A 3D render of the book Science All Around Us by Mei Liu and Chris Nixon, published by Museums Victoria Publishing, floating whimsically over an illustration of cloud and sky from inside the book.

Science All Around Us: Museums Victoria Collections

Loved the book and want to find out more about how science works?

Many of the illustrations in Science All Around Us are based on real things from the Museums Victoria collection, including items on display at Scienceworks and Melbourne Museum.

Click on the illustrations from the book below to discover more about the object that inspired the drawing, and whether you can see it on display in real life!

How Do We Get Around?

An illustration of the Concorde supersonic aeroplane flying through the sky at incredible speeds
Museums Victoria Collections

Concorde, 1969-2003

This passenger plane was an expensive way for people to travel at supersonic speeds – faster than the speed of sound.
An illustration of John Duigan in his biplane flying through the air in Australia’s first aeroplane, the Duigan Biplane
Museums Victoria Collections

Duigan Biplane, 1910

Duigan’s biplane is recognised as the first Australian-designed and built aeroplane to successfully achieve powered flight.
An illustration of the CN7 Bluebird, racing across Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre as Donald Campbell sets his new world land speed record.
Museums Victoria Collections

Bluebird CN7, 1966

Donald Campbell’s ‘Bluebird’ set a new world land speed record on Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre in South Australia on 17 July, 1964.
An illustration of 6 passengers and a driver in old-timey Melbourne in the late 1800s being pulled along by horses on the Cobb & Co ‘Royal Mail’ Passenger and Mail Coach.
Museums Victoria Collections

Cobb & Co ‘Royal Mail’, circa 1880

This was a 17-passenger horse-drawn stagecoach pulled by 4 or 5 horses. This coach carried people, mail and luggage, and sometimes it was a tight squeeze!
An illustration of four old-timey people wearing top hats and their finest clothes, riding on the seats of Herbert Thomson’s steam car – a vehicle with four wheels and a completely open top. The people are sipping tea from cups and saucers and one person is pouring water in to power the steam car.
Museums Victoria Collections

Thomson Steam Car, 1898

This innovative vehicle is powered with a compound engine that uses a water tube boiler to create steam, which generates the power to move the car.
An illustration of an old-timey man with a moustache riding the Basset & Co penny-farthing or high wheel bicycle with a baguette in its basket.
Museums Victoria Collections

Basset & Co Penny-farthing, 1888

Melbourne Bicycle Club president George Burston rode all the way around the world on this bike. It took him a year to make the journey.
An illustration of the ‘Atom’ power boat racing on top of the Yarra River, with a school of fish floating peacefully by in the water underneath
Museums Victoria Collections

‘Atom’ Power Boat, 1955

The ‘Atom’ is a wooden speedboat that held many Australian and Victorian speed records during its time.
An illustration of the Ilinga AF2, a 2-door luxury sportscar manufactured in Australia.
Museums Victoria Collections

Ilinga AF2, 1975

The Ilinga AF2 was an early Australian sportscar that had dreams of being the height of leisure and luxury.
An illustration of a W-Class tram, which is one of the older more classic models, driving along its tracks with around 10 or more lively commuters inside doing various things commuters typically do like reading a book and looking on their phones. The driver can be seen at the front of the tram.
Museums Victoria Collections

W2-Class Electric Tram, 1927

The W-class was introduced by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways board in 1923 and was intended to provide a standardised vehicle for Melbourne’s tramway system.
An illustration of Holden’s Model 48-215 FX, racing along the road.
Museums Victoria Collections

Holden's Ltd, Model 48-215, FX, 1950

The Holden was Australia’s first mass-produced motor car. It had 4 doors and could seat up to 6 people.
An illustration of a person wearing sunglasses, a cool leather motorcycle jacket, a helmet and a scarf riding the Thunderbird motorcycle, manufactured by Triumph. The person’s scarf is whipping in the wind behind them as they ride off fast into the distance.
Museums Victoria Collections

Triumph Thunderbird, 1951

The Thunderbird was one of the most popular British motorcycles of its time and was used by Victoria Police in the 1950s for traffic duties.
An illustration of a person driving on a road in the Haines & Grut four-wheeled motor buggy.
Museums Victoria Collections

Haines & Grut Motor Buggy, circa 1909

This four-wheeled motor buggy featured a state-of-the-art (for the time!) water-cooled, two-cylinder 10 horsepower engine and retailed for about 160 pounds.

What Do We Do with All This Poo?

How Do We Know What’s Out There in Space?

How Do We Tell the Time?

An illustration of a Chinese fire clock, which is an ornamental structure shaped like a dragon, with a hollowed-out centre like a boat. Metal balls on strings are hung off the side above a metal bowl so that when a candle burns down and lights the string, the ball will fall into the bowl and make a metal clang, marking the passing of another hour.
Museums Victoria Collections

Chinese Fire Clock, 1959

This is one clever and showstopping way to tell the time – using fire, metal and a dragon-shaped sculpture!
An illustration of a hand holding George Bass’s pocket sundial compass, which is the size and shape of a typical pocket watch, so is portable and fits comfortably in one hand.
Museums Victoria Collections

Pocket Compass Sundial, circa 1790

This device was used by George Bass in a whaleboat expedition that explored the coast of Victoria in 1797-98.
An illustration of a Roman hemicycle sundial from 300 BC, which looks like the imprint of half a globe into a block of stone.
Museums Victoria Collections

Roman Sundial, 300 BC

This Roman hemicycle sundial is said to have been invented by the astronomer Berosus. It tracks daylight hours as well as the seasons. 
An illustration of a sundial with a canon attached that uses the positioning of the sun’s rays to fire the cannon at noon.
Museums Victoria Collections

Sundial Cannon, circa 1850

A lens on adjustable arms focuses the rays of the sun onto the touch-hole of the cannon, igniting it and firing the cannon at noon.
An illustration of a water clock that looks like two vessels of water on different sides of a scale, with one vessel that has a spout and siphons water into the other vessel that sits atop a pendulum which moves the clocks behind the clock, helping to tell the time.
Museums Victoria Collections

Water Clock, 1968

This water clock was created by Captain Edwin S Nurse, who spent much of his retirement tinkering in his garden shed and inventing various gadgets.
Museums Victoria Collections

Walsh & Jones Co Pocket Watch, 1854

This gentlemen’s pocket watch was presented to James Moore, chief engineer of the Melbourne & Hobsons Bay Railway Co, on the opening of the railway.
An illustration of a Casio ‘Baby G’ digital watch on a person’s wrist. The watch has a white band, and dark blue and pink features on its face.
Museums Victoria Collections

Casio, ‘Baby G’, 2002

The Baby G was a very popular digital watch in the early 2000s. It featured various high-tech features such as dual time zones, a calendar, alarm and stopwatch.
An illustration of the Scienceworks sundial with a person next to it for scale. The person comes halfway to the height of the sundial. It’s a semi-circular shape with a deep blue main body and contrasting yellow lines for the hour marks and the dial line.
Museums Victoria Collections

Sundial at Scienceworks, 1989

You can visit this sundial at Scienceworks. It’s on display outside, near the Melbourne Planetarium.

How Do We Power Things?

If We Can’t See It, How Do We Know It’s Real?

How Can We Find Science All Around Us?

MORE FROM MUSEUMS VICTORIA

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