Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition

Journey back to 1912 and experience the Titanic’s maiden voyage. Explore detailed reconstructions of the ship’s interior including the Grand Staircase and first and third class cabins. Discover how the ‘unsinkable’ ship met its fate and connect with the personal stories of people on board as you view artefacts recovered from the ocean floor. See treasures never before presented in Australia in this Melbourne-only showing.

Date: Until 17 October 2010 (open until 9pm Thursdays)

Cost: Adult $24, Concession $18, Child $16, Family $66 (includes entry into Melbourne Museum)

Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition is presented by Melbourne Museum and Frontier Events in association with RMS Titanic, Inc.

600 Million Years: Victoria evolves 

The newest exhibition in the redevelopment of the Science and Life Gallery, 600 Million Years: Victoria evolves explores the big question: how did life on Earth come to be the way it is? Taking you on a journey through time, 600 Million Years brings the story of Victoria’s evolution to life through animation, animatronics, models and multimedia interactives. Over millions of years Victoria has moved from the tropics to the Antarctic circle and now to the temperate zone. It has been shaped by periods of volcanic activity and major climate shifts. Featuring fascinating fossils, gold, coal, dinosaurs and whales, the exhibition highlights the processes that make Victoria the special place it is today. 

Date: Opens 26 June 2010

From Little Things Big Things Grow: Fighting for Indigenous Rights 1920-1970

This exhibition tells the story of a group of Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who worked together to fight for justice for Aboriginal people. It celebrates the people who took part in the struggle and examines some key moments of Aboriginal activism, such as the 1938 Day of Mourning and Protest, the 1965 Freedom Ride, the Gurindji ‘walk-off’, and the 1967 Referendum.

A National Museum of Australia travelling exhibition

Date: Until 7 November 2010

Winter School Holidays

Journey back to 1912 and experience the Titanic‘s maiden voyage at Melbourne Museum’s Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition. Visit The Engine Room play space and build your own ocean liner or learn about the behaviour of icebergs. Discover some of the stories behind the people who set sail on the Titanic in a special story time.

Date: 26 June to 11 July 2010 (11am – 3pm)

Big Kills, Big Killers – Free public lecture

Big predatory animals capture our imagination like few others, yet the deadly denizens of the deep sea remain shrouded in mystery. It is these predators that evoke primordial feelings of awe and terror. How and when did they evolve? What makes them such deadly predators? What does their future hold? And just who is the ultimate predator of all time? Despite being at the top of food chains for over half a billion years, predators are also very vulnerable. Who takes the top spot has changed dramatically through the ages, and not always in predictable ways. What evolutionary novelties as well as mass extinctions have overturned who gets to be the biggest and baddest? Join three Museum Victoria scientists to hear an exciting evolutionary tale which will answer all of these questions (and more) and challenge some of your ideas of life’s big predators and their place in nature.

Date: 6pm 8 July 2010

Cost: Free (Bookings essential phone13 11 02)

20 Years: Bold. Black. Brilliant – Ilbijerri Theatre Company: A Retrospective.

20 Years: Bold. Black. Brilliant. celebrates the 20th anniversary of the longest running Indigenous theatre company in Australia.“It all started with a group of Indigenous actors sitting around in a backyard saying ‘we need our own theatre company to tell our stories our way’,” says Rachael Maza Long, Ilbijerri’s Artistic Director. From this passion, a professional theatre company was born, whose plays explore a range of complex and controversial issues from a uniquely Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective. This belief in “the power of black voices telling black stories” still drives the company. The exhibition will feature elements of sets, props and photography from previous productions as well as a behind the scenes look at life in Ilbijerri.
Part of the Bunjilaka Community Exhibitions Program.
Date: 9 July until 7 November 2010 

Jacky Jacky in the Box

First performed in 2008, Jacky Jacky in the Box is a confronting performance in which an Aboriginal performer goes on display in the museum galleries, challenging audiences to reconsider perceptions of Indigenous Australia as an anthropological curiosity. Take a look inside Ilbijerri’s glass museum cabinets at Bunjilaka and you won’t see a boomerang, a stone tool or a black statue in a lap. You might see a young professional in a three-piece suit. You might see a girl listening to an ipod. You might see more than you bargained for. Jacky Jacky in the Box is showing for three days only as part of the exhibition 20 Years: Bold. Black. Brilliant.

Date: 11am – 3pm, 9 July to 11 July 2010

Glenn Murcutt: Architecture for Place

Glenn Murcutt is one of Australia’s most internationally recognised architects. Murcutt’s works are at the forefront of contemporary architecture, focusing on the sustainability of the natural environment. Glenn Murcutt: Architecture for Place explores a selection of his buildings through his drawings and working methods. Photographs by Anthony Browell capture the harmony between building and nature that resonates through Murcutt’s designs. The exhibition offers visitor a chance to discover many of Murcutt’s houses, private residences that are not open to visitors.

Date: 15 July until 3 October 2010

Presented by Architecture Foundation Australia with the support of Visions of Australia

Zmood: designing Holdens

The Zmood display celebrates the career and legacy of one of Australia’s most successful designers, Phillip Zmood GM Holden’s first Head of Design. Zmood commenced his career with Holden in 1965 working as staff designer on the HR, HK, HT and HQ range of vehicles. He is credited with creating the major design elements of some of Holden’s most iconic muscle cars. The collection features original sketches of the GTRX and the Torana as well as Zmood’s childhood sketches, studio photographs and product brochures.

Date: 16 July until 8 August 2010

Melbourne Museum, Nicholson Street, Carlton. Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm. Admission: Adult $8, children and concession FREE. For further details phone 13 11 02 or visit museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum