Description of the attraction
Questacon is Australia's national science and technology center, located on the southern shore of Lake Burleigh Griffin in Canberra. This is a huge center, which houses more than two hundred interactive exhibits dedicated to science and technology. Up to half a million people visit it a year.
Questacon was opened on November 23, 1988 at the initiative of physicist Mike Gore, professor at the National University of Australia. He became the founding director of the Center. And the building in which the Questacon is located is a gift from the Japanese government on the 200th anniversary of the founding of Australia.
Inside, the Center is divided into 7 galleries, each of which is dedicated to a specific theme. For example, "Tyrannosaurs" is perhaps the most popular exhibition introducing the history of prehistoric dinosaurs. Or “MiniQ” - an exposition created for children from birth to 6 years old, all the exhibits of which can be touched, smelled and tasted. "Free Fall" is a giant slide with a height of 6, 7 meters. Miracle talks about the aurora borealis effect, holograms and Fresnel lenses. And "Fantastic Land" traces the history of natural disasters and geological changes in the development of our planet.
The Center also has a number of venues used for various presentations, including the Excited Particle Theater Troupe, Questacon, which puts on puppet shows for children.
In addition to exhibition sites in Canberra, Questacon conducts many outreach programs to work with the Australian population. For example, the Shell Questacon Science Circus is the world's largest program of its kind, with 100,000 participants annually. As part of this program, Questacon employees travel about 25,000 km across the country, visiting remote cities and indigenous communities, conducting training courses for teachers, as well as speaking at hospitals, schools and nursing homes.
