Science on the Road hits the Riverina

The Australian Museum went to the Charles Sturt University campus in Albury for Science on the Road in November.

This is the second time the Australian Museum has run a major outreach event in the area though we’ve participated in smaller, locally run sustainability festivals and events throughout the years.

Over 700 students booked in to a huge variety of workshops including the ever popular CSI World, Bush Foods and Medicine, the Volcanoes and Natural Disasters Show. UNSW Physics ran sessions on Spin Science (circular mechanics) as well as Digital Star Lab, UNSW Chemistry disrupted with Chemistry Chaos (lots of loud banging from banana hammers), Code Club ran their popular coding workshop and the Frog and Tadpole Society talked to students about some of their local amphibian species.

Charles Sturt University delivered incredible workshops like a Nursing workshop in their mock, interactive hospital wing (complete with patients who sneeze and vomit), Waterbug Watch out at their natural lagoon, and Worm Detectives in the courtyard of their environmentally sustainable campus. Vision Australia and La Trobe University joined us all in the Science on the Road Expo which, due to exceedingly good weather, we were able to have outside!

Staff and presenters alike received a lot of positive feedback about the event, including the below comments from primary school students:

• “I liked everything because I learnt things I haven’t before” – Year 5 student
• “I liked all of it ‘cause it was awesome. I’m not sure of the dinosaur” – Year 6 student
• “I liked the Indigenous Australians activity because I learn a lot of things about their culture” - Year 5 student
• “I liked the Natural Disasters workshop because it was fun, interesting and interactive” - Year 6 student
• “I liked going to the Aboriginal workshop and learning about the things they used for everyday stuff” – Year 6 student

Outreach events are an incredibly important part of the Australian Museum’s work. It is a way to show people in regional areas that we exist for, and are in service to all who live in New South Wales, not just Sydney CBD. Being able to send staff both staff and collection objects enables us to create an incredible experience for people who might never make it onsite to the Museum. The combination of our staff’s knowledge, passion and enthusiasm brings objects and research to life, and makes them relevant to communities across NSW.