Simple, elegant and robust installations in a new landscape and environment. The loop trail is an exciting addition to the new TAFE, helping to create a sense of place but also acting as a learning tool focusing on traditional technologies.

This sensitively presented, inclusive, and engaging exhibition was produced on a relatively small budget. The project is intriguing and immediately engages the visitor, even the assessor, who really wants to see it.

The innovation and experimentation demonstrated in the interactive displays and built elements enhance the visitor experience and understanding of the caves’ formation in a unique and engaging fashion. A creative response to a difficult setting.

Exceptional image quality and ability to interact with the landscape and story through multimedia provides a number of avenues for visitors to engage and enjoy the installation. Murrook exhibits a strength of curatorial vision and respectful development over time to create a beautifully crafted exhibit.

Whilst this project is a complex technical project its implementation presents a refreshing simplicity of form, allowing users to freely circulate and enjoy the space around the interpretive elements.

A range of interpretive techniques focus on the context of the Kelly outbreak, the people involved and details and consequences of the Siege of Glenrowan, giving visibility to hostages, police, sympathisers and other observers.

This project shows how collaboration between stakeholders can result in big visions and great outcomes. Looking forward to seeing the implemented works.

This sensitively presented, inclusive, and engaging exhibition was produced on a relatively small budget. The project is intriguing and immediately engages the visitor, even the assessor, who really wants to see it.

Judges comment: Simply beautiful. The thought and design makes this project a delight to look at, read and makes for a visually interesting display for visitors.

So important to see Aboriginal cultural significance embedded in ‘everyday life’ situations not just in museums.

Judges Comment: A wonderfully immersive archaeological experience with a range of educational aspects. Great quality interpretive experience for such a short temporary event.

There is a clever link to the lobby/café space to draw people through, this is well thought out and artfully executed.

Judges comment: Fantastic quality of the final product will ensure longevity of the space which will stand the test of time.

A fantastic truly immersive interpretive cultural landscape that shows how interpretation can be beautiful when well planned and designed.

Judges comment: A great project with beautifully executed works showcasing the  skills of the community and demonstrating a collective concern for the environment.

This is a well planned and well executed project that fully integrates the interpretation and architecture and truly compliments the World Heritage Site. 

This is a beautiful high quality installation. It is great to see commitment to interpretation by developers and the engagement of knowledge holders and artists.

Judges comment: A fantastic, truly immersive interpretive cultural landscape that shows how interpretation can be beautiful when well planned and designed.

Judges comment: This project meets the requirements of its audience in an engaging way that is easy to access and provides some online adventure for any age.

A wonderfully imaginative and innovative event utilising a range of interpretive media that moves away from traditional methods of interpretation.

Judges comment: A practical, effective and engaging approach of representing an interesting history.

Judges comment: Effectively bringing history to life for a wide and varied audience through muliti-disciplinary outputs.

Judges comment: Imaginative storytelling, tapped into area of child interest, with historical twist.

Judges comment: Innovative with inbuilt futureproofing and sustainability.

Judges comment: Involved a large number of community members and yet managed to achieve one cohesive, carefully planned/designed project.

Judges comment: A beautiful storytelling device that will become an important community heirloom.

Judges comment: It speaks to the specific locality to enhance that sense of community identity and place.

Judges comment: Excellent initiative to create an accessible walking track.

Judges comment: It is fun, delightful, lighthearted and joyous, and really has the local community at its heart.

Judges Comment: So important to see Aboriginal cultural significance embedded in ‘everyday life’ situations not just in museums.

Australians love gardens and gardening, and lawns are one of our most enduring landscape features. For over two centuries this much-loved use of grass has survived changes in horticultural fashions and environmental conditions.

The Ancient Landscapes Gallery is a place-based, permanent exhibition that invites visitors to explore the multi-layered significance of the Wellington Caves Reserve.

The Arid Garden tells a story of the power of collecting and childhood wonder; celebrates the intriguing adaptations of a group of plants; and explores how plant form and function inspire architecture, art and design.

The exhibition explores part of the complex history of food production in Gawler from the Kaurna community’s self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle to the industrial-scale production of wheat, eggs, dairy and brewed beverages.

An outside installation telling the stories and history of the Adelaide suburb of Prospect (South Australia) through large scale interpretive panels and sculptures. The wall runs alongside a bike path in a new housing development. Mixed materials – rusted steel, concrete, reclaimed wood and environmental landscaping.

Conjola tours offer visitors the opportunity to explore lakeside, bush and beach on a 1.5 hour eco-tour at Lake Conjola Entrance. On this 2.5km walk with experienced local guides, visitors hear surprising stories of natural environment and local history, and see a diverse range of local wildlife (kangaroo sightings highly likely). The route includes stunning lake and coast vistas, with whale watching opportunities during the migration season. Lake Conjola Entrance is a ‘must visit’ location for bird-watchers and photographers, known for a wide range of species including endangered and vulnerable beach-nesters.

From the launch of the rocket to the eventual touch down on the surface of the red planet, visitors are guided through selected Questacon exhibitions and enjoy a range of immersive learning experiences to gain the skills and knowledge needed to be the first humans on Mars. The journey concludes with a spectacular visit to our impressive seven metre Mars globe, suspended in the inner gallery on the ground floor. This experience leaves our visitors with one final question – would you go to Mars?

Songs of Home tells the little-known story of music played and enjoyed in NSW during the first 70 years of the colony. It focuses on how people constructed a sense of “home and place” through music and also marks the initial intersection between the musical cultures of the First Nations people and colonists, reflecting on what this means in a contemporary context. Surprising, moving, entertaining, the fascinating world of music in early NSW is revealed here for the first time as a place of melodious complexity. The exhibition was the culmination of almost a decade of research, musician and scholarly collaborations and exploration of intangible heritage in SLM house museums.

ON THE MOVE is a highly interactive intergenerational family exhibition that takes the audience on a journey of exploration around Australia discovering fascinating facts about different modes of transport, inventions and the amazing people behind them. From the supersonic vehicles of the present to pioneering prototypes from the past, and new innovations that will redefine how we travel in the future, ON THE MOVE celebrates the way in which transport captures our imagination.

The Recycling Discovery Hub is now a “showcase” recycling education centre catering to residents, school groups, community groups and cross-border residents from NSW who also use the Materials Recovery Facility. It is a key tool in enabling engagement and inspiring behaviour change both in the community and for industry. The community is able to experience a virtual reality tour of the facility, which via gamification provides a safe but immersive and ‘hands-on’ way for users to undertake and understand some of the key tasks within a MRF. Back in the real world, visitors to the Hub will also discover what happens to their recycling through highly engaging displays, and hands-on interactives.

The aim of the signage was to bring awareness and appreciation of the precious and rich biodiversity to visitors, and to celebrate and share the history and Indigenous culture of the area. Addressing the impacts of visitor behaviour at the Reserves was a key objective, with the aim being to inform, educate and positively influence visitor behaviour.

An exhibition, based on the thesis, Unley’s Own – Returning Home, by Sandra Kearney, that explores the personal experiences of soldiers of the 27th Australian Infantry Battalion as they returned home to resume their lives in the suburb of Unley, after service at the front during the Great War.

In 2016 Melbourne-based independent arts company, Barking Spider Visual Theatre, was invited to curate the House of Ideas series in Fairhall exhibition-house, at The Johnston Collection (TJC), a not-for-profit and award-winning museum in East Melbourne. HOUSE OF DREAMS (12 July 2016 – 20 September 2016) was their response. Taking their inspiration from Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s dream theories, a team of visual and performance artists from the theatre company, transformed TJC into a transformative space with a series of extraordinary dreamscapes. 

The Werribee Open Range Zoo experience is an African experience; our animals, our stories and our conservation stories are all about creating strong engagement and immersing our visitors. Continuing this theme through every element of our experience means carefully considered design. Drawing inspiration from the African Thorn Tree (Acacia tortillis) with its wide canopy spread out above the hungry reach of giraffes and other grazing herbivores of the savannah; we created a Solar Forest made up of 8 “Sustainabilitrees”.

This project arises from the place’s particular significance as a bird habitat and the initiative of the Maitland City Council and the Hunter Bird Observers Group in establishing a viewing platform on the western edge of the reservoir.  This project has developed both on site and multimedia online resources which are discussed and illustrated in this project nomination.

Tiger Trek, a new exhibit at Taronga Zoo, is designed as a powerful immersive and disruptive experience that creates internal conflict in zoo guests; sparking deep emotional connections to Tigers, then challenging and inspiring people to take positive action to help save these magnificent animals.
The exhibit uses a combination of authentic cultural theming and landscaping, interactive elements and AV, props and staging, rich storytelling and soundscapes to create an immersive physical and emotional journey. In a simulated flight onboard Tiger Trek Airlines, guests are transported from Taronga Zoo to Indonesia. There, guests engage with Sumatran Tigers through close encounters, learn about Tigers’ behaviour in their natural habitat and find out about local conservation projects such as the Wildlife Protection Unit.

Alphabetical Sydney: Creative Lab at the Museum of Sydney is an interactive children’s exhibition that celebrates Sydney in all its diversity, from A to Z. The exhibition was produced by Sydney Living Museums in collaboration with illustrator Antonia Pesenti and author Hilary Bell, creators of the best-selling book Alphabetical Sydney. The exhibition aims to provide an accessible avenue for children and families to engage with Sydney’s story by encouraging visitors to investigate, write, collaborate, listen, draw, read and dream. The exhibition was designed to be enjoyed by budding artists and authors and anyone with a sense of fun and a capacity to dream.

This project involved the redevelopment of the Port Arthur Historic Site Interpretation Gallery and was undertaken alongside the major redevelopment and extension of the Visitor Centre. The new Gallery has been designed to be the launch pad for the greater story line of the site, and to provide our visitors with orientation and an in-depth understanding of our complex and layered history and world heritage significance. The Gallery combines a range of interpretive media to communicate five thematic pathways which then extend into our onsite tours and activities. A user-operated way-finding map and up-to-date visitor information assist our visitors in planning their day, while interactive displays inspire storytelling and create personal connections to Port Arthur’s multi-layered history.

Alice Anderson (1897-1926) was Australia’s first female garage owner. In 1919 Alice purchased a block of land on Cotham Road in Kew and built a garage from her own design: ‘Alice Anderson’s Motor Service’. The garage offered petrol sales, vehicle repairs, a driving school, 24 hour chauffeur experience and organised chauffeured tourist parties on interstate trips. It was an all-women business, and employed approximately nine chauffeurs and mechanics. This exhibition tells Alice’s short life story – how she set up the garage and the role of women in motoring; her inventions and innovations; her personal life and tragic death. Told in a setting of a reconstruction of her garage, office and bedroom through interpretive panels, historical objects and interactive elements.

‘Darwin: A Tale of Four Cities’ is a first-of-its-kind, immersive, self-guided, audio walking tour that takes you to ten of these locations around Darwin’s CBD. It is delivered to your mobile device or tablet via an app and headphones. It was meticulously researched by independent curator and former journalist Caddie Brain, based Northern Territory collections and oral histories.

The tour also features the extraordinary personal story of narrator Charlie King, a legendary Northern Territory broadcaster and anti-violence campaigner and was funded by the Northern Territory Department of Tourism and Culture’s Live Darwin Arts program. In an Australian first, the tour is recorded binaurally, an innovative recording method that produces an immersive 3D sound augmented reality experience, on the street. Hundreds of locals were involved in re-creating historic soundscapes to support the audio stories that transport the listener back in time.

Poihākena tours: stories of Māori in Sydney is a 2-hour walking tour based in The Rocks, Sydney where Māori have lived, loved, visited, traded, worked and died since 1793. (Poihākena is the Māori word for Sydney – a transliteration of Port Jackson). Poihākena tours bring to life the wonderfully rich stories of Māori in Sydney through tangible connections to place, hands-on experiences and engaging story telling – underpinned by Matauranga (knowledge of Māori Culture and history) and Manaakitanga (hospitality).

Creating an interactive, play-based learning experience to build an engaged and connected audience for life.
Want to be a Zoo-keeper for the day? Feed and care for the animals? Sure thing! Let’s get you a keeper’s uniform and the rest is up to you! Love animals and want to help care for them? Why not try your hand at being a Keeper Kids Vet? Examine real x-rays to see what each patient might need before listening to their heartbeats through specialised stethoscopes. It’s all here waiting for you! This part of the Zoo is just for you, you’re in charge and where the animals live and what they do is completely up to you!

The Judbarra / Gregory National Park Interpretation Plan has been developed in conjunction with the Traditional Owners, Parks, Wildlife and Heritage (Department of Tourism and Culture) and the Consultant Trace Writing. The project has been one of collaborative consultation to review and prepare to update the existing old Visitor Centre which services this park. The Interpretation Plan saw the Partners work together to ensure Aboriginal people, place names and language are well represented, information is accurate and appropriate and new communication technologies are considered. Truly a rewarding journey and an important step in engaging Traditional Owners in the joint management of this park.