For the new millennium: The Melbourne Museum

When the Australian Tourist Commission and the Australian Embassy were arranging my itinerary of theaters and museums, their list understandably included the Melbourne Museum, this being the world’s first major, purpose-built museum for the Third Millennium. Indeed, it is an inexhaustible mine of startling discoveries for botanists, zoologists, archaeologists, explorers, historians, scientists, artists and, incredibly, even for equestrians.

It’s Forest Gallery is a "living, breathing museum" for nearly 8000 plants from more than 120 different species. Further, it is the habitat of about 20 different vertebrate species including snakes, birds, fish, frogs and hundreds of different insects and other invertebrates.

When Luke Simpkin, manager of the gallery, was asked: "Why put a forest in a museum? Is the forest in danger of becoming a thing of the past?" he replied: "We aim to develop a deeper community appreciation of our forests, and thus create a stronger sense of need for their conservation." (Our illegal loggers need a lecture from Mr. Simpkin because they have so shamelessly denuded our forests that during the rainy season, the streets are flooded for days.)

The Melbourne Museum’s Evolution Gallery features "Dinosaurs in Time" and "Darwin to DNA". The first has five life-size dinosaur skeletons – it was the first time I ever saw such a specimen – a flying pterosaur, a selection of skulls from Australia’s megafauna era, and a vast collection of fossils, including the oldest-known animals in the world. In short, the gallery demonstrates how life changes over time while raising such questions as "How old is the Earth?" and "What is a fossil?" Thus, the visitor gains, during this journey through time, an insight into the thought processes and the tools required to explore the fragmented puzzle of life in the past.

"Darwin to DNA" explores the story of evolution from the perspective of genetics, starting with the ideas of Darwin and Wallace in the 19th century through the study of DNA today, which study, incidentally, has become very useful in identifying fathers in paternity suits or criminals in murder cases. (Recall how O.J. Simpson was initially accused of murder.)

The Science and Life Gallery explores how digital technology (e.g., cellphones, the internet), biodiversity, conservation, physics, chemistry, biology and geology have changed our perceptions of the natural world. And of daily life.

The Southern Diversity exhibit gives the visitor a knowledge and appreciation of the unique and spectacular variety of Australia’s native flora and fauna. For instance, it includes 41 species of mammals, birds, reptiles and three extinct mammals. Displays show how diverse plants and animals survive and interact with each other in specific environment. Human impact on various environments, flora and fauna, and the importance of conserving these natural habitats is explored.

In the Science Arcade, visitors experience the extraordinary as they touch a 4,600 million year-old meteorite and real Hawaiian larva, wander past bizarre creatures, e.g., a giant spider crap, an okapi (a cross between a zebra and a dog), and discover answers to such questions as "How is a rainbow formed?"

One of the Australian Gallery’s three major exhibits, believe it or not, celebrates the legend of Phar Lap, a champion Australian race horse – "a symbol of Australian identity, and its first media superstar". (I believe the exhibit is also an eloquent commentary on the Australian’s love of sports.)

Although I’ve never dreamed of being an equestrienne, I did get a feel of Phar Lap’s story at the exhibition hall which, as I recall, is shaped like a horse-shoe. I quote: "When he beat the field of American horses easily to win Mexico’s Agua Caliente Handicap by two lengths, Australians were euphoric. In pubs, barber shops and lounge rooms across the country, people tuned in the wireless and felt close to the action." I saw one of the newsreels showing Phar Lap in action, and his sudden mysterious death in America. The objects in the exhibit are authentic: jockey silks, whip, stirrups and a horse shoe worn at Agua Caliente. Also other links to Phar Lap and his handlers, and a race caller’s binoculars!

To include more galleries, I would have to write a voluminous doctoral dissertation. This piece merely implies the awesome learning experience and discovery that await the visitor to the Melbourne Museum. As an architectural statement, it has been compared to the Pompidou Centre and Louvre Pyramid in Paris, and the National Gallery in Washington, DC.

The Melbourne Museum stands beside the 19th Century Royal Exhibition Building. According to Acting Director James Dexter, this juxtaposition of the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ epitomizes the transition in museums from its focus on the past to places where knowledge gleaned from the past helps people to move confidently into the future. "Melbourne Museum will be for the Internet Generation and beyond," says Mr. Dexter. In brief, for the new millennium.