Author: Karolina Kilian

Anyone unlucky enough to have encountered me sans my morning coffee knows that this is when I’m at my most desperate, perhaps my most murderous.  I feel deprived, entitled to what I believe is my just deserts, and I’ll stop at nothing to get it.  By ‘it’ I mean coffee and I know I’m not alone out there. So it was no surprise to learn that the popularisation of coffee...

‘Time flies’, the proverb proclaims, and indeed it seems a year could not possibly have passed since the Sydney Opera House celebrated its 40th birthday and we commemorated the occasion with a blog post highlighting the landmark and the Museum’s purchase of two very rare protest posters associated with Jørn Utzon’s dismissal from its construction.  Yet today, the iconic cultural centre yet again marks its birthday – this time with...

A spectacular Chinese ceremonial costume was recently installed in the Museum’s Landmarks: People and Places across Australia gallery and it got me thinking about the lives of all those who for over a century wore this intricate creation – proudly and somewhat defiantly – as part of the annual Bendigo Easter Fair. You see, before this costume and many like it joined the extensive regalia collection at the Golden Dragon...

“The Opera House will have something the pyramids never had – it will have life. They were built as tombs, but this building is built to give happiness and refreshment to millions.”   – Queen Elizabeth II speaking at the opening of the Sydney Opera House, 20 October 1973 The Sydney Opera House turned 40 this month and observing its jubilant birthday celebrations, it is hard to imagine a time when...

Are you a ‘Briney’? Perhaps you know someone with that last name? Maybe your family traces its roots back to the Tamworth area of the Liverpool Plains? Or perhaps you are a budding detective and would relish the opportunity to solve an old mystery? If so, you may be able to assist us in our search for information about an Aboriginal breastplate from our collection that was recently installed in...