A unique new board game at the Cobb & Co Museum in Toowoomba is enticing visitors to have fun while learning about the environment.
The museum is home to the National Carriage Collection –
Australia’s finest collection of horse drawn vehicles – as well as extensive displays on the natural and cultural history of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs.
‘Extinction – A Game of Chance’ was developed as a joint project between Toowoomba City Council and Cobb & Co Museum staff to highlight environmental issues in an entertaining way. The game was installed in May and will remain at the museum as a permanent feature until new exhibitions are developed.
Council’s Bushcare Facilitator, Veronica Newbury, initiated the project to draw attention to locally endangered species.
“I wanted to encourage children to play the game, while learning about their local environment and strategies they could use to improve it,” she said. “It is important that they have local examples of how we as a community impact on our environment, and how it is the collection of little strategies that make the difference.”
Veronica Newbury said most people did not realise the southeast Queensland region was under threat of losing many varieties of wildlife.
“Some of our endangered species include the swift parrot, glossy black cockatoo, grey goshawk, powerful owl, Richmond birdwing butterfly and the northern imperial hairstreak butterfly,” she said.
“I wanted people to realise that everything they do, no matter how small, has an impact on the environment and collectively will lead to loss of biodiversity and perhaps even extinction of species from an area.”
To help game players learn more about threatened species, large information boards have been mounted on the walls behind the game, outlining the current status of each bird or butterfly. Two to four players roll a dice and move around a giant board in a snakes and ladders type fashion. The official aim is to ‘finish first without having too much impact on the environment’.
Veronica Newbury said the game not only teaches people about our endangered wildlife, but also about wider environmental problems like water conservation, weed management and energy efficiency.
“As you progress through the game you also learn what you can do around the home to help save the environment at a local level,” she said.
For further information contact Veronica Newbury on (07) 4688 6572.
