【The Stephen Hui Geological Museum introduces the diversity of Hong Kong's rocks, fossils and minerals - Dr Petra Bach】

“Each rock, mineral and fossil is unique and tells us stories about the Earth. We aim to display them together, so that they are no longer individual objects but incorporated in a coherent story where they can be viewed in a context under a common theme.” Curator Dr Petra Bach of The Stephen Hui Geological Museum told us how to place over 950 minerals, 300 rock and 350 fossil specimens to reflect the changes of the earth during its 4.5 billion years long history.

The Stephen Hui Geological Museum opened to the public in early 2009 as the first and only geological museum in Hong Kong. The mission of the museum is to provide an attractive object-based learning facility for understanding the nature and evolution of our planet to visitors of all ages and to inspire an appreciation of the dynamic natural world of Earth Sciences, its research and its application to daily life.

When talking about the challenges in establishing the museum, Dr Petra Bach said that the Department of Earth Sciences was funded in 2005 to develop the museum from scratch in a about 500 m2 large former lobby of James Hsioung Lee Science Building located in Main Campus of The University of Hong Kong to house the mineral and rock collection donated by the late Dr Stephen Hui. For this the exterior walls were taken down and extended to provide a bigger space. Although the museum to a large extend is enclosed by glass curtain walls limiting the available display area, she said that this has an advantage as it connects with the outdoors making visitors feel being in a bigger space. This effect together with the installation of large rock fabrications creates a sense of exploration in an outdoor environment through which the museum depicts the natural occurrence of fossils and different rock types usually encountered in the field. 

She added that another challenge typical for small museums is the limited resources available when compared to the other existing large-scale local museums; moreover, a university museum should present accurate and comprehensive data. To cope with these challenges, a longer time period was allowed for the completion of the museum in order to achieve a higher standard. To enhance the visitors’ feeling of being in a geological world, she paid special attention to details such as large floor to-ceiling rock fabrications, rock replicas as seating and fossil inlays in the museum floor.

Having worked as a geologist and educator for many years after her studies in Germany, she told us that she feels fortunate to be given the opportunity to convert her interest and experiences in the earth sciences to express them through the museum exhibits to the public. She said, “With a large collection on hand, there are many stories to tell. But to show the diversity of fossils, minerals and rocks in a limited space, we focused on telling one main story, which is the story of the evolution of our earth through “reading” rocks.

As a student having received further education in Nankai University of Tianjin, she laughed, “Although a curator, I have to admit, I have never been a keen collector of minerals, rocks or fossils. I’m conservative. Usually I climb mountains to appreciate genuine rocks and minerals in their natural environment. I don’t like picking up individual specimens and take them out of their context.” In the museum there are world famous and well-preserved fossils displayed in a context of an ancient ecosystem from prehistoric natural environments, the 530 million years old Cambrian Chengjiang Biota from Yunan in China and the Cretaceous Jehol Biota from Liaoning in China.

Both world-renowned and important fossil sites, they show a diverse range of organisms from the same time and location in Earth history reflecting different modes of life in a common ancient ecosystem. For example, fossils from the 530 million years old Chengjiang Biota already include complex marine organisms that developed strategies of burrowing into sediments, crawling on the seabed or floating and swimming in the sea. There are even evidences for an early development of predatory behaviour. A 2-metre long physical model of an “Anomalocaris” fossil is hung over the Chengjiang Biota display. This prehistoric marine animal was a good swimmer and had a circular mouth with rows of sharp teeth that can chew animals with hard shells such as trilobites. As the largest animal known from that time it is the first known predator in Earth history.

The museum comprises four major galleries themed on “Dynamic Earth”, “Earth Evolution”, “Earth Materials” and “Geological History of Hong Kong”. Together with interactive exhibits such as an interactive Earth globe model, a rock cycle model, a “Make Your Own Earthquake” display and touch screens, the museum encourages university students, students of secondary and primary schools and general public to learn about earth sciences.

Dr Petra Bach revealed, “I am very happy to see that even children show an increasing interest in the genuine rocks, minerals and fossils on display and even sit on the floor to make sketches of them. An important element in the museum is that visitors are able to touch many display objects, an experience that re-connects with nature. “Our lives today in Hong Kong moves so fast that we easily forget to make sense of it all. We need to know what holds our world together, rediscover the natural elements as the quality of our life we enjoy today depends on them.”

The Earth Evolution gallery includes an exhibit on a study made by colleagues of the Department of Earth Sciences on Cenozoic mountain building processes that led to the formation of the highest mountain range on Earth, the Himalaya Mountains with rock specimens collected there. She hopes to exhibit more similar research achievements of her department in the future. As for the near future of the museum, she said, “A museum is never completed but evolves further with time. We are still expanding the existing permanent exhibitions. In addition I hope to soon organize our first temporary exhibition and offer more activities to the public.”

In the past two years since the opening of the museum, about 6,000 people participated in two-hour guided tours while it had more than 10,000 additional individual visitors. They also come from places outside Hong Kong and often stay in the museum for an entire afternoon. What impressed her most so far was a four-year old Japanese boy visiting with his father. “He was very determined, knocking at my office door, well prepared with a dinosaur picture book, his precious sample with traces of “dinosaur blood” on it and a question if dinosaurs developed a thumb. Despite the fact that we have no dinosaur on display he was still very excited discovering many objects of the dinosaur world on our display that was illustrated in his picture book.”  Dr Petra Bach said, “I love to communicate with visitors if time allows, which is practical in a small museum.”

Not able to open during weekends due to the limited resources, the museum has launched a bilingual website containing a “Virtual Museum Tour”, making a virtual visit possible for those who cannot visit the museum during the regular opening hours on weekdays. She added, “I hope that we have created a popular and informative museum for all ages that stimulate a greater interest in the earth sciences and our natural environment that surrounds us and that encourage stewardship of our Earth in particular among the young generations.

< Back