National Museum of Australia - A global perspective

A global perspective

The international component of Water: H₂0=Life looks at water from scientific and cultural angles. It examines how water functions in the natural world and supports all life. The exhibition also explores people's relationship with water across the globe.

Two silhouetted visitors look at a large globe showing South America surrounded by a sea marked with multi-coloured water currents.

The 'Science on a Sphere' globe helps to explain water as a climate driver in the exhibition. Photo: D. Finnin/American Museum of Natural History.

Life in water

All life on earth needs water, yet water availability varies greatly around the globe. Plants and animals have evolved with adaptations to survive water scarcity and abundance, temperature range and varying fresh and salt water levels. Live specimens help to convey these adaptations in the exhibition.

Blue planet

Water is also a climate driver and a landscape shaper. 'Science on a Sphere' is a large globe which shows the ceaseless cycle of water around the earth and the way it helps regulate the natural climate system. A fog screen at the exhibition's entrance helps to reveal water's wonder. Visitors can also experience the three states of water — vapour, liquid and ice — at a special installation.

Water works

Civilisations have depended on water for thousands of years. Examples of irrigation and damming are highlighted, from a 2200 year old weir to China's contemporary Three Gorges Dam. Over 60 per cent of the world's rivers are dammed, indicating the environmental impact of humans' water use. Visitors can play a game-style quiz asking questions about the water consumed in the production of everyday products, from T-shirts to take-aways.

A lifelike model of a white polar bear stands atop an icy mount. A visitor at the right of the image examines a text panel.

This large polar bear model helps visitors explore the impact of climate change in some of the iciest places on earth. Photo: D. Finnin/American Museum of Natural History.

Water everywhere and not a drop

Some parts of the earth have lots of water, others almost none. Half the earth's freshwater is found in only six countries. How humans and other species have adapted to some of the wettest and iciest places is a fascinating story. The exhibition looks at the life of Arctic polar bears, and includes a diorama of Cambodia's Tonle Sap freshwater lake on the Mekong River, which has a very diverse ecosystem as well as a rich human culture.

On the other hand, over a billion people around the world live without safe drinking water. The exhibition looks at how people have amazingly adapted to and been shaped by water-poor areas. The physical impact of carrying water in many third world countries, and its impact on women especially, is examined in detail.

Healthy water

The importance of clean water is reinforced with a video microscope through which visitors see some of the microorganisms that live in a single water drop. Protection of groundwater supplies, and the role of wetlands as natural purifiers, are examined in places as diverse as North America and India.

Canberra's water supply — one of the purest in Australia and perhaps the world — is explained, alongside the supply systems from the other museum cities around the globe. It's a revealing comparison.

Diorama showing a turtle and fish swimming among water lilies and grasses.

The Water exhibition explores wetlands, often under threat, as important natural water filters. Photo: D. Finnin/American Museum of Natural History.

Restoring ecosystems

Water exemplifies the ecological fact that all living things are connected. Visitors learn how water sources are fragile and resilient, and how previously degraded aquatic ecosystems are being rehabilitated in the Middle East and North America. This includes the tufa towers mineral formations at Mono Lake in California, saved by Los Angeles' decision to take less water.

Brown-coloured mineral formations rise in front of panels depicting a lakeside scene.

Replicas of the tufa towers mineral formations at Mono Lake, California, feature in the exhibition. Photo: D. Finnin/American Museum of Natural History.

Water: H₂O=Life is organised by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org), and the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul (www.smm.org), in collaboration with the National Museum of Australia, Canberra; Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland; The Field Museum, Chicago; Instituto Sangari, São Paulo, Brazil; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada; San Diego Natural History Museum; and Science Centre Singapore with PUB Singapore.