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Phar Lap's skeleton

This is the skeleton of Phar Lap, the famous racehorse, which was born in New Zealand, raced mostly in Australia and died in unexplained circumstances in the United States in 1932.

Interactive

In digestion

Follow the passage of food through the human body. Select foods and drinks and decide how to digest them. For example, choose to chew, to add saliva to the mouth or add gastric juices to the stomach. Watch how the body reacts to changes. Find out more about digestion along the way and answer questions.

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Garden detective: explore an Australian garden

Search for small creatures in an Australian garden. Find animals such as a scorpion, a lacewing and a cicada. Have a close look at their body parts. Return all the animals to their habitats. This learning object is one in a series of two objects. The series is also packaged as a combined learning object.

Interactive

Old Bernie's Pond

Clean up Old Bernie's Pond. See how it has become polluted and invaded by introduced species. Restore the pond by choosing actions such as planting native species and removing sources of pollution. Look at the effects of each change. Earn points to get a certificate.

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Gold nugget

This is a gold nugget (approximately 3.4 cm x 2.2 cm), which was probably found in about 1865 on a goldfield in Otago (in the southern South Island of New Zealand).

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An exhibition home made of fibrolite, c1930s

This is a black-and-white photograph of the exterior of an exhibition home made of fibrolite (fibro-cement) that was constructed by James Hardie and Co Ltd (now known as James Hardie Industries). The street outside the home is crowded with people, some of whom have come to view the fibrolite home. The photograph measures ...

Interactive

Alien life form

Help an alien to understand how plants are adapted to life on Earth. Choose different combinations of leaves, seeds and roots. Design a plant that is best adapted to surviving in a particular environment. Adapt the plant for survival in specific environments: mangroves, cool rainforest, mountain slopes and arid land. ...

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Earth rotation: night and day

Watch an animation of the Earth rotating in space showing day and night, the equinox where locations on Earth experience close to equal hours of daytime and night-time (12 hours) and views of the Earth from above the North and South Poles. Turn an animated model of the Earth to explore how rotation is related to night and ...

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Pushing and pulling

Move animals from a boat to their new home in a zoo. Put them on a cart, then use monkeys to push or pull them up a hill. Use the minimum amount of force needed to move each animal. For example, use a single monkey to push a pelican or use three monkeys to pull a zebra. This learning object is a combination of three objects ...

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Light and shadows

Look at how a tree makes a shadow during a sunny day. Notice that objects always casts shadows that face away from the Sun. Examine how the shape and position of a shadow is related to the time of day and position of the Sun. Explore the shadows cast by different objects such as a bike, an umbrella and a child. Position ...

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Pushing and pulling: assessment

Test your understanding of push and pull forces by moving animals using monkey power. Investigate and then predict the effects of applying a force to move a range of objects of various mass. For example, select two monkeys to move a pelican, and predict whether they will move the pelican slowly, quickly or too fast.

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Cassowary sanctuary

Help a park ranger to arrange fencing in a wildlife sanctuary. Divide common geometric shapes into equal-sized sections for keeping cassowaries. Group the enclosures to form a quarantine zone for sick and injured birds. Then express divisions of the enclosures as fractions. Work through facts about the life of cassowaries: ...

Interactive

Make it go: energy source: assessment

Find out what you know about energy and what makes things work. Match a machine to its use and identify what makes it go. Answer true/false questions to show what you know about types of energy. View and print a report on your work. This assessment object is one in a series of two objects.

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Make it go: energy change: assessment

Find out what you know about energy and how it changes. Complete a flow chart to show energy changes by identifying the energy source and the energy output of some machines. View and print a report on your work. This assessment object is one in a series of two objects.

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New Zealand hatchetfish

This is a colour photograph of a New Zealand hatchetfish ('Polyipnus kiwiensis') in a transparent container. The organs responsible for bioluminescence are visible against the black background. The keel-shaped abdomen of the hatchetfish can also be seen.

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Sea louse

This is a colour photograph of a sea louse ('Natatolana woodjonesi').

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Bunyip gold nugget, 1972

This is a gold nugget known as the 'Bunyip nugget'. It weighs 50 ounces (1.55 kg). It was found in the early 1970s by a farmer while ploughing near Bridgewater to the west of Bendigo in Victoria, and was purchased by the National Museum of Victoria (now Museum Victoria) in 1978 for $40,000.

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Baw Baw frog

This is a colour photograph of a preserved Baw Baw frog ('Philoria frosti'). It is a museum specimen preserved in a transparent container. Museum cataloguing labels are visible.

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Sorting mother-of-pearl shells, Broome, c1953

This is a black-and-white photograph measuring 18.7 cm x 24.5 cm, showing three Malay or Indonesian men grading and sorting mother-of-pearl shells in Broome, Western Australia in about 1953. The photograph was taken by the famous Australian photographer Frank Hurley.

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Giant sea spider

This is a colour photograph of a giant sea spider ('Dodecolopoda mawsoni') set against a black background. This is a preserved specimen that has lost its original red colouration and faded to orange due to the preserving liquid. The long legs, small body and bright colouration are displayed in the image.