We all started somewhere—as ancient fish in the deep blue! Through evolution, we became the humans we are today. Centred on this year's Nature Festival theme, Seed, this event celebrates a profound truth: All Life on Earth Is Related.
Through an interactive reading of the book written by Jonathan Tweet, families are invited to meet Grandmother Fish, exploring our shared origins and the evolutionary traits we picked up along the way—like wiggling, biting, grasping, cuddling, and talking.
Our Storyteller: Our ancestral story will be brought to life by two of Adelaide's most cherished grandmothers: Grandma Wendy Anderson (psychologist), and Nani ma Maryam Sadiq (multilingual interpreter).
Grandmother Fish will be read in 3 different languages:
English (at 10:30am) by Grandma Wendy
Hindi (at 11:00) by Nani ma Maryam
Swahili (at 11:30) by Nani ma Maryam
Stations of Life: Children can explore the steps of evolution from fish to human through interactive discovery. Each station features books, toys, sensory objects, museum specimens, and crafts that showcase nature's weird and wonderful biodiversity.
Guided by STEM Superstars: To answer questions and guide families through their deep history these experts will lend their knowledge at each Station of Life:
Dr Alice Clement (Flinders University) - ancient fish and tetrapod evolution
Dr Jenna Crowe-Riddell (Adelaide University) - sensory evolution of snakes and lizards
Dr Qamariya Nasrullah (King's College London) - mammal development and evolution
Our Vision: To celebrate our differences and similarities, and help show that we are all interconnected branches of a massive, beautiful tree that grew from a single evolutionary seed planted four billion years ago.
