THE FUTURE BEGINS WITH A DREAM. FOCUSED ON AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE The National Science and Technology Centre YEAR IN REVIEW 2016 and OUR VISION the world A better future for all Australians through engagement with science, technology and innovation. CONTENTS Minister’s Introduction 1 Introduction by the Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science 3 Chairman’s Message 5 Questacon Advisory Council 6 Director’s Report 8 Questacon Overview 10 Questacon Outreach 12 Questacon Smart Skills Initiative 14 Teacher Programmes 16 STEM X Academy 16 Shell Questacon Science Circus 18 Enterprising Australians 19 Inspiring Australia 20 The National Science and Technology Centre 25 Spiders Exhibition 26 The Shed 28 Science Tourism 29 Questacon Retail 30 Questacon International 32 Our Partners 37 Key Events 46 Questacon People 48 FOCUSED ON AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE came to visit QUESTACON | Year in Review 2016 FOCUSED ON AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE QUESTACON | Year in Review 2016 Minister’s Introduction Many of the places we love in childhood lose something The Australian Government is committed to that best I also welcome Questacon’s focus on the Sustainable of their magic as the years move on. Questacon is possible future, for both Australia and the global community Development Goals of the United Nations. Science will be the rare exception. We embrace it in childhood and in whose destiny we share. We recognise that national critical to the realisation of all seventeen of humanity’s hurry back as parents, the wonder and excitement leadership and vision are required to bring it about. Through pledges for 2030; and science centres will help to inspire only heightened by the passage of time. the National Science and Innovation Agenda, we are playing all of us to play our best part. Through this initiative, and its our part in opening the path from today to tomorrow, growing global network, we can be confident that Questacon As children, we catch the thrill that humans positioning Australian science and industry to lead. will remain an outstanding ambassador for Australia. have found for millennia, in turning the world upside down to find out how it works. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics will power Congratulations on another inspiring year, and may our economy, ensuring our industries can compete and the excitement only build in the year ahead. As adults, we compare the new exhibits to the old, and securing the delivery of new sources of growth, high-wage marvel at all the progress a mere two decades can jobs and the next wave of economic prosperity. As Minister hold. The frontiers of science never cease to advance. for Industry, Innovation and Science, I saw Questacon as Questacon, in turn, never ceases to change, with a symbol of that commitment, as well as a barometer of The Hon. Greg Hunt MP endless new stories and possibilities to share. our national progress. Like many Australians, I have been Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science * a frequent visitor over the years. I could think of no more By the time we return as grandparents, who knows how fitting place to make my first public statement as Minister. far Australia might have come? And who could plan for all the incredible exhibits that Questacon might contain? * On 24 January 2017, Minister Greg Hunt was appointed as Minister Education is the cornerstone of the mission I am proud for Health and Senator the Hon. Arthur Sinodinos was sworn in as to carry. It is education that will equip our children with the Minister for Portfolio of Industry, Innovation and Science. It is important to ask the questions, because the skills required for the jobs and opportunities we can it is our actions today that will decide. foresee in the decades ahead. Just as importantly, it is In our best possible future, our children embrace education that will bring the confidence to thrive through science as a field of study and path to a great career. change; and the insight to balance its benefits and costs. Our society faces the difficult questions that new Education has always worked best through inspiration. technologies might raise, with neither unwarranted fear Questacon excels at both. It stands as a testament nor unthinking haste. Australians are known across the to just how remarkable our future could be. globe as great investigators, inventors and innovators. I welcome, in particular, the emphasis that And we will bring our grandchildren to Questacon to celebrate successive leaders have placed on partnerships that story – proud of our past, confident of our place in the as the foundation of Questacon’s success. present and ambitious for even greater things in the future. Every part of the National Science and Innovation Agenda relies on collaboration, just as science itself relies on teams. Partnerships have enabled Questacon to expand its reach and resources, making it a truly national asset as well as a global exemplar. FOCUSED ON AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE 1 2 QUESTACON | Year in Review 2016 Introduction by the Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Like many Australians, I grew up in a family of tinkerers. Children might be some of the most demanding clients Questacon itself is a testament to the power of thinking To me, it is the underlying tradition and practice at the we serve through my portfolio — and rightly so. It takes big and knocking the parts together. As its founder heart of Australian life. The world is our backyard shed, a special kind of ingenuity today to keep up with all the Dr Mike Gore would say, it sprang to life on a shoestring and this great country is our work in progress. We make gadgets and distractions in their lives. It is a science, budget. Legend has it that the idea for the centre dawned it better with thousands of tweaks and retouches, and an art, at which Questacon has always excelled. when a group of school students visited his workshop every day, in our businesses as well as our homes. at the Australian National University, and took up his I particularly welcome Questacon’s efforts to bring science invitation to test out what the equipment could do. Questacon is where we teach our kids to embrace that to children in regional communities, through flagship part of our story, so they write the next chapter with programmes such as the Shell Questacon Science Circus, and The QShed, opened in September this year, it is an Australian grit and pride. We set them on the path to good more recent initiatives like the Smart Skills tours and Invention immersive haven for the makers and fixer-uppers of all jobs, and our economy on the path to long-term growth. Conventions. This year alone, Questacon’s presenters have generations. It may not be the Aussie shed as I recall taken science across rural, remote and regional Australia it, of the corrugated iron and rusty toolbox kind, but it is Making your future, after all, is hands-on fun. from places like Whyalla, to Mullumbimby, to Toowomba. undoubtedly an invitation to have a go. Whatever creativity I am sure they have come back from those communities with emerges, new exciting possibilities will be made. As Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, new appreciation for this country’s breadth of potential. I am proud to work with Questacon to bring science and Let me second Questacon’s leadership team in innovation to the fore of our national life. I have known for As a nation we need to remember that science and innovation paying tribute to its supporters, staff and partners. some time that Questacon is amazing — on that point, I can have never belonged to the big cities alone. So many of The outlook from our workshop is inspiring indeed. trust to my children’s advice. The priority for the Australian our finest inventions have come from the factory, the mine Government is to spread the learning and inspiration that and the farm. So much of our economic potential relies Questacon can offer, as we work through the National on the regions today. All Australian children ought to know Innovation and Science Agenda to put science at the service that history, and look forward to being part of that future. The Hon. Craig Laundy MP of all Australians. The Australian spirit of ingenuity is the Assistant Minister for Industry,Innovation and Science ideology we bring to government as well: in everything I am also greatly encouraged by Questacon’s renewed we do, we ought to strive to do a better job tomorrow emphasis on that great national fondness for tinkering. than we do today. Government, like business, needs to innovate to improve its services and extend their reach. FOCUSED ON AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE 3 4 QUESTACON | Year in Review 2016 Chairman’s Message Questacon is powered by partnerships between government, As this year’s Annual Review confirms, Questacon continues Every visitor to Questacon will testify to the calibre academia, philanthropic organisations and industry. In to expand its national and global network. I acknowledge of our team. The energy and expertise on the floor is an increasingly interconnected world, these partnerships in particular the generosity of the Ian Potter Foundation, just as obvious in the complex operations behind the are critical to the success of Australia’s innovation and through which the Ian Potter Foundation Technology scenes. I extend my sincere appreciation to all our staff science agenda. Working with government and various Learning Centre was established. The ethos of tinkering for their contribution to another remarkable year. partner organisations, Questacon helps Australia’s youth, and hands-on innovation has become a cornerstone of families and teachers envisage a better future through Questacon’s vision.