Discovery Zone

• Introduction
• First World War
• Second World War
• Vietnam
• Cold War
• Peacekeeping
• Programs

Andrew Gaze in the First World War trench in the D-ZonePAIU2007.077.03

The Discovery Zone is an amazing hands-on learning space. Visitors can see, touch, listen, and smell their way through five distinct environments that replicate the living conditions during five periods of conflict since Australia’s Federation.

The environments are:

• a trench somewhere on the Western Front in France during the First World War
• a typical north Australian backyard during the Second World War
• a Cold War-era submarine
• a helicopter from the Vietnam War
• a temporary building housing Australian peacekeepers somewhere in an emerging nation.

Discussion Questions

1. What conflicts has Australia been involved in since Federation?
2. What was the Cold War? How long did it last?
3. Is peacekeeping different to war? How?
4. How does war affect the soldiers' families?
5. Why is it important to understand what life was like for these Australians involved in the conflicts you listed in Question 1?
6. What should we remember about these Australians? How should we remember them?
7. When is a war really over? (Think about the effects of war upon those who have experienced, and their families.)