Annual Report 2001-2002 - Western Australian Museum - The ...

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Museum Outreach Services
The Performance Indicators of this Annual Report show the Museum had 917,000 visitors and
over 685,000 other contacts with the public through the web site and through direct inquiries to
Museum staff. These figures fail to capture, however, the reach of the Museum into our
community. The extent of the community activities of the Museum is difficult to quantify on a
consistent basis, but the examples below give an indication of its significance.
• The Education and Learning Unit lent 2,116 items to schools throughout the state, contacting
an estimated 127,000 students.
• The Museum Assistance Program answered 8,165 enquiries, contacted 1,035 people though
lectures, courses and workshops and undertook 133 field trips and off-site meetings.
• Alcoa Frog Watch has exposure to over 250,000 Western Australians through activities such
as membership (7,500), school education programs (600), community workshops (450),
Mandurah Crab Fest—Alcoa Corporate Display (30,000), Perth Flower and Garden Show
Ecotopia Exhibition (40,000), Royal Show Landcare Experience (81,000), Whiteman Park
Schools Environment Festival (500 participants) and the Community Frog Fest—Herdsman
Lake Wildlife (250 participants).
• The scientists in the Museum’s Materials Conservation Unit gave lectures, undertook fieldwork
and contributed to scientific journals in the areas of textile conversation, the environmental
impact of decommissioned naval vessels as artificial reefs, Mawson’s Hut in Antarctica and
consulted in the USA on the conservation management of the Civil War submarine H. L.
Huntley.
• The Museum’s exhibition Baudin, celebrating the Australian journey of exploration of Captain
Nicolas Thomas Baudin, toured to the South Australian Maritime Museum and King Island
and attracted over 9,000 visitors.
• Two issues of Tracks, the Museum’s magazine, were printed and 8,000 copies were distributed
throughout the state.
• In July 2002, the discovery in the Nullarbor of a marsupial lion skeleton, thought to be over
250,000 years old, was front-page news in the West Australian and feature articles followed.
This was one of many articles and features on the work of the Western Australian Museum.
• Staff of the Science and Culture Division of the Museum gave over 100 professional lectures,
talks to the community, lectures to secondary and tertiary students and public lectures along
with a range of radio and TV interviews.
• The Museum’s research journal Records of the Western Australian Museum was distributed
to 184 institutions around the world and in return 234 journals were received on an exchange
basis.
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT 2002–2003