Scienceworks Museum and Melbourne Planetarium is a science museum in Melbourne, Australia. It is a division of Museum Victoria which administers the cultural and scientific collections of the State of Victoria.
Opened in March 1992, Scienceworks is housed in a purpose-built building “styled along industrial lines” near a historic sewage pumping house, constructed in 1897, whose steam engines form an associated exhibit.
Displays and activities offered by the museum include hands-on experiments, demonstrations, and tours. The “lightning room” is a 120-seat auditorium that presents demonstrations about electricity, featuring a giant Tesla Coil, capable of generating two million volts of electricity, producing three metre lightning bolts. The museum also has the only digital planetarium in the southern hemisphere.
The 1883 clock tower from Flinders Street Station is also located at the museum. The clock had been moved to Princes Bridge Station in 1905 and Spencer Street Station in 1911, where it remained sold into private ownership after the station redevelopment of 1967.
Its sister museums are the Melbourne Museum, Immigration Museum (including the Royal Exhibition Building). It is located in the suburb of Spotswood.
Location
2 Booker St
Spotswood VIC 3015
Contact
- Phone: 03 9392 4800 | 13 11 02
- Fax: 03 9391 0100
- Email: scienceworks@museum.vic.gov.au
