Collection, Education, Exhibitions & Events, Queensland Museum, Queensland Stories, Uncategorized

Seven Fascinating Stories to Discover at I Do! Wedding Stories from Queensland

Few things change our life more than getting married. It binds us legally or emotionally to a person, a family, a community and a shared future. Currently on display at Queensland Museum are more than 40 ensembles from the museum’s collection together with loans and commissioned artwork that explore the significant rolefashion plays in revealing the diverse, rich, heartbreaking and hopeful stories behind wedding garments. … Continue reading Seven Fascinating Stories to Discover at I Do! Wedding Stories from Queensland

qldmuseum13 January, 2021Leave a comment

Cobb+Co Museum, Collection, Queensland Stories, Social history, The Workshops Rail Museum, Uncategorized

Once Made in Queensland (including the kitchen sink!)

2020 has been a year when many accepted practices have come under review; commuting to work, socialising with friends and family, how and where we take holidays to name a few. Covid-19 has also focused scrutiny on the origins and reliability of commodities we have come to expect as necessary for life. There was concern about the supply of toilet paper, antiseptic hand wash and … Continue reading Once Made in Queensland (including the kitchen sink!)

qldmuseum11 December, 2020Leave a comment

Cobb+Co Museum, Collection, Conservation, Queensland Stories, Social history, Uncategorized

Is it a buckboard?

Cobb+Co Museum has always wanted a Queensland buckboard, and we think we have one… By Jeff Powell, Curator, Cobb+Co Museum The American buckboard was about as simple a four wheeled vehicle as it was possible to build. They looked like someone had taken a section of picket fence, attached a wheel in each corner and placed a seat on top and halfway back. Comfort was … Continue reading Is it a buckboard?

qldmuseum16 November, 2020

Ancient environments, Antiquities, Collection

Ancient Egyptian Bread and Beer for World Bread Day

By Dr Brit Asmussen Let’s celebrate World Bread Day with a peek inside the Queensland Museum’s Antiquities collections! Celebrating World Bread Day For millennia, bread has held an important place in many cultures. World Bread Day is an international observance celebrated on October 16 dedicated to this culinary staple, enjoyed by communities around the world and throughout history. Ancient Egyptian bread in the Queensland Museum … Continue reading Ancient Egyptian Bread and Beer for World Bread Day

qldmuseum15 October, 2020

Collection, Queensland Stories

90 Years of Gardams – The History of the Queensland family business

How It All Began Gardams Fabric Store has been part of a long-held tradition of dressing brides in Queensland for 90 years. The family business was started by Bert Gardam who arrived in Queensland as a ward of the state in 1921. At just 16 years of age and with only 10 shillings in his pocket, Bert obtained work on a sheep station and began … Continue reading 90 Years of Gardams – The History of the Queensland family business

qldmuseum13 October, 2020

Collection, Marine Environments

Relocating a Supersized Squid, Tentacles And All!

One of Queensland Museum’s resident tenants took the stress of moving to a whole new level, as the giant squid found his tentacles being transported to a new abode. Past Life Before calling Queensland Museum home, the supersized ocean dweller was discovered lurking in the deep ocean off New Zealand, measuring a staggering 6.75 metres. The life of the preserved Architeuthis dux has spanned vast … Continue reading Relocating a Supersized Squid, Tentacles And All!

qldmuseum9 October, 20202 November, 2020

Collection, Queensland Museum, Queensland Stories, Research, The Workshops Rail Museum, War

What didn’t make it into “Duty, Debt and Picket Lines: the Queensland Railway Department during the First World War”

While researching for my paper Duty, Debt and Picket Lines: the Queensland Railway Department during the First World War for the Queensland Museum Memoir volume 11, I found a large amount of material that, due to space constraints, I was unable to include. Therefore, I thought writing a blog might be a good opportunity to publish these unused images and documents. The paper investigates the … Continue reading What didn’t make it into “Duty, Debt and Picket Lines: the Queensland Railway Department during the First World War”

qldmuseum29 September, 2020

Collection

A Moment in the Sun

Dr Geraldine Mate, Principal Curator – History, Industry and Technology, Queensland Museum Where better for a solar powered bicycle than the Sunshine State? In October 2020, the Brisbane International Film Festival will be premiering a new documentary – A Moment in the Sun. The documentary explores the inspiring and fascinating story of the development of a solar-powered tandem bicycle, designed and built at the University … Continue reading A Moment in the Sun

qmnadmin24 September, 202024 September, 20201 Comment

Collection

John Gould’s The Birds of Australia

Did you know only 250 sets of John Gould’s The Birds of Australia were published? The Queensland Museum library has one complete set of the seven volumes and supplement, as well as an incomplete set that was one of the first acquisitions for library in 1876. Gould acknowledged in the preface that it was mammoth ten-year effort creating this work. There are 602 … Continue reading John Gould’s The Birds of Australia

qmnadmin11 September, 2020

Collection, Rare Books Collection

Oceanography in the Rare Books Collection

During Biodiversity Month, the Museum Library has taken a deep dive into our rare oceanography books on the voyage of the HMS Challenger, renowned as being the pioneering expedition of modern marine science. The voyage had only one intent – to investigate “everything relating to the ocean”, the first to do so. Naturalist’s John Murray and Charles Wyville Thomson spearheaded the expedition, made achievable with … Continue reading Oceanography in the Rare Books Collection

qmnadmin8 September, 20209 September, 2020

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultures, Collection

Queensland Australian South Sea Islanders embrace 20th Anniversary

Collections: Australian South Sea Islander Kastom Collection Imelda Miller, Curator – Torres Strait Islander and Pacific Indigenous Studies, Queensland Museum Network Australian South Sea Islander history and heritage is an important part of Queensland history. This year, 2020 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Queensland Government’s official recognition of Australian South Sea Islanders’ continuing contributions to Queensland. 20 years ago today Early in my … Continue reading Queensland Australian South Sea Islanders embrace 20th Anniversary

qldmuseum7 September, 20207 September, 20201 Comment

Cobb+Co Museum, Collection, Queensland Museum, Queensland Stories, The Workshops Rail Museum, Uncategorized, War

Remembering Queensland Mobilised

The mobilisation of the people of Australia and their possessions means that the country will be turned into one vast war machine. Every person whether civilian or soldier will be a cog in that machine… Women and children according to their individual capabilities, have a place in the wartime economy… ‘Mobilisation’, Queensland Times Ipswich, 14 March 1942. A pair of pilot’s goggles sit quietly on … Continue reading Remembering Queensland Mobilised

qldmuseum21 August, 202021 August, 20201 Comment

Collection, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Pacific Indigenous Cultures

Still more important than anything money can buy

This blog post is part of an ongoing series titled Connecting with Collections. The series offers readers a peek inside the collections at Museum of Tropical Queensland, highlighting objects and their stories. “I am giving you this gift – not to buy a bride – but to remember the Purpuruk Family and our beautiful Country.” Between 1980 and 1984, Jenny Sebba and Arnold Young lived … Continue reading Still more important than anything money can buy

qldmuseum10 August, 2020

Ancient environments, Archaeology, Collection, Queensland Museum

Held within eternal wrappings | Animal mummies in the Queensland Museum collection

Animal mummies in Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a wide variety of animals were mummified. Household pets could be interred with their masters so they could be together in the afterlife; joints of poultry and meat were wrapped in linen and placed in tombs as […]

Continue reading Held within eternal wrappings | Animal mummies in the Queensland Museum collection

qmnadmin14 July, 202014 July, 2020

Collection

The oldest Lepidoptera book in the Queensland Museum Library

by Shannon Robinson, Queensland Museum Librarian Inspired by the recent butterfly activity this is the perfect time to share a couple of the rare Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) books held in the Queensland Museum Library. Unlike today, where we can photograph insects from using our phones to a microscopic-lens camera, the early naturalists relied on the art of hand-drawn illustration to accompany their text. There’s … Continue reading The oldest Lepidoptera book in the Queensland Museum Library

qmnadmin11 June, 2020

Cobb+Co Museum, Collection, Queensland Stories, The Workshops Rail Museum

Henry Lawson’s other skill

Henry Lawson remains one of Australia’s best known poets and authors a century after his death. Poems such as ‘The Lights of Cobb & Co’, ‘The Teams’ and ‘Andy’s Gone with Cattle’, and short stories like ‘Joe Wilson and his Mates’ flowed from his pen. His face has adorned banknotes and stamps. Henry Lawson’s life was glorious and tragic in equal measure. At once blessed … Continue reading Henry Lawson’s other skill

qldmuseum28 May, 202026 May, 2020

Collection

What’s the oldest book in the Collection?

by Shannon Robinson, Queensland Museum Librarian The Museum library has just over 2400 titles within the Rare Books Collection, spanning publication dates from the 16th century through to the 20th century. Over half, 1450 books to be precise, are from the 1800’s! Much of this material is irreplaceable and, being paper-based objects, in a fragile state. These factors contribute to placing these items in a … Continue reading What’s the oldest book in the Collection?

qmnadmin27 May, 2020

Archaeology, Collection, Pacific Indigenous Cultures

Grindstone – ancient multi-tools

Marisa Giorgi, Information Officer, Queensland Museum Grindstones are a relatively common tool found across Australia. But did you know grindstones have many varied uses? Archaeological science is revealing the complex nature of these stone artefacts. Introduction At Queensland Museum we have many grindstones of different shapes and sizes from across Queensland. These grindstones represent durable examples of everyday items used by Indigenous Australian people. They … Continue reading Grindstone – ancient multi-tools

qldmuseum19 May, 20202 June, 2020

Collection, Collection Management, Conservation, Education, Geology, Mammals & Birds, New species, Palaeontology, Queensland Stories, Research, Uncategorized

Discovering the world’s largest kangaroo – Part 2: In the lab

By Rochelle Lawrence, Palaeontological Research Assistant, and Scott Hocknull, Senior Curator, Geosciences, Queensland Museum The giant kangaroo tibia (shinbone) found at the megafauna fossil sites of South Walker Creek, travelled safely back to the Queensland Museum’s Geosciences collection. The specimen is treated like evidence for a case (fossil evidence!) and is processed through a series of stages from field collection (Part 1) and preparation, to … Continue reading Discovering the world’s largest kangaroo – Part 2: In the lab

qldmuseum18 May, 202018 May, 2020