Art - Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

• LOUISE JAMES and ANN TEESDALE continued researching
Tasmania’s sporting heritage while preparing the exhibition
Replay: Sporting life in Tasmania, which will open in 2005.
• BRIAN SMITH continued work on the Checklist of Tasmanian
Mollusca and on selected species of charopid land snails.
He contributed to work on Cretaceous opalized fossil snails
as a joint project with staff of the South Australian
Museum.
• BOB MESIBOV continued investigations in millipede
taxonomy and biogeography.
• LISA BOUTIN continued her study of New Caledonian species
of the spider family Clubionidae, with many new species
coming to light. Comparative material from Fiji and other
parts of the Pacific was obtained. She continued work with
Dr Schlinger on acrocerid flies that parasitise spiders.
Several new species and association records have come to
light from Tasmania and elsewhere.
• CRAIG REID continued his work on ant identification from a
diverse collection of Tasmanian material.
• TAMMY GORDON began a study of mammalian hair
identification.
EMERGENCY DOCUMENTATION
An innovative program at the Museum ensures that the rapidly
changing face of both urban and country areas in Tasmania is
recorded for the future. Many of the changes are occurring
because of altering economic and social conditions in
industries and community facilities which are no longer viable
or relevant. Frequently the Museum is made aware of the
situation at short notice and a quick response is needed.
The documentation program has recorded a number of these
transitions in recent years.
The program may involve photographic documentation of sites,
work practices and people, the acquisition of memorabilia,
records and objects, archaeological site recording and oral
history interviews.
During the year the following documentation projects were
undertaken:
• Exeter Masonic Lodge
• Ulverstone Playground
• Devonport Athletic Carnival
• Simplot Factory, Scottsdale
• North Eastern Advertiser, Scottsdale.
• IAN NORTON continued his ecological research on the elapid
snakes at Northdown, near Wesley Vale and on selected
Bass Strait Islands. He is also cooperating with research
being carried out in Pathology at Launceston General
Hospital and in Deakin University, Geelong on Rickettsia
disease—a parasite carried by ticks which infest snakes
and other reptiles.
Launceston General Hospital’s Radiology Department manager Garth Faulkner and Museum researcher Craig Reid
taking X-rays of one of the Museum’s thylacine specimens. Watching on are radiographer Graham Kentworthy and
Museum research officers Judy Rainbird and Tammy Gordon. Photo courtesy of the Examiner newspaper.
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