• 2015
IDU Curiosity
  • 2015

IDU Curiosity

Directed : Unknown

Written : Unknown

Stars : Russell Gawthorpe Barbara Moritz Elizabeth Smith Graeme Anderson

All cast & crew

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Details

Genres : Documentary

Release date : Dec 9, 2015

Countries of origin : Australia

Official sites : Official site

Language : English

Details

Genres : Documentary

Release date : Dec 9, 2015

Countries of origin : Australia

Official sites : Official site

Language : English

Photos

IDU Curiosity (2015) Vicki Bokros in IDU Curiosity (2015) IDU Curiosity (2015) Russell Gawthorpe in IDU Curiosity (2015) Barbara Moritz in IDU Curiosity (2015) IDU Curiosity (2015) IDU Curiosity (2015) Phil Bell in IDU Curiosity (2015) Barbara Moritz in IDU Curiosity (2015) Shaun Galman in IDU Curiosity (2015) Phil Bell in IDU Curiosity (2015) IDU Curiosity (2015) Russell Gawthorpe, Elizabeth Smith, Barbara Moritz, Graeme Anderson, Jenni Brammall, and Shaun Galman in IDU Curiosity (2015)

Episodes

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Episode 1 • Dec 09, 2015
The Secret Weapon of Crayfish
Dr. Elizabeth Smith at the Australian Opal Centre in Lightning Ridge explains how bizarre stony lumps inside the head of a crayfish allow the creature to grow as it matures.
Episode 2 • Jun 02, 2016
Mazes & Mineshafts - A bit of Lightning Ridge history
In which we visit a meditation maze -- that's not a maze, and a mine shaft that's a piece of history.
Episode 3 • Aug 08, 2016
Teeth and Trams - Harold Hodges' Opal Teeth
Harold Hodges was an entrepreneur, innovator and businessman from Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia. In 1971, he had a set of dentures made from black opal, Lightning Ridge's unique export. This is the story of Harold, his dentures, and how they ended up one of the most prized items in the opal and mining heritage collection of the Australian Opal Centre.
Episode 4 • Oct 02, 2016
How Lightning Ridge got its AWESOME name
We meet up with Barbara Moritz, from the Lightning Ridge Historical Society to learn not only how Lightning Ridge got its name, but how it was three towns for the price of one -- Wallangulla, Nettleton and Lightning Ridge.
Episode 5 • Nov 13, 2016
Fossils & False Fossils - Specimen Identification at Lightning Ridge
It's not easy separating fossils from everything else that comes out of the ground -- especially when some of it plays tricks on you.
Episode 6 • Oct 25, 2016
Restoring a Railcar: The 900 Class "DEB Set" Restoration Project
These guys are working tirelessly to restore a NSW Government Railways rail car set that ran up until the 1980s, servicing most of New South Wales. Here, we take a tour of the train and discuss the future of the project.
Episode 7 • Jan 24, 2017
Collarenebri: The Railway That Never Was
Collarenebri, in northern New South Wales, Australia, missed out by 'that much' on having its own railway station. Instead, the planned line was canceled nine miles from the town.
Episode 8 • Mar 30, 2017
Unboxing the Past - Lightning Ridge fossil biodiversity
Dr. Elizabeth Smith from the Australian Opal Centre opens a box of donations, a collection of incredible opalised fossils from 110 million years ago, all found in the same location.
Episode 9 • Apr 20, 2017
Charlie Nettleton's pocket watch, Lightning Ridge
Barbara from the Lightning Ridge Historical Society shows us an early relic of the Lightning Ridge opal fields -- the pocket watch of the industry founder, Charlie Nettleton.
Episode 10 • May 11, 2017
Great Gastropods & Marvellous Mussels - opalised fossils from Lightning Ridge
Dr. Elizabeth Smith from the Australian Opal Centre shows us part of the AOC's amazing collection of fossilized shelled creatures: snails and mussels.
Episode 11 • Jun 01, 2017
The Science of Pots - Lightning Ridge Opal Clay Pottery
Graeme Anderson, retired potter from Lightning Ridge, explains some of the techniques he has used, and some of the bizarre ingredients he's combined to create eye-catching glazes.
Episode 12 • Jun 23, 2017
Cretaceous Creek: a prehistoric Lightning Ridge waterway
Dr. Elizabeth Smith from the Australian Opal Centre presents a piece of the riverbed of a prehistoric waterway, with evidence of the plant and insect life that once lived there.
Episode 13 • Jul 17, 2017
Mining Heritage Mystery Object at Lightning Ridge!
Barbara from the Lightning Ridge Historical Society has a mystery object...it's made from wood, it's hand-carved, and it's a piece of mining history. Can you figure out what it is?
Episode 14 • Aug 22, 2017
What's it like to Live in a Train?
Graeme Anderson is a retired potter from Lightning Ridge, who creates amazing and unique opal clay pots. He also lives in a grouping of old Sydney train carriages, which he collected when they were retired from the network in 1992.
Episode 15 • Sep 25, 2017
Pine Cones and Seed Pods from ancient Lightning Ridge
Episode 16 • Oct 25, 2017
A Space Shuttle, But Not: Pathfinder
Episode 17 • Dec 15, 2017
Paleopathology: A Dinosaur with Arthritis
Dr. Elizabeth Smith from the AOC shows us an opalised bone from a dinosaur suffering from a chronic condition, probably arthritis. Who knew dinosaurs could get arthritis? Paleopathologists, that's who.
Episode 18 • Dec 04, 2017
The Secret Pythagoras Cup in the Powerhouse Museum
On a recent visit to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, I found something I wasn't expecting. Don't you just love a clever, elegant engineering solution to a problem? Me too.
Episode 19 • Jan 04, 2018
106 year old Brass Postal Seal from Nettleton, Lightning Ridge
We take a look at the brass postal seal from the original Lightning Ridge settlement, how it was used, and how it came to be part of the LRHS's collection.
Episode 20 • Jan 31, 2018
True Survivors: Lightning Ridge's unchanged fossils
Dr. Elizabeth Smith from the Australian Opal Centre shows us some opalised fossils from Lightning Ridge that demonstrate how some species of snails, molluscs, lungfish and turtles haven't really changed much over millions of years.
Episode 21 • Mar 16, 2018
Australian Opal - A World Tour of Opal, Part 1
We visit the Australian Opal Centre in Lightning Ridge and explore examples of Australian opal, from many different locations.
Episode 22 • Jun 28, 2018
Opal of the World - Mexico, Ethiopia, Tanzania - A World Tour of Opal, Part 2
We visit the Australian Opal Centre in Lightning Ridge and explore opal from around the world, including opal from Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Honduras, the United States of America, Canada, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Turkey.
Episode 23 • Jun 29, 2018
Melting Bottles in an Electric Kiln - Pottery Experiments in Lightning Ridge
Retired potter and backyard physicist Graeme experiments with melting glass bottles in an electric pottery kiln, producing amazing results.
Episode 24 • Aug 29, 2018
Monotremes - Really Weird Little Creatures from Lightning Ridge's Past & Present
Monotremes are weird animals. Dr. Smith from the Australian Opal Centre in Lightning Ridge shows us examples of prehistoric and modern platypus and echidna specimens.
Episode 25 • Oct 19, 2018
Lightning Ridge in 1988 - A Video Tour
A (shaky) video tour of Lightning Ridge in 1988, courtesy of my late father, David Gawthorpe. I believe he filmed this with his new toy, a Sony Video-8 Camcorder, to show his family at Christmas '88.
Episode 26 • Nov 08, 2018
Rural Radio Telescopes: The Paul Wild Observatory near Narrabri
Watching the skies near Narrabri, NSW, the Paul Wild Observatory is a collection of science equipment that's discovering and teaching us more about the universe we live in.
Episode 27 • Nov 29, 2018
The NSW/Queensland Border: Cameron's One Ton Post - Mungindi, NSW
Mungindi, NSW: John Brewer Cameron planted this post here in 1882, to mark the transition point of the NSW/Queensland border from the 29th parallel to the Barwon/Macintyre/Dumaresq rivers.
Episode 28 • Feb 10, 2019
Percy Allan - The Man Who Built 583 Bridges
Between 1893 and 1927, Percy Allan built 583 bridges in New South Wales. Five hundred and eighty three.
Episode 29 • Mar 10, 2019
How is a Video Rental Store still a thing in 2019?
Video rental stores used to be a thing. Now they're not. Some of the reasons are obvious, some you might not have considered.
Episode 30 • May 23, 2019
What Happens When You Own a Graveyard?
Superstitions aside, what's up with owning a historic private cemetery? Many rural properties have them, what's the deal?
Episode 31 • Jun 08, 2019
Australia's Newest Dinosaur & 3D Printed Dino Bones
Modern technology meets prehistoric biology. Palaeontologists are using 3D scanning and printing to replicate dinosaur bones from INSIDE solid rock.
Episode 32 • Jul 06, 2019
An Evening of Raku Pottery Firing in Lightning Ridge
An adventure in firing Raku pottery in Lightning Ridge, with experimental glazes and a backyard kiln.
Episode 33 • Oct 06, 2019
How Do You Get a DINOSAUR Named After YOU? Weewarrasaurus @ Lightning Ridge
Weewarrasaurus is a tiny plant-eating dinosaur, and Mike is the fossil geek who discovered it. Learn about the process of identifying a new species, and how to go from a fossil enthusiast to having your name recorded against a new species.
Episode 34 • Oct 28, 2019
Lightning Ridge in a 1920 Silent Film "The Shadow of Lightning Ridge"
The opal mining town of Lightning Ridge appeared, kind of, in a lost film that was made in 1920. I can't show you the film, but I can tell you the story.
Episode 35 • Nov 30, 2019
Ridge Lightning - Lightning & Weather Photography from Lightning Ridge
From 2004-2009, Russell and Shaun were the "storm chasers" from Lightning Ridge. They photographed weather and lightning and their work is still on display in Lightning Ridge, if you know where to look.
Episode 36 • Jan 11, 2020
Stuff that Looks Like Opal - Geological, Biological & Man-Made Opal Impostors
There's opal, there's synthetic opal, and then there's this stuff. Minerals, biological materials and man-made substances that have similar visual properties to opal.
Episode 37 • Jan 30, 2020
The Model Mine - Lightning Ridge Scale Model from the 1960s
In the late 1960s, a Lightning Ridge resident built a detailed scale model of Opal Street that's still on display.
Episode 38 • Apr 10, 2020
Lightning Ridge in 2020 - The 1988 Tour Re-Created
A tour of Lightning Ridge in 1988 revisited in 2020. So much has changed.
Episode 39 • May 09, 2020
Relics from the Digger's Rest Hotel, Lightning Ridge NSW
The Digger's Rest Hotel was a Lightning Ridge institution until it burned down in 2006. Check out some memorabilia from the pub with Barbara, Jenni and Graeme.
Episode 40 • May 29, 2020
Lightning Ridge Opal Clay Pottery with Ash Glazes
Lightning Ridge potter and backyard scientist Graeme Anderson shows us the results of some pottery glazing experiments using various kinds of ash.
Episode 41 • Jun 20, 2020
Why don't ALL Opalised Fossils look like Opal? - Australian Opal Centre, Lightning Ridge
Opalised fossils aren't always colourful like you would expect opal to be. We asked Jenni Brammall at the Australian Opal Centre in Lightning Ridge just that.
Episode 42 • Jul 02, 2020
The First Dinosaurs (and how Megalosaurus was almost named VERY differently)
In the 1850s, Sir Richard Owen coined the term "Dinosauria" and added the first three species to what we now call dinosaurs. One of them was...almost nuts.
Episode 43 • Jul 30, 2020
The Town with the Mystery Population: Lightning Ridge, NSW
Lightning Ridge is famous for black opal, but why doesn't anyone know how many people live there?And what IS the population?
Episode 44 • Aug 23, 2020
Lightning Claw - Australia's Largest Carnivorous Dinosaur! - Australian Opal Centre, Lightning Ridge
Australia's largest and most terrifying carnivorous dinosaur was discovered at Lightning Ridge.
Episode 45 • Sep 11, 2020
Pottery & Glazing Failures - Lightning Ridge Opal Clay Pottery
Sometimes things don't work out as expected, and pottery firings are no different. Graeme Anderson from Lightning Ridge shows us some disasters and disappointments from his years of creating amazing opal clay pottery masterpieces.
Episode 46 • Oct 03, 2020
Saltbush at Lightning Ridge - Clever Plant Survival Mechanisms
Saltbush thrives in the Australian outback, including at Lightning Ridge. One of the reasons is pretty clever.
Episode 47 • Oct 22, 2020
Opalised Ankylosaur Scute - Fossil Dig Finds at Lightning Ridge
Can you imagine finding part of a dinosaur? Some lucky visitors on the Australian Opal Centre's annual Fossil Dig did just that.
Episode 48 • Nov 05, 2020
Opal Experts vs. Cheap Online Opal Purchases
We bought some "opal" jewellery from an e-commerce site and showed it to some opal experts. Spoiler: It wasn't actually opal.
Episode 49 • Nov 26, 2020
Possible Dinosaur Bone Chunks - Fossil Dig Finds at Lightning Ridge
Not all fossil discoveries are easy to identify. These pieces are from a prehistoric mystery creature.
Episode 50 • Dec 10, 2020
Frontier Medicine at Lightning Ridge: Cottage Hospital from 1914
The opal fields are a dangerous place, and doctors and health workers have always been an important part of the Lightning Ridge opal mining community.
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