litoria caerulea) began showing up in my Facebook feed.

Rather than the plump, bright green frogs we all know and love, they were thin and strangely reddish-brown in colour.

While upsetting, I wasn’t immediately alarmed. As all things, frogs die, and sick or old frogs often die at the onset of winter.

But the reports of dead and dying frogs didn’t stop, and I began getting calls and emails from concerned people all over eastern Australia. This wasn’t normal.

Something serious was going on.

Not being able to travel due to COVID-19 restrictions, I started reaching out to the public via the media to report sick and dead frogs. It was the only way I could hope to figure out what was happening, and why.

After an article I wrote with Dr Karrie Rose from Taronga’s Australian Registry of Wildlife Health appeared in The Conversation, the reports came flooding in. Throughout July, August, September and October, I received email after email from concerned citizens, sharing photographs and telling me of sick and dead frogs. Their descriptions were heartbreaking. “I’ve always had around 30 frogs come each night during summer and now they’re all dead,” one person wrote.

Another told me, “I have found dead frogs on my verandah as well as in my house, inside cupboards and on my sink... It is so sad to see them sick and dying.”

Left: Deceased frog, 2021.

Photo by Dr Jodi Rowley

One person described how the frogs lost their vivid colour: “From bright green they started changing to fawn then brown, losing condition as time passed. One of my favourites became dark brown and skeletal on dying.” It was larger in scale and more worrying than I ever suspected.

As I write this, we’ve received almost 1500 reports of sick and dead frogs across Australia, concentrated on the east coast of New South Wales. Most reports are of our beloved Green Tree Frog, a relatively large species that commonly lives in and around us, but there have been over 30 different native frog species reported dead and dying, including threatened species such as Green and Golden Bell Frogs (Litoria aurea) and Giant Barred Frogs (Mixophyes iteratus).

We urgently need to understand why frogs are dying and what this mortality event’s wider impact will be.

With dozens of Australia’s frog species already on the brink of extinction, this could tip many frog populations over the edge. Frogs are a vital part of healthy ecosystems, and any impacts on frog populations will have ripple effects throughout entire ecosystems.

The most likely cause is a disease called chytridiomycosis, caused by the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis).

This disease infects the skin of frogs and for the last 40 years or so, it’s been responsible for declines and extinctions in many Australian frog species. But if it is this disease, why is it causing so much

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Left: Dr Jodi Rowley and the Herpetology team studying donated specimens in the AMRI labs at the Australian Museum.

Photo by Thomas Parkin

havoc now, when it’s been around for decades? Could frogs be stressed by environmental conditions such as drought and bushfires? Is it another disease, toxins, or a combination of many things?

Thanks to the help of hundreds of people across Australia, we have been working to obtain the samples we need in order to get to the bottom of this.

It’s been people-power to the rescue, with sick frogs being taken to collaborating vets and dead frogs stored in freezers across NSW. At the Australian Museum, we are already testing the samples that we have received and are gathering vital clues. With colleagues in government and conservation organisations across Australia, we are working desperately to get a clearer picture and form conservation recommendations.

You can help Report sick or dead frogs by emailing location and photos to calls@frogid.net.au Record calling frogs with the free FrogID app Download at www.frogid.net.au

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As temperatures rise and travel restrictions ease, we will begin assessing the impact of this event on our frog populations in the wild, conducting surveys of frogs across eastern Australia, assessing their health. We will also be examining data submitted via FrogID to understand the impact on a broad scale. This winter has been an incredibly sad time for our already imperilled frogs, but there is hope. This awful event has proven that people care about Australia’s frogs and are willing to come together to solve a frog murder mystery on a grand scale. Working together, we will achieve an understanding of the cause and impact of this event, and what we need to do to save our frogs.

New acquisition

The

Kimberley Boab Nut Collection Jodie Dowd, Noongar First Nations Collections Officer

Similar to the carving and painting of emu eggs in southeast Australia, the visual cultural knowledge etched and painted onto boab nuts documents the practices, life events and stories of the people of the Kimberley region, Western Australia.

Boab nuts are highly significant to First Nations communities as they are utilised not only as a source of food and medicine but also as a way to pass on cultural knowledge. They also generate income through their sale to tourists, and relationships are developed by the gifting of boab nuts.

In early 2021, the Australian Museum accepted the donation of an extensive and nationally significant collection of 265 carved and painted boab nuts specific to the Kimberley. The donor purchased the boab nuts directly from prominent Aboriginal artists and Aboriginal Art Centres across the Kimberley including Derby, Broome, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Kununurra and Wyndham.

In this collection more than 80 artists are represented, featuring senior Elders, knowledge holders, award- winning artists and emerging carvers and youth, including John Whera, Ashley Oobagooma, Petrina Bedford and Marion Cox. Marion Cox is a highly respected, senior Gooniyandi artist and knowledge holder from Yiyili Community, located 110km west of Halls Creek. On her painted boab nut about the bush plum (pictured), Marion shares her cultural knowledge of Country, bush food and medicines.

This collection is a testament to First Nations small enterprise and the dynamism of Aboriginal culture. It also promotes and guides the practice of future generations of Aboriginal carvers from the Kimberley.

Above: Bush plum by Marion Cox (Gooniyandi).

Australian Museum Collection, acquired 2021.

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Photo gallery

New to science Meet some of the Australian Museum Research Institute’s discoveries, 2020-21 Professor Kris Helgen, Chief Scientist and Director of AMRI

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Despite the challenges the world has faced in the last two years, research has continued at the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI). AMRI explores the biodiversity of our backyards and beyond, identifies pests, and uses molecular techniques (DNA) to solve wildlife forensic mysteries and understand the origins of Australia’s unique fauna. And on top of this work, we discover new species! In fact, in the last financial year, 218 new species were described by AMRI scientists, senior fellows and associates.

So, how is a species “discovered” and where does the AM come in? The Museum holds huge reference collections of specimens and objects, aggregated since its inception over 190 years ago. Like library books, scientists can study, borrow and return the specimens, and by doing this, they can identify different species. Some new species are discovered in the field, where DNA samples confirm them as a species previously unknown to science. Other new species are identified in our own collections, where a specimen described in the past is found to be something else entirely.

This research has significant implications for conservation. The recognition of new species encourages a greater focus on protecting habitats and supporting biodiversity. It also demonstrates that we have not yet identified all of the unique species that occur in Australia and globally. Since many species in Australasia occur nowhere else, AMRI’s ongoing research is vital to their identification and protection.

Red Wide-bodied Pipefish (Stigmatopora harastii) Australia’s newest endemic fish species was found hiding in plain sight at a popular Sydney dive spot at Kurnell, Botany Bay, ingeniously camouflaged to blend in to the red finger sponges and algae it calls home. It was discovered using a combination of DNA analysis, morphological characteristics and colour patterns, which showed it and its closest cousin, the Widebody Pipefish, arose from a common ancestor 12.2 million years ago.

Photo by Andrew Trevor-Jones EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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Photo gallery

Cambodian Fanged Frog (Limnonectes fastigatus) From the biodiverse forests of northeastern Cambodia comes a remarkable beast newly identified

by AM scientist Dr Jodi Rowley and Dr Bryan Stuart from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, USA, with colleagues from Cambodia and the James Madison University (USA). The males of the species have a particularly large, muscular head and sport “fangs” (actually projections of their jaw bone) used to battle it out with each other for the best stream territory.

Photo by Dr Jodi Rowley

Fifty-five abyssal worms Little has been known of the inhabitants of the abyssal ocean depths (3000 to 6000 metres) running the length of eastern Australia — until now.

The 2017 expedition of CSIRO’s RV Investigator collected 25,710 organisms from Tasmania to southern Queensland, from up to 4000m deep. Our research has identified at least 214 species of worm, 55 of which are new to science and are waiting to be described.

Images by Jinghuai Zhang and Dr Laetitia Gunton

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Butterfly Bobtail Squid (Iridoteuthis merlini) While studying some squid type specimens described in 1959, the AM’s Dr Mandy Reid found that they were muddled — they comprised not only two species, but also represented two different genera: Iridoteuthis and Stoloteuthis. One of these was an undescribed species that has been named for one of our former Trustees, Merlin Crossley, a very bright spark, as is this squid. It stores phosphorescent bacteria in a special ‘light organ’ that it can switch on and off.

Photo by Karen Gowlett-Holmes © CSIRO

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Popa Langur (Trachypithecus popa) Discovered in Myanmar after years of extensive study and analysis of museum specimens, the discovery of the Popa Langur was the product of an international collaboration led in part by Australian Museum Chief Scientist, Professor Kristofer Helgen. There are only an estimated 200-250 animals of the new species. Throughout its range the langur is threatened by habitat loss and hunting, and therefore the research team has recommended that the new species be immediately classified as critically endangered.

Photo © Thaung Win

A rare Tasmanian trilobite (Gravicalymene bakeri) Found in the shales of the Gordon Group, Northern Tasmania, the trilobite is dated from the Late Ordovician period, approximately 450 million years ago. During this time, Australia was part of the great landmass Gondwana, when complex marine ecosystems were starting to develop. It was described by the AM’s Dr Patrick Smith and Dr Malte Ebach (UNSW), and in a nod to time travel, its new name is a reference to the actor Tom Baker, aka Doctor Who. Image by Dr Patrick Smith 22

1 cm

Holt’s Long-eared Bat (Nyctophilus holtorum) Scientific discovery rarely unfolds in a straight line.

After a recent survey of the vertebrates of Coolah Tops in central NSW, scientists used samples from other long-eared bats in the AM collection, acquired decades ago from across Australia, to compare DNA. The analysis showed that individuals from Western Australia, previously thought to also be Gould’s Longeared Bat, were genetically distinct and represented an entirely separate species.

Photo © Terry Reardon

The Yunnan Woolly Flying Squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus) Discovered high in the Himalayan Mountains of China in 2021 by an international team of researchers led by AM Chief Scientist Professor Kristofer Helgen and Research Associate Dr Stephen Jackson, this beautiful squirrel is more than a 1m long, weighs 2.5kg, and spends its life gliding through mountain forests.

Photo by Quan Li

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Exhibition

A moment in time

In March 2020, beneath the waves of St Vincent Gulf — an inlet of the Great Australian Bight that laps at the shores of the Fleurieu Peninsula — a 30cm Leafy Seadragon was becoming accustomed to the presence of a stranger from a different world. The stranger, in diving gear and carrying a large, spider-like contraption, was renowned nature photographer Scott Portelli.

He visited regularly to observe the seadragon, as is his practice, and the picture he eventually took became the winning photograph of the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition.

Nature photography is not only an exercise in showcasing the beauty and diversity of our ecosystems. It also serves as a kind of citizen science, whereby photographers create a data point every time they capture an animal: that seadragon displaying those behaviours in this location on that date, is a record that becomes part of the archived body of knowledge about that species.

“The images that appear in the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition represent people's efforts to go out and capture the nuances of nature. We encourage it, because the records that are documented are important to science,” says Professor Kris Helgen, Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute.

Meet Scott Portelli, overall winner of the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition.

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Visit the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, a South Australian Museum exhibition until 30 January

Explore asked Scott to give us an insight into his winning photograph and his process.

What makes this image special for you?

The timing, composition and position of the subject all aligned, and the resulting image is better than I had expected. I think it gives a beautiful representation of this amazing, intricate creature and really shows its character.

What do you need to know about your animal subjects before taking photos?

Understanding behaviour is the key to producing successful images that can really show your audience the essence of a subject. I often spend more time observing the subjects than I do photographing them, to learn how to approach in a non-threatening way, which leads to a calmer interaction.

What inspires you about wildlife photography?

I am inspired by nature, its ability to adapt and evolve to its surroundings and to create symbiotic relationships between species. The more you spend time with wildlife, the more you understand their fragility and challenges they face everyday. I am inspired when I see a behaviour that has not been documented before — it is truly a privilege. I always hope that an image stands out enough to get people to connect with nature and wanting to learn more about protecting it.

What are the most important skills a wildlife photographer needs?

Patience, persistence, endurance and a sense of calm are all great qualities to have. The technical aspects become second nature with time, but being respectful and learning from others will help make you a better photographer.

Far left and above right: Scott Portelli in the field. Photo © Scott Portelli.

Left: Scott Portelli’s winning shot, Leafy Night, of a Leafy Seadragon (Phycodurus eques). Photo © Scott Portelli/SA Museum EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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Expedition

Ancient fossils from Australia’s Red Centre Dr Patrick Smith Technical Officer, Palaeontology Collection

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When we think of the Outback, we’re probably not imagining tropical reefs, a frozen wasteland, or giant wombats and crocodiles roaming the savannahs near Uluru. And yet that’s exactly the world I walked into on a recent expedition to the Red Centre, where I found a treasure trove of newly discovered fossils spanning more than 600 million years of Earth’s history.

The core of Australia isn’t static — it’s changed considerably since the dawn of animal life and continues to do so.

My first glimpse of this was in the eastern MacDonnell Ranges, in the highly folded rocks of N’Dhala Gorge, 64km east of Alice Springs. Walking along the rivers snaking through this area is like travelling in a reverse time machine. The further towards the centre of the ranges you go, the younger the rocks become.

The oldest rocks at the entrance to the gorge date from the Ediacaran Period (555 million years ago). These tell the story of an entirely different Australia to the one we know today. The western and central portions of the continent were embedded in Gondwana. The eastern states of Australia had not yet fully formed. At the edge of the continent (which ran up modern South Australia and Northern Territory) was a shallow sea where primitive jellyfish- like animals thrived. I could see their remains preserved on the surface of the rocks, typically as strange discs and indentations. Alongside their impressions were odd horizonal tubes through the sedimentary rock. These are traces of the first worms, burrowing through the mud looking for food.

Moving deeper into the ranges, I was travelling forward in geological time.

Suddenly the impressions were joined by other recognisable features. These included the cross-sections of sponge skeletons, as well as more familiar marine shells.

Particularly abundant were the crustaceanlike trilobites; strange woodlouse-like animals that inhabited the world’s oceans before the dinosaurs. The trilobites I found came from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods (541– 444 million years ago). It was during this time the margins of the continent were compressed as the Australian tectonic plate pushed up against the Proto-Pacific plate. This caused central Australia to be lifted above sea level and slowly drain. However, it wouldn’t be until the succeeding Silurian and Devonian periods (444–359 million years ago) that the sea would completely disappear. It was initially replaced by freshwater rivers and lakes containing strange bony fish. Fragments of their armour plating could be seen in the very centre of the ranges, and resemble fossils found in south-eastern New South Wales. This is no coincidence as eastern Australia had started forming and was now also draining into the Proto- Pacific.

Towards the end of the Devonian Period

Left: Dr Patrick Smith standing atop fossilised Early Cambrian (520 million year old) stromatolites at Ross River Gorge. Photo by Dr Patrick Smith Above: The fossilised head from the Late Cambrian (486 million year old) trilobite species Pacootasaukia jokliki (Shergold, 1991).

Photo by Dr Patrick Smith

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Left: Dr Patrick Smith leads a group of fossil hunters to an early Miocene (20 million year old) site similar to Alcoota. Supplied Below: Impressions of Ediacaran (550 million year old) animal traces, assigned to the genus Horodyskia (also called the “string of beads”). Supplied

the compression became so great that it completely dried out central Australia and pushed up the spectacular MacDonnell Ranges. The continent drifted towards the South Pole, and ice covered large parts of the land, so I never found any fossils from the subsequent Mesozoic Era (the so- called Age of the Dinosaurs, 252–65 million years ago).

Before the end of my journey, I went further north to a cattle station called Alcoota. Here, a fossilised series of lakes preserved the remains of animal life from the late Miocene Epoch (8 million years ago). These deposits developed as the continent began to sag when the Pacific and Antarctic tectonic plates had pulled away from Australia, relieving the compressional forces. The bones of the marsupials found at this site suggest that Australia had drifted away from the polar region at the end of the Mesozoic. It split off from Gondwana and started to look more like the island we recognise today.

The central part of Australia still wasn’t a desert, however, and would have looked more like the modern Serengeti. A highly complex ecosystem of marsupials, birds and reptiles existed. The largest predator was a 6m-long crocodile from the genus Baru, that would have fed on dirprotodontids, a family of rhino-sized wombats. All these have subsequently disappeared as Australia has marched slowly northwards and become more arid.

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The first European explorers thought Australia was a young country, created as a separate “new creation”. However, the fossil remains found on my journey prove this is untrue. In fact, they demonstrate that life in Australia is remarkably old.

Central Australia alone has changed enormously over time. Going from being a tropical inland sea, a series of freshwater inland rivers, a frozen wasteland, a biodiverse grassland, and finally a red desert. Who knows what the next 550 million years holds for central Australia, and what stories its fossils will share?

New aquisition

Recently, the Australian Museum received a generous gift of nearly 300 Balinese and Javanese textiles, masks, paintings and wood carvings from Michael Abbott AO QC, an accomplished South Australian lawyer and connoisseur of Southeast Asian, Chinese and Indian cultures. In Indonesia, Abbott, who is fluent in Bahasa (an Indonesian language), formed friendships that gave him a unique insight into the traditions and practices of the region. With this refined understanding, Abbott collected exquisite and rare older pieces (some that originated in the 19th century), de- commissioned paintings and figures, ceremonial accessories, masks and textiles.

Among them is a temple offering box with a statue of Dewi Sri, goddess of rice and fertility, on the cosmic turtle Bedawang Nala, who carries the world on her back; two palm leaf manuscripts (lontar) composed in Balinese script; several paintings on wooden panels depicting iconic episodes from Hindu mythology; and two sets of very old, intricately carved doors from Nusa Penida, a small island south of Bali, that belong to the Klungkung Regency. Collectively, they provide a good selection of stylistic examples of this earlier period.

The

Michael Abbott Bali Collection Stan Florek Collection Officer, World Cultures, Archives & Library collections

The AM Balinese Collection is greatly enhanced by this significant addition, which now numbers around 1200 objects. Abbott’s contribution provides a rich cultural context to our world class collection of Balinese ‘classical’ Kamasan paintings — since the numerous iconic characters, deities, humans, animals and mythical beings span all aspects of ceremonial practices in narrative, dance, music, theatre and life cycle rituals. It helps the Museum stand among the major contributors to the international effort of preserving, documenting and promoting the alluring Balinese cultural heritage, and will enrich and inform the work of visitors, students, artists, scholars and Balinese communities in Australia.

Expenses associated with this donation were funded by a grant from the Patricia Porritt Collection Acquisition Fund and the Australian Museum Foundation.

Left: Wooden statue of a woman and a sacred naga, from Bali, Indonesia. Acquired 2021 EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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Essay

Tim Flannery

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Excerpt of a speech by Professor Tim Flannery, Distinguised Fellow in Climate Change at the AM. The Talbot Oration was delivered on 3 June, 2021.

At the inaugural oration in honour of revered former AM Director Frank Talbot AM, Professor Tim Flannery suggests that the “cure” for climate change is at hand — all we need is leadership and a willingness to embrace the science.

Tonight, what I want to talk about is the leadership that's required to start dealing with this emerging disaster of climate change. I really want to focus on solutions because the solutions are where the power lies to inspire young people, to change government, to get industry working. But in order to do that we really need to know where we are right now, and sadly we are not in a great place.

In this year of 2021, we are at a fork in the road, and that's because carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have now reached a level of about 418 parts per million. The global average temperature as a result of that is now at about 1.2ºC above the preindustrial average, and across Australia the average surface temperature has risen to nearly 1.5ºC above the preindustrial average already.

Now, you remember the scientists informing the politicians at the 2015 Paris climate change conference that 1.5ºC is where we should be heading. Well, we are there already in Australia and there is no sign that the pollution stream we are producing is beginning to significantly abate, at least as yet.

The problem has grown rapidly in recent years. I was made Australian of the Year in 2007, in part because of my contribution to raising awareness about the climate issue. But since 2007, globally we've produced about a third of all of the CO₂, the greenhouse gas emissions, that we've ever produced as a species. It's horrific the way that the problem just keeps on getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Left: Firefighting at Fingal, Tasmania in 2020.

Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash

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Where we are now And so now, we are at that fork in the road where we must turn things around.

We've now been well and truly warned by nature about what is in store if we don't do that. The namesake of this lecture, marine biologist and former Australian Museum Director Frank Talbot, knows probably better than anyone what the Great Barrier Reef was like before bleaching. I was lucky enough to do my first dive on the reef in 1972, four years before the first bleaching event, and I still hold that memory. It's a very precious thing. I know that my children will never see that and I'll never see it again because the Reef today is about 70% or more dead as a result of repeated bleaching episodes. And the scientists tell us that if we get to 1.5ºC above the preindustrial average as a global average temperature, the Reef is going to be mostly dead.

And if we go up to 2ºC it will be 99.8% dead.

So we know that there is a lot at stake.

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In the last three years we've seen unbelievable megafires devastating this country. It's easy to forget how bad things were during those fires. And when I talk to our firefighters, people who have spent their entire life fighting fires in Australia, they will tell you in incredible detail about how the behaviour of fires have changed as the country has gotten drier and conditions have got hotter. In the Black Summer of 2020, we saw 21% of the temperate broadleaf forests of the nation go up in flames. The biggest area burnt before that in any fire season was 2%.

This is a quantum leap, a tipping point in the climate system. Fire in Australia has now changed, it has become something very different to what it was before.

We know a lot about what is happening.

Opposite top: Professor Tim Flannery speaking at the inaugural Talbot Oration, 2021. Photo by Anna Kučera Opposite bottom: Bleached coral near Lizard Island Great Barrier Reef. Photo by Dr Lyle Vail Above: A kangaroo and her joey who survived the forest fires in Mallacoota, 2020. Photo by Jo- A nne McArthur on Unsplash

About the Talbot Oration Named in honour of former Australian Museum Director Professor Frank Talbot, this annual oration celebrates his commitment to, and achievements in marine research and environmental studies in Australia and on the global stage.

The Talbot Oration showcases advances in the field of climate change research and environmental conservation, enabling the public to better understand how responses to the climate challenge determine our future prospects, health, and the sustainability of our natural environment.

Left: Frank Talbot holds a specimen of the Red Bass (Lutjanus bohar), a species that he studied on the Great Barrier Reef. Photo by Stuart Humphreys EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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Now is the time for action

Below: Visitors at the AM exhibition, Spark: Australian innovations tackling climate change.

Photo by Anna Kučera

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We are getting to the point where unless we can cut emissions now, hard and fast, the ability to control a situation will slip away from us. The probabilities that it will get out of our control will increase, and the Earth’s climate system will hit a big tipping point. Either we will see a melting of the poles, a change in the Amazonian rainforest that will emit masses of carbon, a change in ocean circulation, or perhaps a melting of the permafrost.

We can see all of these tipping points getting ever closer.

In fact, the eastern Amazon rainforest has now changed from being a carbon sink to a carbon source due to droughts and fires and land clearing and all the rest. We need to act before they tip.

So the reason that this year is so important is that if you look at what we need to do to go through 1.5ºC but then come back to within 1.5ºC by the end of this century, we need to be drawing down about 10 gigatons of CO2 per year, and

cutting our greenhouse gas emissions by about 7% a year between now and 2030.

There are ways that that can be done.

At the state level we are doing so well.

It doesn't matter whether your state is run by a Liberal government or a Labor government, they are all in agreement that clean energy is the way forward.

Here in New South Wales, for example, we have legislated a series of changes that should see our electricity grid in this state do away with most fossil fuels by about 2030. That's a fantastic outcome.

Finding the cure In David Attenborough's witness statement about his life on this planet, which you can watch online, he says we need to restore Earth's function.

At the moment, the damage that's occurring in the oceans is just going deeper and deeper and deeper. We are now trawling in very deep waters around the world, stirring up carbon that has been stored for millennia and millennia and releasing it back into the system, as well as destroying life on the seafloor that helped sequester that carbon.

We can see that damage occurring.

If the oceans are healthy, the planet will remain healthy. So we desperately need to honour that vision that David Attenborough gave us of letting our Earth heal itself, restoring the forests, restoring the soils, restoring the oceans. This is not just an easy add-on, this is a core business. And if we do that, we will still probably be short of those 10 gigatons a year, we still won't have the full drawdown capacity we need.

We are wasting millions and millions of dollars by inappropriately funding things that shouldn't be. An example is on Saibai Island up in Torres Strait a few years ago, the Federal Government saw that the town was being inundated and they built a seawall at the cost of $25 million.

It lasted less than a year. Some areas can be defended, other areas have to be just surrendered and you move. We need a triage approach.

If you consider what needs to be done, it can look big, it can look overwhelming, but the reality shows us that we can do such things. It's now a win-win situation, we can move through to a cleaner energy base, cut those emissions 7% a year and develop entire new industries, as people who are in the business of making money know. We can do it. We are held back by a political block, not by any kind of structural block. There are, thankfully, a few options.

Above: Tens of thousands of people, led by school kids, attend the Climate Strike in the Domain in Sydney on 20 September 2019. The rally was part of a global movement ahead of UN climate talks later that month. Photo by Abram Powell

Climate action at the Australian Museum Visit: Changing Climate, Level 2 An interactive display that asks not how we will survive Australia, but how Australia will survive us!

Online: Spark virtual tour In this special exhibition now online, learn about inventions and innovative approaches offering positive solutions to the climate crisis.

Do: Join a citizen science project The Australian Museum’s citizen projects such as FrogID and DigiVol are fantastic ways the whole family can contribute to creating a positive future.

Your action is so important!

Discover more ways you can make a difference: australian.museum/learn/teachers/learning/ sustainability

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The magic of seaweed One of those options is seaweed farming.

Sam Elsom — previously a fashion designer — has a marvellous red seaweed farm off Tasmania. Sam has developed a farm of a particular red seaweed called asparagopsis; it's a very common seaweed in southern Australia. It has the peculiar property of producing a bromine compound that stops the little bacteria that live in the cows' rumen from producing methane. And you need a tiny amount of it to do that, just 25g per cow per day, and that reduces the methane emissions in cattle by 98.8%. Incredible.

And while that's great news for methane emissions, it's also really good news for farmers because the energy that's in the methane that is normally lost to the cow gets returned to the cow. So it's like giving a cow 20% more food, it's a healthier animal. So you need to feed it less, it's healthier, it grows faster, it's a great outcome. So that's just one seaweed solution, but the world is full of potential seaweed solutions. I’m a bit of a seaweed fanatic.

Another seaweed solution is just letting the seaweed sink to the ocean bottom. We know that the transport of seaweed into the deep ocean is one of 36

the major ways carbon can be taken out of the atmosphere and sequestered in the ocean bottom. So if we can enhance that, we will be doing something really good for our planet. And you have to know about the scale of the deep ocean. The ocean below 3000m is 95% of all habitat on Earth, it is enormous. The ocean itself is 500 times bigger than the atmosphere. So, if we could theoretically grab half of all the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and shove it straight into the deep ocean right now, we'd reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere obviously by 50%, we'd increase the CO2 in the deep ocean by…anyone want to guess? 2%. The deep ocean is really big, that's why it's the hidden puppet-master of the whole system, it's the receptacle for the carbon, it's where most of the stuff goes to keep the balance of our planet.

So that's really important.

I know we have to tread carefully with all of these things, this is a planetary scale intervention, so we have to be careful, but I'm heartened by the seaweed solution because we know it occurs naturally, it goes down submarine canyons into the deep ocean where it is eaten by sea cucumbers and the carbon stays in the bottom. So if we can put a bit more seaweed in, even if it's a few gigatons a year, that's really, I think, a positive move.

Images: Asparagopsis being cultivated at Sam Elson’s seaweed farm, Sea Forest, in Triabunna, Tasmania. Images © Sea Forest EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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Left: Charlie Prell’s Farm from Crookwell on the NSW Southern Tablelands. His farm has several wind turbines on it and with neighbouring properties generate enough energy to run the farm and feed back in to the energy grid. He was interviewed for the Climate Change exhibition in November 2019. Photo by Abram Powell

A rock that is a carbon sponge

A cleaner, brighter future awaits

Another way we can deal with the problem is by using silicate rocks. They are really common in Australia, olivine is a good example of a silicate rock. Grind up a kilogram of olivine, for example, you capture 1.25kg of CO2 as that olivine decomposes. And in the right conditions, it will decompose in a couple of weeks.

We know we can do this. But the first step to doing it is cleaning up the grid. Every coal-fired power plant that closes down is a step closer to that. Every gas plant that isn't built or closes down is a step closer to giving us the drawdown that we need. So, this is a holistic transition that we are looking at in Australia.

In the last year, work has been done on corn farms in the US. People have taken olivine rock, spread it over the farmland and seen that the crop yield increases by about 12%, because all the fresh minerals are getting in there. So not only are you taking CO2 out of the air, you are increasing your crop yields.

The big problem with the silicate rock solution is that at the moment we quarry and transport rock using fossil fuels, so that negates the benefit you get. But if we can clean up our energy and transport systems in the next 10 or 15 years, we will open up an enormous opportunity for a very potent solution that can take many gigatons of CO2 out of the air per year. And, by the way, olivine rocks and the deep ocean are the two biggest ways that the Earth regulates its own climate system.

We have to start the transition, we have to really kickstart it in a big way and see those emissions starting to drop. We have to start restoring the land, and that's a massive job. We have two centuries of pioneering destruction of our environment behind us. And the offer has been made from our Indigenous leaders to go on the journey with them to start using the land differently, to start living differently on the land. That needs to become our law if we want to start repairing our planet.

So, that's where we are. We know where we need to go, we now need to take leadership positions, all of us, to make sure that over the coming years we get the cure we know we all need.

Thank you very much.

Professor Tim Flannery is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Australian Museum.

The Climate Cure: The inaugural Talbot Oration was held at the AM on Thursday 3 June 2021. You can listen to the full speech by visiting: australian.museum/blog/at-the-museum/talbot-oration-2021

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New aquisition Packed into hundreds of carefully labelled boxes and stored in a myriad of freezers at the University of New South Wales were thousands of tissue and DNA samples, accumulated over 30 years of research by Professor Bill Sherwin of the University’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, his students, postdoctoral researchers and collaborators. Professor Sherwin recently donated the collection — ­ voluminous and irreplaceable — to the Australian Museum Research Institute’s Terrestrial Vertebrates department.

It is difficult to over-emphasise the scientific value of Professor Sherwin’s donation.

It is a trove of astonishing diversity, consisting of over 10,000 samples from koalas, quolls, possums and gliders, wombats, a variety of small mammals, potoroos, fur-seals and a range of rare New Guinea marsupials, rodents and bats. There are some 1000 samples from birds and skinks. And given the samples have been collected from the 1980s to more recently, they constitute a valuable series of windows in time.

Professor Sherwin spent his career doing genetic research on Australasian wildlife, sampling and analysing species throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea and the subAntarctic islands. It is a tribute to his dedication to the science of environmental conservation that he makes this donation upon his retirement.

The

Bill Sherwin Frozen Tissue Collection Dr Mark Eldridge and Dr Sandy Ingleby, Mammalogy Collection

Transported to the AM in two vehicles loaded with eskies containing dry ice, the collection is now stored in a -80oC freezer as part of the AM’s frozen tissue collection.

One of the largest and most significant donations of its kind, Professor Sherwin’s collection will provide the basis for innumerable future studies which will contribute to our understanding of the Australasian biota and inform the conservation and management of an array of threatened vertebrate species.

Left: The freezer containing the Bill Sherwin Frozen Tissue Collection, acquired 2021.

Photo by Abram Powell EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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My Museum

Fran Dorey Acting Manager, Exhibitions

I’m one of those fortunate people who managed to turn a passion for all things old, dead or fossilised into a career. Plus, I love sharing this passion with people, and have followed a path at the Australian Museum that has allowed me to do just that.

My history at the AM is long and varied (I even did my Year 10 work experience here!).

Starting as a front-of-house volunteer in 1996, I’ve worked in a number of roles, including education officer, interpretive officer and text writer before moving across to the Exhibitions department as a project manager in 2006. Since then, and in my current role as acting manager, I’ve co-curated and project-managed some of the AM’s most successful permanent and temporary exhibitions including Life Beyond the Tomb (2005), Dinosaurs (2008-), Alexander the Great (2012), Aztecs (2013), Tyrannosaurs — Meet the Family (2014), Trailblazers (2015) and 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum (2017-).

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The AM’s exhibitions are a primary element of its public face and a key platform through which we promote our science, cultures and collections, and present topics that have societal or global relevance. We feel this responsibility every time we start a project.

Our team includes some of the AM’s most creative, artistic, practical, organised and, dare I say, quirky people. While we’re a relatively large team, we’re spread across multiple projects and work areas including curation, content development, design, fabrication, preparation and maintenance of the AM’s permanent, temporary and touring products.

And on every project, we work closely with other departments at the AM, from our conservators, collection managers, and content experts, to education, security, facilities, finance, marketing and sponsorship. It takes a large village to raise an exhibition!

“ I have held an Aztec

sacrificial knife, excavated dinosaur fossils, been bitten by a baby crocodile and come face-to-face with Egyptian mummies. All of these experiences fill me with awe, wonderment and child-like joy. ”

Left: Fran Dorey in Whales | Tohorā at the Australian Museum, 2018. Photo by Nick Langley

So, how do we put together an exhibition from scratch? To go from nothing to a 1000m2 exhibition full of wonderful experiences can seem a minor miracle at times. While it may differ slightly between projects, we essentially follow a tried- a nd- tested approach: start small and add layers as you go. Initial brainstorming sessions flow on to concept stages and audience testing, which leads to the development of narrative flow and an appealing interpretation, which is folded into design, look and feel, and finally, leads to creation, build and install.

we’ve had to get a 12m-long, latex T. rex into the building, design and fabricate a bouldering wall, move a set of antique sculptures weighing 1 tonne each, negotiate insurance contracts in other languages, find a city hotel for dogs, collect and weigh elephant and lion poo, and house and feed venomous spiders.

Of course, as with most jobs, there are always the ‘boring’ parts — meetings, budgets, schedules, plans, procurement and contracts. No one seems that interested in these aspects of exhibitions!

However, sometimes it’s good to sit down and focus on the mundane while your brain is ticking over — often it will find a solution to a challenge.

All of these experiences fill me with awe, wonderment and child-like joy. Hopefully, we impart some of these emotions in our exhibitions.

There is a very real human need for engagement and authenticity that transcends the digital world and there are few places you can still connect to the past, understand the present or imagine the future — our Museum remains one of those places.

What kind of challenges do we face? Well,

The highlights are many, too. As part of my job, I have wielded Captain William Bligh’s sword, held an Aztec sacrificial knife, excavated dinosaur fossils, been bitten by a baby crocodile and come face- to- face with Egyptian mummies.

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Great philanthropists

Patricia McDonald: Education pioneer Patricia McDonald started working at the AM in 1953 when she was 24 years old. She continued to develop education programs for the AM for the next 35 years — her whole working life.

Her original office was a room in a tin shed with no water or power, however under her leadership, the AM developed a number of ground-breaking education initiatives that have influenced how museums around the world, including the Museum In A Box® program and production of educational films for schools.

AM Director, Kim McKay AO, said its educational programs “would not be what they are today without the ground-breaking work of Patricia McDonald, a true education pioneer.”

When Patricia passed away on 11 November 2018 at the age of 89, she left a bequest of $7m in her will to the Australian Museum Foundation for the benefit and use of the AM in support of education programs to nurture future generations of scientists.

As part of its recent redevelopment, Project Discover, new education facilities have been built at the AM, and named the Patricia McDonald Education Rooms. Part of the bequest will also go towards the building of Burra Learning Place (learn more on page 6), which will weave together First Nations knowledge systems with the AM's scientific research to deliver a unique learning space for curious children of all ages.

To this day Patricia’s legacy continues with over 150,000 students taking part in AM onsite, online and outreach programs each year.

We gratefully acknowledge the bequest made by Patricia McDonald and welcome your enquiries about making a bequest or a donation to the Australian Museum Foundation.

All enquiries are strictly confidential. Please contact Claudia Rowe, Manager, Strategy & Development on +61 2 9320 6004 or Claudia.rowe@australian.museum

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Around the Museum

The 2021 Australian Museum Foundation Gala The Annual black-tie Gala Dinner, Night at the Museum, was held on 27 May 2021 in the newly transformed Hintze Hall for 332 guests. It raised a record $270,000 for education programs. Funds raised will support the new interactive Burra Learning Place and A Day at the Museum fund, which subsides the costs for excursion to the AM for schools from low-socio economic areas of NSW. Photos by Tim Levy EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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The opening of Unsettled On Friday 21 May, the Unsettled exhibition was launched.

Gadigal Elder Uncle Allen Madden began the evening with a Welcome to Country. Presenters included the Hon. Don Harwin MLC, Minister for Arts and Aboriginal Affairs; Kim McKay AO, Director & CEO of the Australian Museum; Laura McBride, curator of Unsettled and Director, First Nations; and Professor Larissa Behrendt, Australian Museum Trustee. Performances included the Gahdungal Murrin dancers, a poetry reading by Rob Waters and live music by Buddy Knox. After event formalities, guests were invited for a first look at the groundbreaking exhibition Unsettled.

Photos by Anna Kučera

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The Climate Cure: The inaugural Talbot Oration and the launch of Spark: Australian innovations tackling climate change On 3 June 2021, award-winning climate scientist Professor Tim Flannery outlined practical solutions to address climate change in the Australian Museum’s inaugural Talbot Oration. The event opened with a Welcome to Country by Yvonne Weldon, opening remarks

by Kim McKay AO, and the launch of the new exhibition, Spark: Australian innovations tackling climate change curated by Dr Jenny Newell. Following his talk, Professor Veena Sahajwalla, founding director of the UNSW Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) and recently named NSW Australian of the Year, joined Professor Flannery in conversation with businesswoman and sustainability advocate Sam Mostyn AO. You can now view Spark: Australian innovations tackling climate change online: australian.museum/exhibition/spark Photos by Anna Kučera

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Impact of philanthropy Throughout the year, the generous community of AM and AMF supporters donated over $5.5m.

These donations have supported:

Burra Learning Place aiming to reach over 5m children in 10 years with First Nations knowledge and Western Science

18,000

students from low-socio economic schools funded through A Day at the Museum including free transport, a lunch and educator-led experience at the AM

12,500* students engaged

Education Cube prototype

with Unsettled online education resources across Australia

providing meaningful in-exhibition experiences for 100,000 students per annum in the years to come

2

643

for captive breeding and eventual reintroduction

over two pilot programs

critically endangered snail species collected from Norfolk Island

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AMF grants awarded towards acquisitions, education and programs

Make an impact today at australian.museum/foundation 46

attendees to Early Birds: Autism and Sensory Friendly mornings

21,000 visitors to Unsettled in the first month supported by free admission

Australian Museum Foundation & Australian Museum Donors The Australian Museum gratefully acknowledges the generosity of our major donors and bequests, including those who have donated anonymously.

Guardians

John McConnell

James & Belinda Allen

Oliver McGarvey

Martin & Ursula Armstrong

Andrew McKinnon

Lauren Atmore

David McNee

John Balderstone

Kim McKay AO

Ken & Roddy Bell

Richard & Jane Malcolmson

Leadership Gifts

President’s Circle

Dr Kathy Belov AO

Anne Measday

The Hintze Family Charitable Foundation

Lucinda Aboud

Christine Bishop

Suzanne Meli

Drs Gary Holmes & Anne Reeckmann

Bill & Annette Blinco

Malcolm Moir

Natalia Bradshaw

Lily W Mung Endowment

Kristina Stefanova & James Schultz

John Buttle

Saskia Orgill

Connie Chaird & Darren Yong

Leon Pasternak

The Macdoch Foundation Sherman Foundation Patrons Ann Macintosh Trust David & Megan Armstrong The Balnaves Foundation

Tony Sukkar AM & Josephine Sukkar AM

Jennifer Crivelli

Wavish Family Charitable Trust

Etheridge Descendants

Director’s Circle

Warwick Evans Chris & Gina Grubb Alison & Bill Hayward OAM Mary Holt & the late Dr John Holt Anna Josephson & Rickard Gardell The Lionel & Yvonne Spencer Trust

Count Charitable Foundation

Drs Jane & Neville Rowden

Maggie Chien

Donald E Russell

Paul Connor

Drs Jean & Evan Siegel Fiona Sinclair

Dr Charles Barnes

Tim Cooper & Jeannette Lloyd-Jones

Rosanne Burkhart

Phillip Cordony

Maisy Stapleton

Antoinette Albert

Carnegie Family Endowment Mark Carnegie

Phillip Cornwell & Cecilia Rice Trevor Danos AM & Dr Veronica Lambert Margaret & Peter Donovan

Louise Cox

Prof Elizabeth Elliot

Dr Zeny Edwards OAM

Amanda Farrar

Greg Hammond OAM

Dianne & Terry Finnegan

The Paradice Family Foundation

Brian & Georgy Hartzer

Susan Foster

Robert Rich Vonwiller Foundation

Dr Janice Hirshorn & Dr George Jacobs

Anonymous

JIBB Family Foundation

Benefactors

Philip Keir

Robert Otto Albert AO RFD RD

The Hon Ros Kelly AO & Dr David Morgan AO

Memocorp Australia Pty Ltd Minderoo Foundation Neilson Foundation

The Carrawa Foundation Claude & Maryanne Gauchat Belinda Gibson & Jim Murphy Graeme Wood Foundation The John Spencer Dickinson Family John T Reid Charitable Trusts Judy Lee Gretel Packer AM Purcell Family Endowment Fund Martin Terry

Judy Ranka

Chestnut Tree Foundation

Margot & Stephanie Chinneck

Diccon & Elizabeth Loxton

John G Pearson & Mark B Clark

The Horizon Foundation

Leathan Family Catherine Livingstone AO & Michael Satterthwaite

Julia Drew

Edward Griffin Dr Elie Hammam David Handley AM Dr Helen Harding Hartzer Family Endowment Kate Hayward Louise Herron AM Jenny Hewett Peter Homel Fiona James

Alice Arnott Oppen OAM

Shauna Jarrett & The Hon Greg Pearce

Henry Pollack Foundation

Kane Constructions Pty Ltd

Dick & Pip Smith Foundation

Dr Roderic Kefford AM

Georgie Summerhayes

Emeritus Professor Amanda Lawson

Andy Wade Robyn Williams AO Anonymous

Warwick Klabe

John Leece AM Rachel Levin Howard Lewis

Peter Srbinovski Christopher & Fiona Still John Stitt Christina Stitt-Ditfurth Sugarloaf Pastoral Investments Anne Sullivan Torvac Solutions Louise Taggart Vera Vargassoff Wendy Walker Margaret Waller Philippa Walsh John Winston Watson Dr Tony & Mrs Doffy White Ray Wilson OAM Stephen Wilson & Rachel Hawkeswood Howard Wu Alan Yu Anonymous Bequests The late Clarence E Chadwick The late Patricia McDonald The late Helen Molesworth The late Patricial Porritt The late Cameron ‘Ivan’ Walsh Correct as at July 2021.

Helen McCombie EXPLORE SUMMER 2022

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