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Western Australian Museum

The Western Australian Museum’s long and fascinating history reflects and documents the State’s rich and diverse natural and cultural heritage.

Established in 1891 in the old Perth gaol, it was known as the Geological Museum and its collections were geological, ethnological and biological. In 1897 it officially became the Western Australian Museum and Art Gallery.

During 1959 the botanical collection was transferred to the new Herbarium and the Museum and the Art Gallery became separate institutions. The Museum focussed its collecting and research interests in the areas of natural sciences, anthropology, archaeology and the State’s history. Over the 1960s and 1970s it also began to work in the emerging areas of historic shipwrecks and Aboriginal site management.

Today the Western Australian Museum comprises six public sites and a collection and research centre and houses more than 4.5 million objects from rare fossils to the iconic racing yacht Australia II.

The Museum also manages 200 shipwreck sites of the 1500 known to be located off the WA coast and manages eight Aboriginal land reserves.

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Crest-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda) from the Simpson Desert, Queensland. Bobby Tamayo / Wikimedia Commons

We discovered three new species of marsupial. Unfortunately, they’re already extinct

We found three previously unknown species of mulgaras hiding in museum collections – but all three have been driven to extinction since European colonisation of Australia.
Kenny Travouillon

From glowing cats to wombats, fluorescent mammals are much more common than you’d think

After combing through museum collections, our team of researchers found a whopping 125 fluorescent mammal species – from polar bears and dolphins, to leopards, zebras and wombats.
Wayne Lawler / Australian Wildlife Conservancy / AAP

Australia has hundreds of mammal species. We want to find them all – before they’re gone

A new list of 404 Australian mammal species is a crucial conservation step in the face of the ongoing extinction crisis.
Detail of the Connecticut Inscription, with image enhancement. Centre for Rock Art Research and Management database

Rock art shows early contact with US whalers on Australia’s remote northwest coast

Etchings over much earlier Aboriginal engravings show foreign whalers made contact with Australia’s remote northwest long before colonial settlement of the area.
Microbes living on corals are instrumental in keeping coral reefs healthy. Reuters/David Gray

Healthy microbes make for a resilient Great Barrier Reef

A new study provides insight into coral-dwelling microbial communities and how they react to pollution, overfishing, and climate change. What does it mean for the Great Barrier Reef?
Coral reefs under the business-as-usual-emission scenario, will quickly decalcify and dissolve. prilfish

Coral will dissolve if CO2 emissions don’t change

The world’s coral reefs will quickly dissolve if greenhouse gas emissions continue on current trends, a new simulation has found. Greenhouse gases cause the ocean to become warmer and more acidic, which…
A fire coral and friends, Millepora intricata in a lagoon on the Great Barrier Reef. Mike Emslie and Daniela Ceccarelli

Australian endangered species: Fire corals

The fire coral (Millepora boschmai) is one of the rarest species of coral in the world. It is known only from a small number of locations in the Pacific Ocean, Panama and Indonesia, and it appears this…
The new findings show that long term geological processes influence global coral diversity patterns more than the environment. AAP Image/Nick Thake

How earthquakes and volcanoes shape coral diversity

Earthquakes, volcanoes and movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates influence coral diversity patterns more than short-term environmental changes, a new study by Australian researchers has found. The study…
A high level of coral cover doesn’t always mean a high level of species diversity; and diversity is important. Maria Beger

A lot of coral doesn’t always mean high biodiversity

The health and productivity of coral reefs is rapidly declining. Hard corals are the principal builders of coral reef ecosystems; however they are struggling to survive due to pollution, catchment clearing…
Extreme weather events, such as Cyclone Yasi, are damaging the Great Barrier Reef. AAP

Calls for climate action as Great Barrier Reef suffers major coral loss

The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral cover in the last 27 years, and it could halve again by 2022 say researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. A study published today in the…
Coral bleaching is a serious issue, but we’re learning how reefs can best recover. AFP/Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Back from the bleach – how isolation helps coral reefs recover

Coral reefs around the world are under pressure from multiple threats. A burgeoning gas industry – such as that near Gladstone – is one of the newest of these. Pollution, sedimentation, declining water…

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