UNE had the opportunity to showcase its Natural History Museum and the Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology Research laboratory  to His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d), Governor of New South Wales and Mrs Hurley as part of their whistle-stop tour of the region last week.

The Vice-Regal couple met with various UNE scientists and students who were all very keen to talk about the importance of their work. Some highlights included:

• Associate Professor Nigel Andrew gave an overview of his work on insects and introduced the Governor to some of his students.
• Dr Paul McDonald lead the Governor on a tour of the Agricultural Education Building.
• Dr Romina Rader spoke about how the demands for a diverse and nutritional diet has resulted in increasing dependency upon insect pollinated crops and her research regarding the importance of wild pollinators, and the risks of single pollinator reliance will mitigate the risks in our food resources.
• Dr Phil Bell explained the new dinosaur mount and his research on dinosaurs from Lightning Ridge, which is the best place in the world to find opalised dinosaurs.
• Associate Professor Karl Vernes spoke about the background of the mammalian material in the museum collection and the depth of the full teaching collection, of which only a fraction is on display. He also explained the importance of UNE ensuring that the museum is not just a physical space but a collection of research scientists undertaking field work throughout Australia and the world.
• Dr Kirsti Abbott talked about how science education, outreach and engagement is being transformed at UNE.  Through the Natural History Museum and UNE Discovery programs it is hoped to engage over 5,000 school students from around northern NSW in hands on innovative, curriculum aligned STEM activities each year.
• Ms Narelle Jarry spoke about the challenges and importance of balancing access to collection material for teaching with preservation and conservation principles.
• Associate Professor Peter Grave, the Acting Convenor for Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology introduced the discipline to the Governor and Mrs Hurley whereafter Dr Mark Moore spoke about how, in 2004, UNE Archaeology stunned the world with the discovery of a new species of tiny humans on the island of Flores in Indonesia.