Scienceworks (Melbourne)

Scienceworks is a science museum in Melbourne, Australia. It is a venue of Museums Victoria which administers the cultural and scientific collections of the State of Victoria.[1] It is located in the suburb of Spotswood.

Scienceworks
Established28 March 1992
Location2 Brooker St, Spotswood, Melbourne, Australia
Coordinates37.831582°S 144.89394°E / -37.831582; 144.89394
TypeScience Centre
AccreditationAsia Pacific Network of Science & Technology Centres (ASPAC)
PresidentLeon Kempler
CEOLynley Crosswell
OwnerMuseums Victoria
WebsiteScienceworks
Wikimedia Commons has media related to ScienceWorks Museum (Melbourne, Australia).

Opened on 28 March 1992, Scienceworks is housed in a purpose-built building "styled along industrial lines" near the historic Spotswood Pumping Station,[2] constructed in 1897, whose steam engines form an associated exhibit.[3]

Displays and activities offered by the museum include hands-on experiments, demonstrations, and tours. The "lightning room" is a 120-seat auditorium that presents demonstrations about electricity, featuring a giant Tesla Coil, capable of generating two million volts of electricity, producing three metre lightning bolts. Melbourne Planetarium is housed on site.

Until late 2013, the 1883 clock tower from Flinders Street station was also located at the museum.[4][5] The clock had been moved to Princes Bridge station in 1905 and Spencer Street station in 1911, where it remained until sold into private ownership after the station redevelopment of 1967.[6] The clock restored with an electric movement is now located at the Southern Cross station.

  • Steam-driven pump engine
    Steam-driven pump engine
  • CSIRAC computer display
    CSIRAC computer display

References
  1. Museums Victoria.
  2. Pumping Station website
  3. Sherratt, Tim. "SCIENCEWORKS - A REVIEW". Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 9, no. 4, December 1993, pp. 387 -388 Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Turret Clock Movement - Victorian Railways, Flinders Street Station, Victoria, 1882". Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  5. "Time to return – Water Tower Clock installed at Southern Cross Station". Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  6. Jenny Davies (2008). Beyond the Façade: Flinders Street, More than just a Railway Station. Publishing Solutions. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-921488-03-0.
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