Seeing as how we have been focusing quite a bit on Australia and it’s Indigenous inhabitants this term we thought it would be a good idea to check out the Australian Museum.
I am so glad we did. I was a little unsure of how they would all go behaviour wise and also whether they would find it boring but they had an absolute blast.
Lani thought the idea of leaving hand prints in caves pretty cool till we told her that they were made by placing the paint in ones mouth and spitting it over your hand. She was grossed out.
There was a really cool and very positive display on the Christian missions with quotes from indigenous Christians who believe that the message of the gospel fits nicely with the creator spirit that the aboriginals already believed in. There was also a replica bush chapel that they all had to have a turn being the minister in.
The kids are sitting in a replica front end section of The Freedom bus. This part of the exhibition totally threw me for a moment. I had completely forgotten to mention racism to the kids, ever I think. I had just been focusing on all of the cool bits and not mentioning the scary ugly past our country had. In fact I felt a little detached from it as my family was still living in England and only chose to emigrate when the country got over stupid policies like the white Australia one. Not that England’s past is any better. I can trace my family name back to long haired Scottish barbarians who set fire to churches with people inside of them because it was bad luck to draw a sword in a sacred building. So I talked to them quickly about injustices and inequality about ignorance and fear. Then about the brave people who took to the streets held their heads high used their loudest voices said no to racism and sat on a bus. I think it went over the little ones heads a bit, Eli just wanted to get in the vehicle but I found Lani a bit later staring quietly at an ancient photo of 4 Aboriginal men in chains, I am going to have to find a gently way to walk them through a horrific past.
Everyone learns at museums, I learnt that caves now come with flat screens.
This was the coolest thing in the world, well it was pretty good anyway. It is an interactive table displaying information on Australia’s most deadly. The kids all look a little freaked because that crocodile had just jumped towards them jaws snapping. The images are projected onto the table from the roof and they move around and do things when you touch them, even the water will ripple around your hands and the two boys at the top are flicking sand at each other.
Lilly and her dead Dingo, she loved this stuffed dog and didn’t want to leave it. Sometime the things that catch their eyes make me smile.
That wasn’t half of what we saw and we didn’t get through everything. That’s fine by me though we can use it as an excuse to go back soon and get some more dead dog cuddles.
