National Maritime Museum exhibition takes you with Darwin on Beagle
by Bill Richards on 10 Feb 2009
Model of the Beagle Australian National Maritime Museum
http://www.anmm.gov.au
A major exhibition coming to the Australian National Maritime Museum will take visitors on the sea voyage that inspired Charles Darwin’s great theory of evolution.
The young scientist circumnavigated the globe on the HMS Beagle in the years 1831-36 and the exhibition brings the voyage to life… introducing his shipboard companions and revealing what they saw.
Charles Darwin – Voyages and ideas that shook the world opens at the museum 20 March and remains on view until 23 August.
It includes ships plans, charts and documents from the voyage, scientific instruments of the type used on the Beagle and portraits of some of the people on board.
A mock-up of his cabin shows how the young 1.8 metre tall Darwin was cramped for space even in his bunk.
There are pictures of landfalls and people encountered along the way painted by the ship's artists, Augustus Earle and Conrad Martens, examples of Darwin’s correspondence and original specimens from his natural history collection – crustacea from all around the globe.
The exhibition follows Darwin after the Beagle voyage, delving into his studies and his life with his family in the village of Downe, Kent, with a real glasshouse demonstrating his fascination with orchids and his scientific study of their reproduction.
In other areas the exhibition presents insight into the voyages of Joseph Hooker and Thomas Huxley, naturalists who like Darwin joined survey ships to the southern hemisphere to investigate new environments and became firm supporters of the theory of evolution.
A two-day symposium In The Wake of the Beagle: Science in the Southern Oceans from the Age of Darwin will be held at the Australian National Maritime Museum on 20-21 March.
Symposium themes include Voyaging and Collecting, History and Philosophy of Science, Ethnography, Biography and Mass Media. Two-day registration is $50, one-day $25. For more information or to register, phone (02) 9298 3644 of visit www.anmm.gov.au/charlesdarwin .
The Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, is open daily, 9.30 am to 5 pm. All inquiries (02) 9298 3777, or visit www.anmm.gov.au
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