AMplify - Conversations at the Australian Museum

Australian Museum CEO and Director Kim McKay AO in conversation with explorer, scientist, communicator and 2007 Australian of the Year, Professor Tim Flannery.

Tim Flannery has made many remarkable discoveries in palaeontology, mammology and environmental science. In this podcast, he discusses with Kim what inspired him to become a scientist, his time spent working at the AM, as well as his most recent expeditions to the Solomon Islands.

"You can think of Collections in museums as great and complicated machines that have been built up over many, many decades, in some cases centuries, of fieldwork, research and publication. And the machines are directed towards understanding the nature of our world better." Prof Tim Flannery

Listen to Kim McKay in conversation with Anthropologist Dr Robin Torrence, whose current research aims to understand changes in the nature of western Pacific societies over the past c. 50,000 years.

Anthropologist Dr Robin Torrence in conversation with the Australian Museum's CEO and Executive Director Kim McKay.

Dr Torrence's archaeological research focuses on the roles of ancient material culture, especially stone tools, in peoples’ daily lives, social strategies, and long term adaptation. She has been especially interested in how the manufacture, design and exchange of tools can help people minimise risks.

"We’re trying to write the story of colonial history from the perspective of Indigenous people by looking at the objects they made and traded." Robin Torrence

Listen to Kim McKay in conversation with Catherine Timbrell, the Exhibition Producer of the Australian Museums new exhibition Spiders - Alive and Deadly.

Exhibition Producer Catherine Timbrell in conversation with the Australian Museum's CEO and Executive Director Kim McKay.

"I know from osmosis that simply by putting this exhibition together people often mistake me for a spider expert, but our Arachnologists here remind me that I’m not when they hear me drop a clanger every now and then." Catherine Timbrell

Listen to the Asaro Mud Men panel discussion featuring members of the Komunive community (Asaro valley, Eastern Highlands, Goroka), documentary filmmaker Ms Klinit Barry and pacific specialist and Asaro Project Manager, Yvonne Carrillo-Huffman.

The inhabitants of Komunive village, Asaro River, in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, are famous for their fearsome clay headdresses and dramatic ritualised celebrations of custom in the form of dance performances.

For one week only, four Asaro Mud Men were in residence at the Australian Museum. The Asaro Mud Men have gained prominence as an ‘intercultural phenomenon’ and reflect how communities respond to aspects of modernisation and globalisation through their Holosa masks and performances

"The whole idea of bringing the community here is to have that close engagement with the Australian public. …it seems like there is a collective amnesia about who we are as a nation in the 21st century, who our neighbours are, and how close we are to Papua New Guinea."

Yvonne Carillo, Senior Collections Officer, Pacific Collections at the Australian Museum.

This Live at the AM night talk asked the questions: How do museums make new acquisitions today? How important is the inclusion of indigenous makers' perspectives in the process of making objects, filming and bringing their own newly produced cultural objects to the Australian Museum?

This distinguished panel will tackle these key questions, in conversation with acclaimed Australian journalist Sean Dorney, who has had a long standing relationship with Papua New Guinea.

The panel featured members of the Komunive community (Asaro valley, Eastern Highlands, Goroka), documentary filmmaker Ms Klinit Barry and pacific specialist and Asaro Project Manager, Yvonne Carrillo-Huffman. This conversation provides a rare opportunity to explore the team’s field and travelling experiences of this major collaborative cultural project between the Australian Museum, the Komunive community, filmmakers from the University of Goroka, and the J.F.K McCarthy Museum (Goroka), commissioning a new collection of Holosa masks and filming the acquisition process.

Hear the inspiring stories behind nature photographer Luke Tsharke's most powerful images

Hear the inspiring stories behind nature photographer Luke Tsharke's most powerful images, including his submissions to the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2016 exhibition.

Find out how Luke travelled the world capturing jaw-dropping landscapes, like Tasmania's ethereal Lake Oberon, and contributing shots to popular Instagram accounts like Tourism Tasmania and Tourism Northern Territory.

“When you go into a canyon it’s quite a foreboding place - you’re in a wetsuit, you’re going through very cold water, it can be quite claustrophobic and to get to the end and see a beam of light makes it all worth it but you have to have the courage.” LukeTschark

Listen as Kim McKay speaks with Steven about producing innovative exhibitions, public programs and events supported by extensive community engagement at the Australian Museum.