South Australian Museum
Highlights 2017–2018
This page: Rowan Moore, 3DÂ Design officer was recruited as part of the Museum Pathways program, made possible by philanthropic support.
Front cover: A Night at the Museum Friends Sleepover – Dinosaur style Photo by event partners: Sleepee Teepee
Chair’s Message This year has highlighted even more reasons for South Australians to be proud of their Museum. Record attendances to ticketed and free events as well as those attending Museum touring exhibitions and programmes off-site, have seen the number of people engaging with the Museum break through the one million barrier for the first time ever. As well as holding world leading collections and being on the UNESCO Memory of the World register, our Museum is a trailblazing scientific organisation, winning grants and publishing new knowledge. We were honoured to win the 2017 Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research, in partnership with the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA. This prize acknowledged our exciting Aboriginal Heritage Project, which analyses DNA extracted from samples held at the Museum, enabling Aboriginal people to understand their ancestors’ longstanding occupation of country and early migration routes. We were delighted to welcome one of the world’s leading palaeontologists, Associate Professor Diego García-Bellido, to the role of Senior Researcher (Earth Sciences) and to celebrate the appointment of our Head of Humanities, Professor John Carty, to the Australian National Commission for UNESCO as the Commissioner for Humanities and Social Sciences. The South Australian Museum received the 2017 South Australian Gold Award for Cultural Tourism and was also Highly Commended in two sections of the 2018 Museums and Galleries National Awards: for our Young Explorers Early Years Learning Program in the Interpretation, Learning & Audience Engagement category; and Yidaki: Didjeridu and the Sound of Australia in the Temporary or Travelling Exhibition category. As part of our commitment to be a truly inclusive institution, in March we were declared an Autism Friendly venue by Autism SA when our staff and volunteers elected to participate in autism awareness training. We held our first special early morning autismfriendly event in April and were thrilled when it booked out in just 40 minutes. During the year we upgraded and relaunched the Australian Polar Collections Gallery, refreshed our Family Room and played a formal role in Adelaide’s hosting of the International Astronautical Congress. We also took leadership of a collaborative venture to create a North Terrace Cultural Precinct Innovations Hub by hosting the GigCity Adelaide project connecting the precinct with a high speed broadband network. The Museum has been innovative in achieving much through the highest level of philanthropic support on record, and been able to employ more young South Australian graduates through fundraising. The endeavours of staff, volunteers and the generosity of sponsors is reflected in a stellar year of achievements.
Hon. Dr Jane Lomax-Smith AM
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A happy moment from the Opening Night of the Dinosaur rEvolution exhibition.
Exhibitions During 2017–2018, we presented 19 public exhibitions, with 13 drawn wholly or substantially from our own research and collections. It was a landmark year in many respects, with record attendances for ticketed exhibitions (125,773) and touring exhibitions (103,305) and two standout performers. • Dinosaur rEvolution: Secrets of Survival was the most visited ticketed exhibition in our history, with 57,579 people learning about how many of the birds we are familiar with are descended from dinosaurs. • Ngurra: Home in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, which could be seen as part of the Tarnanthi Festival, was the most visited free exhibition in our history with 82,070 visitors. The exhibition was curated by Aboriginal staff and communities. Exhibitions we created were also seen in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, and the critically acclaimed Yidaki: Didjeridu and the Sound of Australia exhibition, which ran until July 2017, was sent to Japan as part of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial. Dinosaur rEvolution explored the science behind recent fossil finds, providing an insight into the true, bizarre and complex nature of dinosauria. Over 33,000 people participated in programs, which included lectures, floor talks, special events for those with sensory impairment and pyjama parties. The exhibition also led to record sales for the Museum Shop and Café and record subscriptions for Museum Membership.
“Wow, wow, wow this is a must see while in Adelaide. To date one of the best museums I have visited in a long time. It is a great way to get to know SA’s vast beauty…” Visitor from the UK
717,594 125,773
people engaged with our exhibitions, 250% more than in the previous year. people attended a ticketed exhibition, up from 41,300 in 2016–2017.
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14,717 4,111 37
new objects added to our collections items loaned to: institutions in
7 countries
Collections We added 14,717 new objects to our already extensive collections of over 4 million objects, representing more than 600 million years of life on Earth. The Australian Aboriginal Material Culture digitisation project, supported by Newmont Australia, also added a further 9,945 images to the collection, and data from our collections was downloaded from the Atlas of Living Australia on 46,878 occasions – a cumulative total of more than 42.2 million records. The highlight of the year was the acquisition of an opalised dinosaur toe bone – only the third dinosaur specimen from South Australia. It was last seen for sale in 1973 by our then Curator of Fossils, Neville Pledge. When a Coober Pedy resident recently offered it to us, Neville, who is now an honorary researcher in the Palaeontology section, graciously agreed to buy it for the collections. As part of the legacy of the Ngurra: Home in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands exhibition, we acquired the Pampa Mara Tjanpi collection, which comprises 150 woven baskets created by 12 of the most senior female artists in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, updating our significant historic holdings. In addition, a collection of rare Yuendumu batik textiles was donated to the Museum by Francoise Dussart, an anthropologist in the USA who worked in Yuendumu and on our Dreamings exhibition in the 1980s. This collection adds an important layer to our holdings relating to the origins of the Warlpiri art movement. One of our most popular exhibitions, the Mawson Gallery, has been refurbished and reopened in February 2018 as the Australian Polar Collections Gallery with the generous support of the Mawson Trust and private donations. Improved displays and digital features showcase the very best of our Antarctic collections and highlight expeditions, biodiversity and the myriad achievements of Sir Douglas Mawson and, for the first time, South Australia’s other pioneering polar explorers: Sir Hubert Wilkins and John Rymill. While processing material from a 2006 Waterhouse Club expedition, we also discovered that we had on our hands a second specimen of the elusive Paradoxical Seahorse (Hippocampus paradoxus) – the first from South Australian waters. On the same expedition a Pugnose Shore Eel (Alabes obtusirostris) was also the first South Australian record of this elusive species. During the year Museum staff participated in the Bush Blitz expedition to the Great Victoria Desert, where they collected reptiles and mammals, and a Waterhouse Club expedition to collect invertebrates from the rarely visited Nuyts Archipelago, offshore from Ceduna.
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“Coming from Canberra we have our fair share of museums, but I have to say this may be the best one in Aus!� Visitor from Canberra
Night Lab
618,483
Total reach of our engagement programs, including onsite, offsite and education programs an increase of nearly 298% from last year
Engagement At the South Australian Museum, we are dedicated to delivering programs to all South Australians that foster lifelong curiosity, as well as critical and creative thinking through STEM learning in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths. We ran 94 public programs during 2017–2018, as well as 18 targeted schools education programs. The public programs attracted 183,555 participants – an 18% increase on the previous year. In addition, more than 500,000 people attended Borealis, our major collaboration with the 2018 Adelaide Fringe located on the Museum’s Front Lawn. During the year we welcomed 28,195 students to our galleries, exhibitions and programs. Our Education team delivered an intensive three-day program at the Museum as part of the CSIRO Aboriginal Summer Camp program ASSETS for Year 10 students. The Museum partnered with the Department of Education and Child Development and the State Library of South Australia to run the education program associated with the International Astronautical Congress and presented an extensive range of learning workshops for both teachers and students with a focus on STEM and space. Students participated in 90 minute facilitated sessions in three spacethemed exhibitions. The sessions explored observation of the night skies from Earth; an indigenous perspective with observations using spacecraft mounted instruments collecting data from outside our atmosphere; and an astronaut’s firstperson experience, with the Museum’s Patron, Dr Andrew Thomas AO. Our Ruby Award-winning Out of the Glass Case program, supported by Beach Energy, again brought the Museum’s education team and collections to communities across South Australia as well as to the APY Lands and also added the Ngaanyatjarra Lands for the first time. The team travelled 2,803 kilometres and engaged students about ancient civilisations, microscopes, the Eromanga Sea, birds and minerals. In October, the Community Programs team worked with over 50 visiting Ngaanyatjarra artists to present programs and events exploring desert culture and art, supporting the Ngurra: Home in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands exhibition. These included lunchtime talks, curators’ tours, weaving workshops and punu (wood carving) demonstrations. The Museum also partners with the Federal and State governments and South Australian universities to deliver the Inspiring South Australia program. This is the State’s implementation of the national Inspiring Australia Strategy to strengthen our society’s engagement with the sciences and improve science literacy. 9
Where our visitors are from
27% 32%
15%
2% 1% 3%
How often they visit
38%
First time ever
8%
First time in 5 or more years
35%
Infrequent visitor (less than yearly)
19%
Frequent visitor (yearly or more)
Visitors The South Australian Museum is one of the most popular in Australia. In 2017–2018 we welcomed 824,607 visitors, with a further 179,461 people visiting touring exhibitions or participating in an offsite programme, the number of people engaging with the Museum exceeded one million for the first time since we opened our doors in 1856. Of these, 22% came from overseas and another 19% from interstate. In a visitor survey we undertook in late 2017, 38% of respondents cited the Museum’s reputation as one of Adelaide’s main attractions as a major reason for coming. For international visitors, that figure rose to 50%. Evidence that we are meeting visitor needs comes through informal feedback, participation numbers and formal surveys. On TripAdvisor, we are pleased with an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 from 1,200+ comments, with 91% of respondents describing their experience as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very Good’. Following a review, we restructured our guided tours program. During the week we now offer Museum Highlights tours primarily for tourists and firsttime visitors who want a general overview of the galleries and collections. On the weekend we offer themed or specific gallery tours primarily for locals and repeat visitors. The Shop’s front entrance is now more prominent and inviting, with display tubs on either side of the front door enticing merchandise sales. New signage promotes member discounts and emphasises that purchases support the Museum. To assist Chinese tourists we now support the UWAI app. Visitors simply scan a QR code in the foyer to receive a range of information, including our Visitor Guide and Café menu in Chinese.
“The guide was very informative and presented the exhibits in an interesting way, giving us plenty of factual background information, encouraging participants to delve deeper. Thank you.” Visitor comment
1,003,528 total visitation
824,067 179,461
North Terrace visitation offsite visitation 11
6.8M 64 21 838
$
of research funding
honorary researchers and associates
PhD students supervised
hours of academic teaching by Museum staff
Research We attracted one international and 18 new national grants in 2017–2018, contributing to the $6,803,738 in competitivelywon funding to support our research across the humanities and the biological and geological sciences. We also delivered 192 scientific papers and presentations. Our success is due in part to our highly collaborative approach. We now have 199 university, government and industry research partnerships, 91 of them international. We were delighted to win the 2017 Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Research for our Aboriginal Heritage Project, which expanded its scope beyond the predicted growth during the year, due to demand from Aboriginal communities across the nation to participate. The project, which combines the advanced research of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA with our own collections and genealogical data is providing important information for the participants and the first comprehensive genetic map of Aboriginal Australia before European arrival. During the year, our researchers discovered and described numerous new species of animals in areas as diverse as the tropics, Oceania, Australia’s deserts and the Antarctic. They also investigated the way components of biodiversity interact to produce evolutionary responses to environmental change. Discoveries by our palaeontologists at the key fossil sites for understanding the origins of complex animals (Ediacara in the Flinders Ranges) and the development of the modern animal groups (Emu Bay on Kangaroo Island) provided insights into how long-extinct animals developed and behaved and how communities of organisms interacted with the microbial world and the very different oceanographic conditions at the time. Our researchers also contributed to national discussions around a strategic approach to improving the conservation management of insects and allied invertebrates in Australia and international topics such as geo-ethical issues in palaeontology. Our efforts contribute to growing our global knowledge of biodiversity, to refining the system of animal classification and developing the evolutionary perspective that underlies our ability to answer critical questions in biology, ecology and conservation.
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Discovering dinosaurs in the Museum’s Out of the Glass Case outreach program in the Explorer’s Tent at WOMADelaide 2018.
Philanthropic activity
7%
Sponsorships
11%
Resources received free of charge
Members growth 30 June 2017:
1,858 4,489 30 June 2018:
39%
Donations and bequests
43% Grants
1,800 new Members joined during the successful Dinosaur rEvolution exhibition
Supporters In a year that saw a range of record achievements and activities, the Museum also received generous support from all areas of giving, securing more than $1.9 million in gifts, grants and sponsorships. All that we do at the South Australian Museum is enabled by the support of our wonderful community of donors, partners and supporters. In 2017-2018 we are gratefully celebrating a third year of record increased fundraising, with thanks to all the many individuals, families, trusts, foundations and all levels of government across Australia. We are also very grateful for a thriving, talented group of volunteers who, year after year, provide vital support for everything we do. Extraordinary performance was demonstrated by the Museum Membership program which now boasts 4,489 members, after 1,800 joined during the successful Dinosaur rEvolution exhibition. Many of these new members joined as Family Members, ensuring that next-generation experience of our Museum. Also Member satisfaction levels are high with over 80% of Members surveyed in March 2018 confirming their intention to renew. An incredible level of important and unique projects lead by teams across the Museum encouraged greater collaboration and support from partners. Specifically, we are grateful to Flinders University, Beach Energy, the University of Adelaide, Deloitte Australia, Fisher Jeffries, Australian Geographic, Coral Expeditions, Emali Early Learning Centre, Newmont Australia, the Macquarie Foundation, Hood Sweeney, Journey Beyond, Gerard McCabe Jewellers, Finsbury Green, Arts South Australia, the Federal Departments of Communications and the Arts and Foreign Affairs and Trade, Adelaide City Council, the Australian Executor Trustees, Thyne Reid Foundation, and the Wood Foundation. Fundamental to the success of the Museum in giving and building relationships is the Museum Foundation and the Waterhouse Club. In 2017-2018, both demonstrated exceptional leadership and generosity in helping the Museum obtain increasing philanthropic support from a broad range of donors. Our sincere thanks to all our supporters.
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Tjanpi Ute by Nyungawarra Ward
June 2017:
June 2017:
June 2017:
June 2018:
June 2018:
June 2018:
50% increase
16% increase
11% increase
following growth
4,851 7,307
audience growth (‘Likes’)
followers growth
25,125 5,955 29,145 6,565
Impact On all measures, the Museum makes a significant contribution to South Australia’s economic, educational and cultural life. Across all areas of operations, including the Museum and the Foundation, we employed 130 people, had 300 volunteers and supported around 700 other jobs through research, teaching and tourism. We make a major contribution to Adelaide and the State through our public engagement activities, and were proud to receive the Cultural Tourism Gold Award at the 2017 South Australian Tourism Awards. We are listed as one of the best attractions in Adelaide by TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet and Top Sights on Google. As part of our renewed focus on Aboriginal culture, we are committed to supporting Aboriginal employment and career development. During the year we continued to support two Aboriginal Cadets and an Early Career Researcher who have been mentored by Museum staff and are, in turn, sharing their knowledge with us. Our marketing seeks to promote both individual events and to build the incentive to visit the Museum. In line with current trends, our social media program now includes greater use of Instagram (an increase of 50%), with an ongoing presence on Facebook (16% increase) and Twitter (11% increase). We were also very visible in traditional media. We achieved 35.2 million potential impressions through print media over the 12 months, with an equivalent value in advertising dollars of $9.9 million.
“Really good, varied and interesting sections. This is well presented and free. Super place to visit, walk, learn.” Visitor from Singapore
The Museum’s reach (2017–2018) Offsite exhibition visitation
104,305
Offsite programs participation
75,156
Potential media impressions
35.2 million
Social media followers
43,017
Atlas of Living Australia downloads
46,878
North Terrace visitation
824,067
Website visits
208,369
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Museum Income 2017/18
67%
SA Government ($12.06M)
33%
Commercial activity and other income ($2.6M)
15% 18% Philanthropic activity ($3.27M)
Museum Expenses 2017/18
44 % Staffing
($7.76M)
56%
Supplies, services and grants ($4.57M)
15% 26% 18% 12%
Accommodation and facilities ($3.12M)
Depreciation ($2.18M)
Operations Our activities during the year, focussed on securing long-term financial security and improving our commercial initiatives. The Museum Shop and Café are managed by the Museum Foundation for the benefit of the Museum and all profits are reinvested into supporting the Museum’s activities. In 2017-2018 the Café, featuring its Museum Catering business, recorded record sales and record profit. Its award-winning head chef has created a range of gourmet menus inspired by South Australia’s exceptional produce. It supports local suppliers and prides itself on using sustainable and seasonal produce to provide the best possible dining experience at the Museum. The Museum continues to be a popular venue of choice for meetings, conferences, weddings and events, with a variety of locations available to meet demand. There was a total of 128 events staged at the Museum, including 8 weddings. The Museum Shop also returned record sales, and has worked hard to build a great range of products from books and educational gifts to artworks from local artists and suppliers, including a premium range of exquisite diamond and gemstone jewellery by Gerard McCabe Jewellers, to create an exciting offering for all visitors. As part of our commitment to sustainability we became Foundation Partners of the State Government’s Carbon Neutral Adelaide initiative assisting us to install energy saving lighting and improve the visitor experience in the North Foyer, the Special Exhibitions Gallery and the Temporary Exhibition Space, and to develop a public education program. The Museum is a lead partner in the GigCity Adelaide project, establishing the North Terrace cultural precinct innovation hub. First switched on in August 2017, it is designed to connect businesses within Adelaide’s innovation precincts with extremely fast broadband speeds (of up to 100X the national average). Our partners are the Museum Foundation, Art Gallery of SA, History Trust of SA and the State Library. The Museum teamed up with IgniteSA in the Preserve challenge, which invited local tech companies to find creative new ways of using this high speed network to make the Museum’s collection of Australian Aboriginal cultural material more accessible to the world. The winning team was Sandpit, which created ‘Cipher’ a visitor experience platform that enables a range of personalised audio and visual content to be delivered to visitors before, during and after their visit.
“The café is good and it has an excellent shop. So glad we bought the things we did as we haven’t seen them elsewhere.” Visitor from Victoria 19
Dr Andrew Thomas during a Spacewalk on Shuttle Mission STS-102 in 2001. Dr Andrew Thomas AO is Patron of the South Australian Museum. Image: NASA, STS102-315-034
Printed with support from Finsbury Green