Scienceworks in Melbourne

Scienceworks is a science museum in Melbourne. It is a venue of Museum Victoria which administers the cultural and scientific collections of the State of Victoria. It is located in the suburb of Spotswood.

Opened in March 1992, Scienceworks is housed in a purpose-built building "styled along industrial lines" near the historic Spotswood Pumping Station, constructed in 1897, whose steam engines form an associated exhibit.

Displays and activities offered by the museum include hands-on experiments, demonstrations, and tours. The "lightning room" is a 120-seat auditorium that presents demonstrations about electricity, featuring a giant Tesla Coil, capable of generating two million volts of electricity, producing three metre lightning bolts. The museum also has the only digital planetarium in the southern hemisphere.

The 1883 clock tower from Flinders Street Station is also located at the museum. The clock had been moved to Princes Bridge Station in 1905 and Spencer Street Station in 1911, where it remained sold into private ownership after the station redevelopment of 1967.

A characteristic of all museums, whatever their size, is the multiplicity of roles that they assume for themselves or that others call upon them to perform. A museum is likely to be a repository of artefacts and specimens, a visitor attraction, an educational resource, a centre of knowledge, a corporate hospitality venue, the guardian of an iconic or historic building, a source of identity and pride for its locality, a place of research, and the organiser of performances. It may have a number of branches, a series of departments and a range of specialisms in its staff and volunteers. A large museum will have a wide range of staff with many different skills and disciplines. The Manual of Museum Management provides 61 descriptions of the kind of jobs that are likely to be found in a museum of some size.