Forest Gallery Visit

Discover Victoria's mountain forests when your students step into a fern gully complete with waterfall. Follow the pathway to see how water shapes the landscape and take a close-up view of small fish, frogs and skinks.

Emerge from the rainforest into the eucalypt trees where the Forest Gallery is alive with seasonal change. Look up to spot the Tawny Frogmouth, while tiny wrens and finches flit across the path. In a clearing at the end, huge timber poles which represent the impact of fire on the bush.

Primary students can classify insects, frogs and eucalypt leaves, and investigate how their characteristics help them to survive in the forest.

Secondary students consider such questions as: Where do animals live? How do people interact with forest environments? What is the significance of fire for plants and animals?

Students will experience

• Taking a journey through a Victorian mountain forest ecosystem
• Delving deep underground to consider the geological processes shaping this land.
• Following the pathway of water as it shapes the landscape.
• Emerging into a rainforest rich in life. Look up to see the tawny frogmouth, tiny wrens and finches, and lizards darting across the path.
• Country Is Always Talking – a digital experience is available in gallery via QR codes. Hear First People of the Eastern Kulin Nations share their personal perspectives on what it means to connect with Country.

Students will learn

• That the forests that once covered greater Melbourne were rich with unique flora and fauna, as the remnant forests surrounding our city still are.
• The forest habit provides the basic needs of plants and animals that live in it – food, air, water and shelter.
• There are many different roles within the forest ecosystem such as producers, decomposers and consumers, which can all be closely observed co-existing in the gallery.
• Human activity and increased bushfire frequency are examples of impacts that can change the physical conditions of rainforest habitats.
• Matter and energy flow through ecosystems can be observed first-hand, enabling the construction of food webs and chains and collection of primary data.
• The evolution of Australia’s unique biodiversity has been influenced by our isolation and physical conditions.

Related links

• IMAX: Great Bear Rainforest 3D
• App: Field Guide to Victorian Fauna
• Early years students museum activities – Forest Walks (PDF 1MB)|  1.05 MB .pdf file
• Early years students pre and post activities – Forest Walks (PDF 788KB)|  787.65 KB .pdf file
• Middle years museum activities – Forest Walks (PDF 915KB)|  915.03 KB .pdf file
• Middle years students pre and post activities – Forest Walks (PDF 1015KB)|  1015.1 KB .pdf file