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Origin Energy Fossils
Gallery
The Opal Fossils of South Australia - Life from Australia's
inland sea during the age of the dinosaurs.
The new Origin Energy Fossil Gallery was launched
on November 20 2001 and represents the first stage
of an evolving display sponsored by the leading Australian
company, Origin Energy.
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Ingarnendi
: "to look about and inquire"
The word Ingarnendi is a Kaurna word meaning "to look
about and inquire". It was first written down by German
missionaries Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schurmann
in 1840. This website can be used to search and discover
information about the history and culture of the people
living across Australia.
The Ingarnendi website is a reflection of the increasingly
popular means of people learning about history and
culture. It provides access to the South Australian
Museum's unique collections of Aboriginal artefacts,
archival photographs, films, artworks and journals.
The largest collection in existence in the world.
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Australian
Aboriginal Cultures Gallery
Through the millennia Aboriginal people have developed
a unique way of life: creative, innovative and adaptable
to the diverse circumstances of the tremendously variable
Australian environment. The South Australian Museumās
collections tell the story of this way of life and
its achievements." |
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In the Footsteps
of Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson was a man of great vision and determination,
whose tireless work has provided the world with a
legacy of scientific knowledge and great inspiration.
Never an 'armchair geologist', his enthusiasm, spirit
of adventure and conscientious approach have made
him a hero in every sense of the word, and a person
of whom all Australians may be proud. |
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South Australian
Museum Gift Shop : unique gifts and specialist
bookshop.
From digeridoos to dinosaurs. All available to buy
online today. |
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Norman
B Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindaleās career encompassed a number
of research paths that converged and diverged across
several decades until his death. As an anthropologist
he had a remarkable appetite for fieldwork. Taken
together, his dozens of field trips amounted to more
than seven years.
It was on his first field trip that Tindale developed
a project that the remainder of his career was geared
towards, the concept of bounded tribal territories.
Over the course of his expeditions Tindale collected
and documented artefacts, wrote daily field journals,
took thousands of photographs and mastered the art
of sound and film recording. Tindale also compiled
comprehensive genealogies and collected more than
150 parallel vocabularies across Aboriginal Australia.
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Where have all the
butterflies gone??
Butterfly habitats have been changed by land clearance
for housing and farming. Introduced plants and animals
have also had a dramatic impact upon their habitats.
Many butterflies cannot survive in these changed habitats
while others are doing very well. In this exhibition
you will discover which host plants are important
for butterflies There is an urgent need to protect
habitats where host plants are found. This will ensure
the continuing survival of the extraordinary diversity
of butterflies in South Australla.
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Dinosauria
From the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex to singing
and dancing Dorothy of the Wiggles, dinosaurs have
occupied a prominent place in our culture since their
discovery.
Sir Richard Owen first used the name Dinosauria in
1851, to describe a newly recognised group of animals
unlike anything previously known.
Why are people so interested in dinosaurs? Is it the
realisation that real monsters lived on our planet,
or do we wonder at the process of evolution, which
produced such a wonderful range of species and adaptations.
Perhaps it is because they survived for so long but
then mysteriously became extinct and we are left to
wonder why?
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Lost Fauna of Adelaide
Imagine ... you have left the country of your birth
where life was hard and the future bleak, taking a
chance on a new life on the other side of the world,
in the new colony of South Australia. It is 1836 and
you have arrived in an alien environment, but one
which promises rewards for hard work. In just a few
decades you witness land clearance on a large scale,
the worst drought ever recorded and devastating bushfires.
But the new farms are productive and you prosper....
The rapidly growing population is taking its toll
on the land and water, but you have your own concerns
and are unaware of the impact at first. Over the years,
your enjoyable hunting trips into the hills become
less eventful; you realise that it has been a long
time since you saw a kangaroo close to town, and the
little blue birds have disappeared. To brighten up
the impoverished landscape you help form an Acclimatisation
Society to import British plants and birds.
After a time you decide that using the Torrens for
sewerage and tannery may have been a mistake - the
smell is overpowering... These changes occurred in
just a few decades during the foundation of our present
City of Adelaide. Most of us have probably taken the
benefits for granted. But there has been a cost...
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Life and Adaptations to
Water
Animals and plants all need water. What if there is
too much or too little? How do they cope? Come with
us on a journey. We will stop and look at the animals
and plants along the way and find out how they live
with the water in their environments.
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Ngurunderi
: An Aboriginal Dreaming
This exhibition describes the culture of the Ngarrindjeri
people of the Lower Murray River and Coorong areas
of South Australia. Their environment was rich with
animals, plants and aquatic resources and the Ngarrindjeri
groups were consequently less nomadic than Aborigines
of the inland. A wide range of material culture items
- wooden artefacts and basketry in particular - reflected
this more sedentary lifestyle.
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A
Beautiful Burial ... Ancient Egypt in Adelaide
The mummy and coffin of Renpit-Nefert have been in
the South Australian Museum for over a hundred years
(and on display in the Egyptian Room since its establishment
in 1939). Her name, which means 'beautiful year',
suggests that Renpit-Nefert's parents were most pleased
with the birth of their daughter.
Judging from the size of the mummy, she died as an
adult. The gods that are painted on her coffin grant
her '. . . a beautiful burial'. It is thought that
she died about 2,500 years ago but, because her burial
site is not known, the date can only be guessed at
on the basis of the style of decoration on the coffin.
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The
Big Canvas - painting Cockatoo Creek
At Cockatoo Creek in 1931, anthropologists from this
Museum and the University of Adelaide met Warlpiri
and Anmatyerre people for the first time.
This painting commemorates that meeting.
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Extinctions SA
Few of us would be aware that 30 animals have disappeared
from our state since European settlement in 1836.
Supported by many of the state's conservation organisations,
the Museum aims to educate the community of this plight
and foster the environmental awareness required to
avoid further extinctions.
Extinctions S.A. provides the rare opportunity to see
quolls, bettongs, wallabies, birds and even a Murray
Crayfish, all of which have been driven from South
Australia due to a complex combination of factors.
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Museum @ Work
Have you ever thought about working in a museum or
wondered about what people do in a museum? The South
Australian Museum has extraordinary collections of
natural history specimens and the world's largest
collection of Australian Aboriginal artefacts. There
are a large number of people who work at the Museum,
carrying out research on the collections, developing
new exhibitions and looking after the collections
for the future. To find out more about the different
roles of Museum staff and the collections, try this
interactive game, consider the clues and work it out
for yourself!
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Ocean Life
Come and discover some of our amazing collections from
the ocean. Try and answer puzzling questions about
animals that live in the sea, or send in your own
questions to us at the Museum.
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