<p> Gravity Discovery Centre An independent science education centre operated by the Gravity Discovery Centre Foundation Inc. 1098 Military Rd (PO Box 313) Gingin W.A. 6503 [email protected] www.gravitycentre.com.au P: 08-95757577 F: 08-95757544</p><p>Curved Space and Warped Time - Australia Tests Einstein 1922</p><p>The Wallal Exhibition</p><p>A group of scientists, historians and students in Western Australia created an exhibition on the Great Wallal Eclipse Expedition that took place in Western Australia less than four years after the First World War. This expedition was a heroic national and international effort that was supported and feted across the country. They measured the warping of space by observing stars during the eclipse of the sun. The expedition confirmed the accuracy of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, the theory that revolutionised our understanding of the universe, and the one which we use today every time we use a GPS satellite navigation system. The testing was needed because earlier tests of Einstein’s theory had given inconclusive results despite public claims to the contrary.</p><p>This year marks the centenary of Einstein’s Theory and the United Nations International Year of Light. It is perfect timing for telling all Australians about this brilliantly successful piece of science…arguably the most important physics discovery of the 20th Century, the most important physics discovery ever made in Australia, and one which was not improved on for 50 years. Locally, as a discovery made in Western Australia, it is one for which all West Australian’s should be proud. Foundation Professor of Physics at UWA, Professor Alexander Ross played a major role along with scientists from USA, Canada, Britain and India. Today the Wallal Expedition has largely been forgotten, in spite of its immense world significance in proving the theory that underpins our understanding of gravity and the universe.</p><p>The Wallal Exbibition has been created by a group of scientists, historians and students from UWA, members of the Gravity Discovery Centre Foundation and the Gingin Science Festival Committee, (which includes the Moore River Association, the Lion’s Club and Gingin Shire councilors. It has received partial funding from National Science Week, Lotterywest and Healthway. </p><p>Curved Space and Warped Time is a central feature of the inaugural Gingin Science Festival. The Festival has been planned as a major community event, that will involve schools and community science, science and art, and exhibitions about Einstein’s legacy. Curved Space and Warped Time – Australia tests Einstein 1922 is just one component of the festival. title is. Others exhibitions include Gold, Einstein’s Metal, The Oldest Light in the Universe and Coherence to Chaos, an exhibition of laser art. </p><p>Curved Space and Warped Time – Australia tests Einstein 1922 will be initially located in Gingin’s Old Railway Station which has just been beautifully restored by the Gingin Lions Club. It is being provided free by the Lions Club and Mike and Dianne Miller. The exhibition will include large panels and interactive elements for children including a huge space-time simulation. A video on a large screen will bring the Wallal expedition to life, based on old footage from the Australian Film Archive as well as modern eclipse material and material on the implications of the discovery using modern imagery of the universe of curved space and warped time revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope. </p><p>The Australian International Gravitational Observatory (AIGO), The Zadko Optical Telescope and the Geoscience Australia Magnetic Observatory are located on the same site as the Gravity Discovery Centre. ABN: 26892177952 Deductible Gift Recipient No: 483309 Curved Space and Warped Time – Australia tests Einstein 1922 will bring people on a journey of discovery from the first clear sight of curved space near the sun, to our modern understanding of the universe. In doing so we will bring people on a journey through time, from the pre-eclipse excitement across Australia in 1922, to the wooden telescopes and donkey trains towing wagons out of the surf on 80 Mile Beach, to the world of today with GPS navigators and the internet. </p><p>The Governor of Western Australia has accepted our invitation to open the exhibition on Friday 14 August. </p><p>We are offering the exhibition to the Battye Library after showing at Gingin Science Festival during National Science Week 15-22 August 2015, and continuing for one month.</p><p>The exhibition is being designed by a team consisting of Sue Graham-Taylor, curator for the National Anzac Centre Dr Ron Burman: Historical Research David Blair: Co-ordinator Damon Annison: Photographer and Graphics Designer Patrick Obiri-Boateng: Video production</p><p>Here are a few interesting facts about the Wallal expedition:</p><p> The location for the Wallal Expedition camp was selected for the presence of a Government well constructed in the late 1870s by Alexander Forrest. Forrest saw it as an important water source for when cattle were later driven south on the way to market. The Wallal eclipse expedition camp - established just north of the well - found the water 'excellent' and commented that the well was 16 feet deep and 'it never fails'. Wallal means 'abundant water'.  The Indigenous people made a big contribution to the expedition. Fifty indigenous people met the boats when they landed on Eighty Mile Beach.  The Royal Australian Navy played a major role in organising and running the expedition.  The Australian Government arranged for the trans-Australia railway to carry equipment free of charge from Sydney to Perth for on-shipment to Broome and then to Wallal.  Thirty five tonnes of telescopes and other equipment was brought to Wallal from all over the world, including Toronto and Lick Observatory (California).  The expedition provided data that confirmed that Einstein was right, and was not improved upon for 50 years.  The scientists were feted and newspapers across Australia were full of stories about the expedition.  Aviation pioneers Kingsford Smith and Norman Brearley were involved in the expedition.</p><p>Today schools are still teaching Newtonian concepts of space, time, geometry and gravity when, as a result of the Wallal Expedition findings, these have been superceded by Einsteinian concepts. UWA leads a project called Einstein-First, funded by the Federal Government that seeks to introduce Einsteinian physics at an early age. (Einstein-First is a UWA, Curtin, ECU, Graham Farmer Foundation, Gravity Discovery Centre Foundation collaboration. Read about this program in the Australian Chief Scientist’s book Curious Country…final chapter, free download) The Wallal Exhibition and the on-line content we create, will be used to support our Einstein-First programs in schools. We have already shown that children enjoy, understand and respond with The Australian International Gravitational Observatory (AIGO), The Zadko Optical Telescope and the Geoscience Australia Magnetic Observatory are located on the same site as the Gravity Discovery Centre. ABN: 26892177952 Deductible Gift Recipient No: 483309 great enthusiasm to being taught the modern paradigm. </p><p>The exhibition will use about 40 images from the Battye Library archive plus images from many other archives around the world. The Batteye Library images have kindly been contributed at no change by the Battye Library. The Gingin Science Festival is supported by National Science Week, Lotterywest, Healthway, and Gingin Shire. </p><p>The Australian International Gravitational Observatory (AIGO), The Zadko Optical Telescope and the Geoscience Australia Magnetic Observatory are located on the same site as the Gravity Discovery Centre. ABN: 26892177952 Deductible Gift Recipient No: 483309</p>