LET ME TELL YA ‘BOUT THE BIRDS AND THE BEES

Saturday events free with Museum entry.  

10:30am The Bees…

Let’s focus on bees in Australia! Learn about the role of the honeybee (an introduced animal), the incredible diversity of native bees, and why the arrival of Varroa mite deserves our attention. Find out how these issues matter to species survival.

Presented by Professor Saul Cunningham from the Australian National University and Director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society. Saul has more than 30 years’ experience as a researcher examining the role of pollinating animals in wild places and in farming landscapes.

11:30am The Birds…

There are many endangered birds that live in the Shoalhaven. This presentation will teach you more about some of these species and give practical tips on what you can do to help them.

Yolande Cozijn from BirdLife Shoalhaven will tell you about our local Gang Gangs, Glossy Black Cockatoos and Powerful Owls. Learn how to identify these beautiful birds, how to distinguish males from females, what they feed on and the threats they are facing.

1:30pm Whale Songlines + Virtual Reality Demonstration

With Dr Emily Yap, Katharina Peters and Guy Freer from the University of Wollongong.

Whales are a key indicator for the health of our oceans and, like the canary in the coalmine, their health reflects the future of the planet. For thousands of years, First Nations people have recorded whale knowledge in stories, art and music, creating a deep time archive of human survival through previous climatic upheaval. First Nations knowledge systems are increasingly recognised as a key tool in the response to the global climate emergency, offering culturally informed approaches for the protection of Sea Country in a post-Anthropocene world.

Bringing together First Nations cultural knowledge, whale research and extended reality (XR) technologies, Whale Songlines explores the crucial role of whales in planetary survival and celebrates their ancestral kinship connections to humans through art and science, stories and song.

Following the talk, a special demonstration of Extended Reality (XR) technology will take place. Learn more about what the technology can achieve. Give a headset a try and explore a virtual world!