UNE Museum of Antiquities

Hi, my name is Christian Pearson and I will be telling you about the University of New England's Museum of Antiquities. The Museum of Antiquities is the only archaeological museum in inland Australia. It has over 2,000 items in it, so it's a well-known and popular study and research destination for researchers wanting to make use of the museum's holdings in one or more of a variety of disciplines. Whether it's archaeology, paleoanthropology, classical or Asian studies, the museum has something for everyone and it is the best place in Australia to study in some areas. The museum is in Armadale, New South Wales, Australia. You can find it in the Humanities Building of the UNE. If you go in through the west entrance of the building, it's right in front of you. You can't miss it. As a visitor, you'll need to pay a small fee to park in the visitor parking spaces of the UNE car park. From there, it's just a short walk up through the campus and there are plenty of signs to guide you. As you walk in, you'll notice that the museum has a large collection of rare and beautiful artefacts from around the world, some even worth tens of thousands of dollars. And guess what? You can enter and experience it for free or by making a donation. This means the museum is easily accessible to students and staff and any interested researchers, even private researchers pursuing their own interests. Because of this, the museum is a very popular study resource that everyone can enjoy and judging by the many favourable comments in the visitor's book, you do appreciate and enjoy the experience. Near the visitor's book, there are also brochures that help you pick your way through the museum's holdings and get the most out of the experience. The Museum of Antiquities has a very diverse and rich collection, including items from ancient Egypt, Asia, Greece, Rome and Cyprus, and lots more than that. Many of these are displayed in a number of cases within the museum itself, but there are also several large cases leading up to the museum in the hallways. As I went around the museum, I could hardly believe the antiquity of many of the items. A lot of them are thousands of years old and very beautiful pieces, the best of their type in the world. I found myself spending time in parts of the museum I didn't even know existed and found the timeline in one of the cases very useful in comparing what is happening in the world at any particular time. It is often possible to get an experienced guide from the museum's experts to walk through the museum with you, if you arrange the trip in advance of course. The museum also has touchscreen-based computer voiceover lectures on a variety of subjects. These include programs on the Chinese terracotta warriors, highland Peru, the Iceman, Roman Republic coins, ancient Egypt, the Maya, and much much more. I sat and watched an eight-minute program on what happened when Mount Vesuvius erupted. All I can say is, I wouldn't want to have been around when that volcano blew its top. Some of the museum's most recent exhibits are a beautiful attic plate and a very ancient Egyptian head. I was also fascinated by the story of the Hobbit, well that's what she's often called, but it seems she is the first ever discovered member of another human species. Five years ago, Mike Morwood, a UNE archaeologist and a member of the UNE Museum of Antiquities board, was a member of the team that discovered the Hobbit on the island of Flores in Indonesia. This led to the museum gaining a lot of public and international interest. It has a bronze statue in real life size of the female of the Homo floresiensis species. Every year the museum holds a lecture in honor of Professor Morris Kelly, who founded the museum. It invites a distinguished expert who has a long experience in topics relating to the museum to present a lecture in their field of expertise to anyone willing to come along. These are very popular because of the fame of the scholars who agree to take part. Another thing the museum offers is a prize known as the Charles Ede Prize. Details of this are here on the museum's website. So if you're in Armidale, I suggest that you take a trip out to the university and visit the Museum of Antiquities. Make sure you leave a couple of hours to spare because you'll probably want to stay a lot longer than you might expect. I know I did!