Mining and minerals have been very important to the State of South Australia.
A couple of months ago, I heard some rumours about significant potential changes to the South Australian Museum in Adelaide. The Museum not only houses an excellent mineral collection, with some impressive displays, but also functions as an important research organisation.
South Australian mineral collector Barry Schubert has initiated a petition on change.org.
In the petition, Barry writes:
We draw the attention of your Honourable House to the SA Museum’s recently announced restructure of research and collections and proposed ‘reimagining’ of exhibitions, which will have a disastrous effect on the reputation, collections, and scientific credibility of one of Australia’s premier museums, much beloved by generations of South Australians, and widely respected around the world for its scientific achievements and contributions to reconciliation.
I was fortunate that I was able to visit the museum last year. And I do not want to see it go the way that is being talked about. So I have signed the petition. Please consider signing also.
There are some media reports, such as this ABC News article, that suggest that the proposed changes may be on hold pending a review, but pressure is still required if we want to keep it something like the excellent institution it has been.
Below: Copper minerals from Burra, South Australia.
Below: Mineral Classification Display.
Below: The South Australian Museum building.
Steve, thank you very much for advertising this travesty-in-the-making to a wider audience. We have been madly writing letters, signing petitions and protesting at Parliament House. One terrible possible outcome is the loss of their frozen tissue collection... The following sent from Porf Allan Pring -
"Worse is the complete closure of the Museum’s molecular unit and redundancies of its four staff. Over the past 40 years, this unit has published some 750 papers, described more than 500 new species, including 46 now listed as threatened, and secured more than $20 million in grants and industry support. Their collection of frozen tissues, for DNA and other molecular analysis, is the oldest, biggest and best in the southern hemisphere and is used, on a fees-for-service basis, by researchers all over the world. With its staff made redundant, it is not clear what will happen to the frozen tissue collection."