KEY POINTS:
The last exhibition organised by outgoing Auckland Museum director, Dr Rodney Wilson, and the first to be run by his successor, Dr Vanda Vitali, is a triumph.
Originally from the American Museum of National History in New York (in collaboration with The Museum of Science, Boston, The Field Museum, Chicago, the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto and the Natural History Museum, London) the exhibition brings alive the evolutionary theories and painstaking research that changed the way we think for all time. And, as with most modern exhibitions of this quality, it adds light to contemporary problems including the global warming debate. Will species be able to evolve fast enough to succeed in such a fast-changing climate? Can science outpace the speed at which viruses evolve?
The exhibition starts with the birth of Darwin, his family, dismal performance at school and his narrow escape from becoming a clergyman. There are many original letters in his fading, sloping hand including a list of pros and cons he made when contemplating marriage. "To Marry" includes such clangers as: "good for one's health" and "better than a dog". The "Not Marry" column: "Serious loss of time".
He went on to marry his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood, and father 10 children.
A video biography, narrated by his great-great grandson, Randal Keynes, takes visitors through Darwin's life. A virtual walk with Darwin along the sandy path he created in the grounds of his home, Down House where he lived and worked for 40 years, was made by clipping together around 1000 photographs.
The old-fashioned information boards, maps, skeletons, models and collections of everything from butterflies to birds (including his famous blue-footed booby) that illustrate the scientific side of Darwin's work are most impressive.
Don't miss the model of the 27m HMS Beagle on which Darwin travelled for five years across the world to New Zealand (he apparently couldn't wait to leave), live frogs in their tank, Darwin's magnifying glass, the Victorian-style wallpaper embossed with hundreds of tiny gold beetles, dogs and other animals, the amazingly perfumed orchids, similar to the ones Darwin probed with the tip of his pencil for their pollen when he was a boy. And, for the kids, interactive lessons in evolution.
Public Programmes
* Running alongside: a locally produced children's comedy, The Wacky World of Charles Darwin, plus Darwin Meets the Dinosaurs, children's art workshops, the opportunity to talk to pigeon breeders about one of Darwin's favourite birds.
* Curator-led visits through the exhibition and an evening
* Darwin lecture series for adults run throughout October and into November.
