The Tim and Gina Fairfax Discovery Centre at the National Museum of Australia is an immersive play space for young children up to six years old, their carers and their families. Through hands-on and immersive activities, virtual storytelling, animation and imaginative play it tells five stories from Australian history. Each of the stories encourages a different type of play.
Children can imagine themselves as joey’s in the cosy reading nook, re-enact the bush adventures of Chris the world’s woolliest sheep, lean about the Torres Strait Islander creation story of Gelam, a boy who transformed into a dugong, take a nautical adventure with Matthew Flinders’ cat Trim and explore a Billabong with Bunyips.
In developing the response, the designers worked with with Traditional Owner artists from Wiradjuri Country to develop a graphic response that integrated traditional hand-drawn artworks. Artists from the Erub Island community of the Torres Strait contributed with ‘ghost nets’ that festooned the interior architecture, and a large-scale floor to ceiling hand-drawn mural. Consideration were made for deeply embedding indigenous perspectives throughout the design process.
