Annual Report-2000-2001 - Western Australian Museum - The ...

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component of the Museum’s marine invertebrate
collections.
Fred Wells was invited to participate in the Tropical
Marine Mollusc Program (TMMP) as a resource expert
at its 11th annual conference and workshop held in
Southern India (September–October), and presented
a paper on work done in Thailand on the mangrove
muricid Chicoreus capucinus. Fred proposed holding
a final TMMP meeting in Perth in 2004 as part of the
3rd World Malacological Congress. He also
represented the Museum at a ‘Conference of Marine
Life’ meeting—an ambitious international program
that aims to name all the species of marine life over
the next decade. The project is being facilitated by
Mr Jesse Ausubel of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in
New York.
A total of 37 talks, lectures, excursions and behindthe-scenes
tours were undertaken by staff, as well as
36 media interviews or articles. Diana Jones
coordinated a series of articles for the North West
Telegraph, written by marine staff, on the findings
of the Woodside Dampier Project. These articles
resulted in school projects at the local school and
have been well received by the public.
Earth and Planetary Sciences
A new, much improved departmental web site was
completed. Numerous tours of the Diamonds to
Dinosaurs gallery were undertaken by Drs
McNamara, Bevan and Long.
Invertebrate Palaeontology and
Palaeobotany
Ken McNamara completed co-editing Human
Evolution through Developmental Change, which
will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press
later in 2001. A popular booklet entitled Fossil Plants
of Western Australia was written in collaboration with
Dr Steve McLoughlin of Melbourne University. Articles
Western Australian Museum Annual Report 2000–2001
Western Australian Museum–
Science and Culture
on stromatolites and ancient beliefs in fossil echinoids
were written for the popular science magazine
Newton and the Museum magazine, Tracks,
respectively.
Vertebrate Palaeontology
John Long was awarded the Eureka Prize for the
Promotion of Science. John’s contributions have
included serving as the Museum’s representative on
the State National Science Week Committee, and on
the organising committee for a State-wide science
quiz night (‘Bush to Beach’, held in 53 communities
around the State). Science Week events organised
by John as project leader have included: The Art of
Science, an exhibition of scientific art at the Western
Australian Museum, and 2001: Space, Odysseys and
the Science Behind Sci-Fi Literature held at Steve’s
Nedlands Park Hotel, which was attended by 60
people.
John Long gave 18 talks to school groups during
Children’s Book Week, talks to UWA Friends of the
Reid Library, and talks at Subiaco Library. He delivered
a keynote lecture at the national meeting of the
Science Teachers’ Association and the Western
Australian science teachers conference at Muresk.
Research Associate Alex Baynes attended the AQUA
(Australian Quaternary Association) biennial
conference in Port Fairy, Victoria. He also presented
a paper, jointly authored by Ken Aplin of the Museum,
and John Chappell and Brad Pillans of the Research
School of Earth Sciences, Australian National
University, based on research carried out on Pliocene
and Quaternary vertebrate faunas from a succession
of karstic and related coastal deposits on Barrow
Island.
The Dinosaur Club continued to provide children and
adults around Australia with the latest information
about prehistoric discoveries. This year issue 16 of
Dinonews magazine was published, and issue 17 is
in production.