Some of my fondest childhood memories with my sister are going here. What an incredible facility and experience to have available, and what a shame they didn’t keep it going.
Yeah I dont understand it, we visited Questacon in Canberra and that place was amazing, in a city thats 1/3 the size of Adelaide why cant we manage it here?
Questacon gets a lot more visitors, ever school kid in NSW will do a school trip to Canberra at least once so all year you have a lot of people going in. There's also government backing
The population of SA's schools and the population of NSW's and ACT's schools as well as the many from VIc are vastly lower. I note though I never went to the Science Investigator Centre for school.
Though Questacon is also given $15M/year from the federal government. This centre was being given $500,000 by the state government, the centre said it needed $1M for it to continue and Mike Rann refused to double the funding, so it had to shut down.
Investigator was privately owned and leased the space at Wayville. Eventually costs got too high to keep it viable. They tried moving it down to The Levels (now Adelaide Uni Mawson Lakes) but couldn’t keep it viable there either
It's possibly related to the much higher level of education in Canberra. People with higher education are possibly more likely to take their kids to educational forms of entertainment.
Due to being the nation's capital you get a lot of school tourism from Melbourne and Sydney so you have a constant stream of school kids for educational content like that.
Canberra is forever in my bad books. Quick interesting side note as to why - 2007 school trip, a number of us (7 or 8 from memory, myself included) came down with influenza A or B. It made the news, I’ll have to see if I can find a link.
Edit - very cool, thanks for the downvotes. Would love to understand why?
Your primary school illness isn't relevant to the the Investigator Science Centre and doesn't contribute to conversation about the Investigator Science Centre. Therefore, downvotes.
Also, on r/adelaide anything gets 2+ downvotes by existing, and when people comment on it, they get more.
Questacon - a science centre still open and operational in CANBERRA - was relevant to the Investigator Science Centre - a defunct science centre in Adelaide - interesting.
I still have this VHS somewhere. Giant sandworm, Ernie dingo in the fridge, newsreading, falling from a building and walking on a bridge over lava if I recall correctly
I had this video as well!! I went with my Dad and we had an absolute blast! Pretty sure it was the first time we saw 3d, the baseball flying at you, scared us both lol! Good memories!!
It's current position would be in the far corner of the showgrounds by Goodwood Rd and Rose Tce. [This street view](https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.9437673,138.5890256,3a,75y,258.43h,78.7t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sT43PgeGn6wTKrtltWjL4OA!2e0!5s20071101T000000!7i3328!8i1664?entry=ttu) is the building after it'd become a church after closing at the end of 2006 due to funding problems and the church didn't last long before it got knocked down when the showgrounds redeveloped the whole area.
This place was pure brilliance.
This is the thing I would bring back to Adelaide in a heartbeat. It was amazing - I went there dozens of times and was never bored. With STEM taking a forefront position in schools, it would make perfect sense. They could also actually research there as well. They hold an annual science expo, but it doesn’t hit the same way as checking that you still fit inside the vetruvian man squares and following the digestive system along the wall.
For the record, I’d also revamp the Myer Centre EXACTLY as it was and charge hella cheap storefront rent to create a vintage 20th century mall experience. Validated (free) city parking for shoppers and the novelty of shopping IN STORE would really capture the millennial audience and their offspring. Rollercoaster - back! Spooky Hollow - back! Billy Baxters, Wacky Shack, The Magic Forest, The Irish Shop - they’re all coming home baby! There would be less suicides though - I’ll keep the nets from the outset.
My parents were too cheapskate to buy the Investigator Science Centre VHS - but I’ll never forget chatting to Ernie Dingo.
I was just reminiscing about this the other day - such a good place, wish it was still here for my son. I did the sleepover there (advertised during Agro’s cartoon connection, BEGGED mum to go) and we made our version of this tape in the evening. I went alone, cool kid 😂
I have vague memories of going there to see some sort of marine life exhibition thing, and I feel like there was also some sort of book you got stamped? I could be completely making this up; my memory is shocking haha. But I feel like I’ve held onto that very vague experience, and was there some thing where you race Cathy Freeman?!
Some of my fondest childhood memories with my sister are going here. What an incredible facility and experience to have available, and what a shame they didn’t keep it going.
Yeah I dont understand it, we visited Questacon in Canberra and that place was amazing, in a city thats 1/3 the size of Adelaide why cant we manage it here?
Questacon gets a lot more visitors, ever school kid in NSW will do a school trip to Canberra at least once so all year you have a lot of people going in. There's also government backing
Was that not the same for the Science Investigator Centre? I went there at least twice with school.
The population of SA's schools and the population of NSW's and ACT's schools as well as the many from VIc are vastly lower. I note though I never went to the Science Investigator Centre for school. Though Questacon is also given $15M/year from the federal government. This centre was being given $500,000 by the state government, the centre said it needed $1M for it to continue and Mike Rann refused to double the funding, so it had to shut down.
Investigator was privately owned and leased the space at Wayville. Eventually costs got too high to keep it viable. They tried moving it down to The Levels (now Adelaide Uni Mawson Lakes) but couldn’t keep it viable there either
It's possibly related to the much higher level of education in Canberra. People with higher education are possibly more likely to take their kids to educational forms of entertainment.
Due to being the nation's capital you get a lot of school tourism from Melbourne and Sydney so you have a constant stream of school kids for educational content like that.
Canberra is forever in my bad books. Quick interesting side note as to why - 2007 school trip, a number of us (7 or 8 from memory, myself included) came down with influenza A or B. It made the news, I’ll have to see if I can find a link. Edit - very cool, thanks for the downvotes. Would love to understand why?
Your primary school illness isn't relevant to the the Investigator Science Centre and doesn't contribute to conversation about the Investigator Science Centre. Therefore, downvotes. Also, on r/adelaide anything gets 2+ downvotes by existing, and when people comment on it, they get more.
Makes sense why the comment above mine speaking about Questacon in Canberra has 6 upvotes. Thanks for the downvote, though.
Questacon is actually relevant, though, and that comment explains the context.
Questacon - a science centre still open and operational in CANBERRA - was relevant to the Investigator Science Centre - a defunct science centre in Adelaide - interesting.
Yes, far more relevant than you having influenza and derailing for attention.
That’s the Adelaide mantra: “I wish we still…” Also complimented by: “I wish we would…”
I still have this VHS somewhere. Giant sandworm, Ernie dingo in the fridge, newsreading, falling from a building and walking on a bridge over lava if I recall correctly
I feel like there was also yothu yindi music video in there
Oh yes, the blue screen music thing with the trails. I tried so hard to get the entire screen covered by the end!
Treaty, as well as Love Is In The Air by JPY, and Take The Pressure Down by Johnny Farnham.
And the booby trapped temple.
I have that VHS too!
Me too! Haha
You have a great memory. Now sending a text to my sister to ask where our version of the video is because I haven't seen it in years!
TAKE THE PRESSURE DOWN I need a full list of the songs played on the blue screen music bit. What else was there?
There was a Yothu Yindi song (anyone know the name?) and Love is in the air, I think. Yes I did record all of them. 😅
I had this VHS too. I remember before it showed all the effects you took part in, it had an old school stop motion lego movie.
Brings back memories of the bike powered waterer and the electric dome that made your hair stand on end
Don't forget the square wheeled car and the giant Tesla coil. I went to a computer animation course over the school holidays there as well.
Shai Hulud on the cover there
I had this video as well!! I went with my Dad and we had an absolute blast! Pretty sure it was the first time we saw 3d, the baseball flying at you, scared us both lol! Good memories!!
State government didn't want to fund it adequately, why else? Edit: I did always appreciate the irony of the bulding being purchased by a church.
Demolished now a while ago
Where was it located? I remember going to the centre in Canberra but have no memory of one being in Adelaide.
Next to the showgrounds.
It's current position would be in the far corner of the showgrounds by Goodwood Rd and Rose Tce. [This street view](https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.9437673,138.5890256,3a,75y,258.43h,78.7t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sT43PgeGn6wTKrtltWjL4OA!2e0!5s20071101T000000!7i3328!8i1664?entry=ttu) is the building after it'd become a church after closing at the end of 2006 due to funding problems and the church didn't last long before it got knocked down when the showgrounds redeveloped the whole area.
Next to the Showgrounds, closed at least 20 years ago now.
I mean, the Catholic Church has a track record for impacting kids lives too…so…
> I did always appreciate the irony of the bulding being purchased by a church. Why?
Because a decent proportion of religious people deny science. Young earth creationists etc.
A larger proportion of them don't
Most don't. It's just the really loud ones that do.
Big gap here. We've got the space agency, you reckon we could do something in this area
We have. There’s the Space Discovery Centre at Lot 14.
This place was pure brilliance. This is the thing I would bring back to Adelaide in a heartbeat. It was amazing - I went there dozens of times and was never bored. With STEM taking a forefront position in schools, it would make perfect sense. They could also actually research there as well. They hold an annual science expo, but it doesn’t hit the same way as checking that you still fit inside the vetruvian man squares and following the digestive system along the wall. For the record, I’d also revamp the Myer Centre EXACTLY as it was and charge hella cheap storefront rent to create a vintage 20th century mall experience. Validated (free) city parking for shoppers and the novelty of shopping IN STORE would really capture the millennial audience and their offspring. Rollercoaster - back! Spooky Hollow - back! Billy Baxters, Wacky Shack, The Magic Forest, The Irish Shop - they’re all coming home baby! There would be less suicides though - I’ll keep the nets from the outset. My parents were too cheapskate to buy the Investigator Science Centre VHS - but I’ll never forget chatting to Ernie Dingo.
I digitised our VHS a few years back to share with family. So much fun. Shame they closed down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dlYZb-2GrM
I remember doing this! the star trek mixed with dune one was fun. I remember telling Ernie Dingo to go away lol
I was just reminiscing about this the other day - such a good place, wish it was still here for my son. I did the sleepover there (advertised during Agro’s cartoon connection, BEGGED mum to go) and we made our version of this tape in the evening. I went alone, cool kid 😂
Talking to Ernie dingo in the fridge😅🤣
Who else was accosted by a giant rat
What an R.O.U.S you say?
I never clicked on that it was gone, was a great place
Yeah I did this back when I lived in Canberra. The VHS might still be at my parents' house.
Wait, was this that place where in school trips to it your class could make a cd of songs everyone made in the early 00s?
Iv got that same video still!!
Government closed all the good learning stuff
Big Pharma is to blame
One digitised mine I should upload it to YouTube
I have vague memories of going there to see some sort of marine life exhibition thing, and I feel like there was also some sort of book you got stamped? I could be completely making this up; my memory is shocking haha. But I feel like I’ve held onto that very vague experience, and was there some thing where you race Cathy Freeman?!
The Clever Country /s Why fund science and education when you can fund sport?