Written by Judith Hickson, Curator, Queensland Stories In today’s world, where increasing importance is placed on fashion, what we wear is a window into our social worlds – a kind of non-verbal, symbolic language which speaks for who we are and how we would like others to see us. Though interpretations may differ across cultures and circumstances, concepts and ideas about personality, religious affiliation, authority … Continue reading Clothed in tradition
by Shannon Robinson, Queensland Museum Librarian Rewrite. Renew. Reimagine. This is the theme of 2022’s Library and Information Week #LIW2022, to not only celebrate Australian libraries and the stories their collections hold but to also consider the opportunities for re-telling and re-interpretation. What better place to find a collection full of material primed for this theme than the Queensland Museum Library? Our library holds items … Continue reading Reimagining the Collection for Library and Information Week 2022
By Peter Volk, Assistant Collections Manager, Queensland Museum How “real” is the Avro Baby flown by Bert Hinkler? This interesting question was raised in a recent public inquiry about one of the most significant objects in Queensland Museum’s collection. We often get inquiries at the museum that are slightly left field or cause us to think differently about our collection. This happened recently when we fielded … Continue reading Avro Baby: Original or Museum Mock-Up?
By Kieran Aland & Christine Lambkin, Queensland Museum Among the numerous objects and specimens on display at the Queensland Museum are some with truly extraordinary stories! Today Kieran from the Discovery Centre joins us to share one of his favourite specimens from the museum’s displays. This insect displayed in the Discovery Centre appears rather drab. It is so poorly known that it lacks a common … Continue reading Obscure by name, obscure by nature: A cryptic insect, little known, rarely seen
How one jug in Queensland Museum’s collection can lead to many histories. Tess Shingles, Acting Assistant Curator, Queensland Stories Have you ever wondered what moonshine, Queensland farming, and mascots have in common? Answer: The Beenleigh Rum Character Jug, though perhaps not at first glance. This jug, held in Queensland Museum’s collection is quite small, colourful and full of character. The “Beenleigh Rum” painted on the … Continue reading Moonshine, Cane Farms and Mascots: Histories of a Jug
By Marisa Giorgi, Information Officer, Queensland Museum There is nothing new about the use of adhesives and sealants. They have been a critical element in the technology of First Australians for thousands of years. Plant-based resin has been employed in the production of many traditional tools and when prepared correctly, resin can become as hard as rock. There is evidence of resin-use in toolmaking from … Continue reading Resin: an essential piece of kit
There is a lot of questionable information doing the rounds on social media. Many contributions are distorted or exaggerated, and some are just plain wrong, rest assured we have made every effort to verify what follows. There is an old Australian term which can be aptly applied to a false rumour or theory: it’s a ‘furphy’. The use of the word ‘furphy’ for misinformation can … Continue reading Bring back ‘furphy’, an old word for a modern problem
By Patrick Couper, Senior Curator Vertebrates, Queensland Museum The biological specimens in museum collections need constant monitoring to ensure their long-term preservation. Initially they are treated in a manner that prevents decay. For wet vertebrate collections (whole specimens stored in jars or vats of alcohol), an animal’s organs, muscles and other tissues are fixed, usually with formalin. This results in the formation of covalent bonds … Continue reading Mistakes can happen
By Damien Fegan, Information Officer, Queensland Museum Among the numerous objects and specimens on display at Queensland Museum are some with truly extraordinary stories! Today Damien Fegan from the Discovery Centre shares new research on one of his favourite objects on display at the Anzac Legacy Gallery. Mephisto, or more formally, A7V Sturmpanzerwagen (armoured assault vehicle) #506, the only surviving German tank from the First … Continue reading Panzers, parsley, soap and the devil!
By Jeff Powell, Curator Cobb+Co Museum Next time you catch a bus, have a thought for “commuters” of Brisbane in the nineteenth century! Cobb+Co Museum in Toowoomba contains over 50 horse-drawn vehicles, including a horse-drawn omnibus. The museum preserves the history of what was known as the ‘the horse and buggy era’, but we concede that most people could not afford a buggy, nor even … Continue reading Cobb+Co Museum’s Horse-Drawn Omnibus
By Karen Kindt, Collection Manager Anthropology What is Anthropology? Understanding who we are, where we come from and our place in the world, is critical to humanity. We can find meaning and answers through the discipline of Anthropology. Applying this discipline, through studying human behaviours and societies, we are able to understand the affects, on our physical, cultural and social environments. Anthropology helps us understand … Continue reading Celebrating World Anthropology Day
By Charlotte Lethbridge, Volunteer Researcher, Queensland Museum With the COVID-19 pandemic at the forefront of the news and minds of most Australians, it can be easy to forget that only two years ago, Australia was dealing with one of the deadliest bushfire seasons in Australian history. A collection of 41 posters in the Queensland Museum collection documents the artistic community’s response to the 2019–2020 Bushfire … Continue reading Bushfire Brandalism and Australia’s Black Summer
Connections across the Coral Sea reveals the latest archaeological research around the earliest movements and trade between the seafaring cultures of Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait and the northeast coast of Queensland. Every new exhibition gives us an opportunity to reassess how we curate and develop displays. How can objects be used to tell a story? More importantly, whose story, and which story are we … Continue reading Curating ‘Connections across the Coral Sea’
By Alessandra Schultz, Cultures & Histories Volunteer, Queensland Museum Take a look into the cabinets of the Ben Ronalds Collection of Fine Ceramics and Glassware, in the State Collection, with Cultures & Histories Program Volunteer, Alessandra Schultz. For many of us, gazing into the prized porcelain and china cabinets of a mother or grandmother is a fond and familiar childhood memory. As a volunteer, researching the Ben Ronalds Collection in the Cultures and Histories Program at Queensland Museum, I have found myself … Continue reading A Glimpse into the Porcelain Cabinet: Ceramics & Antiquity in the Ben Ronalds Collection
By Jeff Powell, Curator Cobb+Co Museum. Transport museums are not usually associated with presenting medical advances, but few objects in any museum had a bigger impact on public health than our dunny cart. It is difficult for us in the twenty-first century to imagine a time when people were left to their own devices regarding human waste or ‘night soil’, as it was genteelly called … Continue reading What has four legs, two wheels and flies?
I have yet to meet anyone that isn’t fascinated by venomous creatures and their potential to… well, kill you. Australia is full of them and some are not always what you would expect! Working at the museum means I have access to a whole host of natural history objects. Recently I had to do a photoshoot featuring some of the venomous animals I work on. … Continue reading Trolley of Death
By David Parkhill Assistant Collection Manager, Queensland Museum South Bank The Queensland Museum holds twenty shabti, or shabti related objects in its Archaeology collection. Here is a closer look at one of them. The afterlife Ancient Egyptians, along with many other cultures, held a strong belief in the afterlife. Also in keeping with other civilisations, they would include grave goods such as perfume bottles or … Continue reading Working for the Man in the Afterlife
Geraldine Mate – Principal Curator of History, Industry & Technology and Alessandra Schultz – Volunteer, Cultures & Histories Program When you snap that amazing photo of a mountain or waterfall, do you ever think about the early photographers of Queensland? This year marks 150 years since the London International Exhibition where Richard Daintree’s images of early colonial Queensland were first displayed. From May to August 1871, a collection of … Continue reading 150 years of Daintree
Many of us think nothing of picking up a few things for dinner on the way home, or purchasing a trolley load of groceries at the supermarket on the weekend. Shopping in supermarkets is a part of everyday life in Australia, but it is a fairly recent phenomenon. Large suburban shopping centres only sprang up in the years since car ownership became commonplace in the 1950s. Continue reading In every suburban street
by Judith Hickson, Curator, Social History, Queensland Museum In mid-2019, buying a chess set for my granddaughter’s birthday proved to be more difficult than I imagined. I was looking for something special – not too expensive – a set that might last her until she could afford a better one of her own one day. The range of sets I found in toy and department … Continue reading Queensland Gambit
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