Storytime featuring 'Lucky's Star: The Story of a Meteorite'

[Music plays and an image appears of the Lucky’s Star book cover on the left featuring the bush and a house, with a girl and a dog looking up at the stars in the foreground, and text appears on the right: Storytime featuring Lucky’s Star was filmed at Melbourne Museum, where a fragment of the Murchison Meteorite is on display. CSIRO acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Australia’s first scientists and storytellers, and we pay our respects to their Elders past and present]

Mark Greenwood: Okay, so it’s National Science Week story time.

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark greenwood holding a book in his lap and talking to the camera on the right, and a laptop on a table on the left, with the book cover as the background]

It's a really special week, it’s where young people get to find out a little bit of a love of science and I have a love of science.

[Image continues to show Mark talking to the camera and holding up the Lucky’s Star book showing the camera]

In fact, that love of science helped me to write this book. So we're going to be talking about Lucky’s Star, The Story of a Meteorite written by me, Mark Greenwood, and beautifully illustrated by Lucia Masciullo.

[Image continues to show Mark talking to the camera and placing the book back down in his lap, and then lifts it up briefly pointing at it]

We're going to delve into this story a little bit, but I thought before I do, we'll do some questions later on, before I do, I thought I'd just explain to you why I wrote this book.

[Image continues to show Mark talking to the camera, holding up the book showing the camera]

Sometimes my wife comes into my office when I'm writing stories and she looks at me and she says, I'm a bit worried about you, Mark. And I say, why would you be worried? And she says, I think you've got a problem.

[Image continues to show Mark talking to the camera with one hand using the laptop]

And I say, why?

[Image changes to show a rear view of an audience listening to Mark talking, and projected photos on two walls show the book’s cover, that changes to shelves of many rocks of shapes, sizes and colours]

She said, I think you've got a rock problem.

[Image continues to show Mark talking to the audience as he points at the projected rock photo behind him]

Do you think I've got a rock problem? I love collecting rocks. I love collecting rocks.

[Image changes to show the medium view of Mark talking to the camera]

I've been collecting rocks for a long time. I love minerals, I like gemstones, I like all sorts of rocks because they've all got a story to tell.

[Image changes to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking, as the projected photos change to Mark smiling as he sits with a dog, with various rocks in the foreground]

And actually amongst the rocks I've collected one of the people that helps me look after all my rocks is my little dog, Banjo.

[Image changes to show the medium view of Mark talking to the camera, and holding up his book to the camera briefly]

And you might get an idea about why there's a little dog in the book called Lucky's Star because Lucia knew that I loved Banjo and she thought, hmm, maybe a little doggie might be a good one to have in the book.

[Image continues to show Mark talking to the camera as he reaches across to the laptop, the projected photo behind him changes to a view of just above the Earth in space]

Amongst all the rocks that I, I love collecting are space rocks.

[Image changes to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and shows the projected photos of the view of space with a meteorite flying above the Earth]

In fact, just yesterday an incredible meteorite came flying through the sky not far from here in Ballarat and Bendigo and somewhere it's landed and they're going to try and find that meteorite, wherever it landed.

[Image continues to show Mark talking to the audience as he reaches a hand over to the laptop, and then the projected photos show close views of various rocks spread out on wood]

Because you see, meteorites do land on Earth. And amongst all my rocks that I've been collecting,

[Image changes to show the medium view of Mark talking to the camera]

I've been collecting space rocks. They have stories to tell. Many of them have come a long way to land on earth. Some of them are 4.5 billion years old, the same age as our solar system.

[Image continues to show the medium view of Mark talking to the camera, as he reaches a hand across to the laptop changing the projected photo behind him to show a hand touching a chain fence]

Some of them have got special things inside them that make them maybe even a little older than that.

[Image changes to show the audience listening to Mark talking, and showing the projected photos to be Mark smiling at the camera leaning on a fence in the foreground of a meteorite landing site]

So I've actually not just been collecting space rocks, but I've been travelling the world, going to some of the places where they've landed.

[Image continues to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking and pointing to the photo behind him]

Hopefully the one that landed in Bendigo didn't leave a hole this big in the ground.

[Image changes to show the medium view of Mark talking to the camera, and then reaching across to the laptop changing the projected photo behind him]

But in Canyon Diablo in Arizona is one of the biggest, most preserved meteorites in the world, this one here, and I love going and finding out about science and and the earth and all the things that make our beautiful planet incredible.

[Image changes to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos showing a close view of a hand touching a meteorite]

If I ever go to a museum, like this incredible museum here, if I travel around the world and go to a museum like in London or New York or Washington or Paris and they have big displays of meteorites, one of the things I love to do is touch a meteorite and feel all the imprints in it and little dimples because they are made by the heat as that meteorite, that big iron meteorite came flying through the sky.

[Image continues to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking as he reaches across to the laptop, and the projected photos change to show Mark hugging a meteorite on display]

And I can tell you this, one of the things I really love to do is I love hugging meteorites.

[Image changes to show the medium view of Mark hugging his book and talking to the camera, and then the image changes to show a close view of listening children in the audience]

Now I can't hug a meteorite, but I can hug my book because it is a story about a meteorite and I hope that you want to hug this book at the end as well.

[Image changes to show the audience listening to Mark talking, using the laptop to change the photos to a vile and “Stardust” information, and then the image changes to show sitting listening children]

So a long time ago I was in a museum in Washington and I saw this, as I walked into the meteorite display, I saw this little vial and it said there that the material inside that vial was the oldest thing that I would ever see. It said that it came from a meteorite that landed on Earth in 1969.

[Image changes to show the medium view of Mark talking to the camera]

And inside this meteorite was a thing called stardust. In fact, it might have even been older than our solar system, maybe even 7.5 billion years old. So I wanted to know what meteorite landed on Earth in 1969. And you know what I found out?

[Image changes to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking]

Two meteorites landed in 1969 one in Argentina, but one right here in Victoria.

[Image continues to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking as he reaches across to the laptop, and the projected photos change to show a foot shaped meteorite]

And the one that landed in Victoria is called the Murchison meteorite, it landed in a little country town called Murchison.

[Image continues to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking as he points to the left projected photo on the wall, and then the image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking]

This is a piece of the Murchison meteorite and if after today you get an opportunity to wander through the museum, you might be able to find this exact one here in the Melbourne Museum.

[Image changes to show a close view of listening children sitting on the floor]

Because this is where I found it, and this is where I kind of got my idea for my story.

[Image changes to show Mark talking to the camera with a hand on the laptop, and image changes to show the Mark talking to the audience, as the photos change to two boys looking at meteorite rockss]

A long time ago when the meteorite landed, it came over the skies of Murchison, exploded into a fireball, lots of pieces rained down on the town, and there were some young boys called the Gillick brothers amongst the other kids in the town who went around and tried to find little pieces of the meteorite, and these boys collected them.

[Image continues to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos change to show a close view of one of the boys from the previous photo]

This one here, he collected a big piece.

[Image continues to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos change to show the two boys looking at meteorite rocks again]

But I reckon that all those boys would have been, they would have really loved to have kept those pieces of meteorite. You know why?

[Image changes to show the medium view of Mark talking to the camera]

Because today they're worth more than gold. They are so valuable because there was something very special about that meteorite. In fact, it is the most studied meteorite in the entire world.

[Image continues to show Mark talking to the camera, as he reaches across to the laptop to change the photos]

So I decided one day I should go to Murchison.

[Image changes to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking as he rests a hand on the laptop, and the projected photos show a “Meteorite Street” sign]

And what I found in Murchison was a street called Meteorite Street, where the meteorite landed. I got very hungry when I was there. So you know what I needed to eat?

[Image continues to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos change to show a hamburger on the left, and text appears on the right: Try the Big Meteorite Hamburger, A Hamberger with the lot PLUS Double Meat, Double Cheese, Double Bacon, Murchison Meteorite 1969]

I needed to eat a meteorite hamburger.

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, as he continues to rest his hand on the laptop and changes the photo]

You can have a Murchison, meteorite hamburger in Murchison if you ever get to go there. It's pretty tasty, too.

[Image changes to show the rear view of the audience listening to Mark talking as he continues to rest a hand on the laptop, and the projected photos show a piece of Murchison meteorite on display]

They have actually got a piece of the Murchison meteorite in the town there in the little Historical Museum.

[Image changes to show a close view of some of the listening children in the audience, and then the image changes to show a close view of Mark talking to the camera as he rests a hand on the laptop]

And they've got this beautiful big piece of Murchison meteorite and the people in the town talked to me and and people at the museum here that you'll meet a little later on talked to me.

[Image continues to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, as he continues to rest his hand on the laptop and changes the photo to the cover of his book]

And from all the people that talk to me, eventually I was able to write this book.

[Image continues to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, as he opens his book turning pages]

So we're going to read this book to you and you can keep the questions because we got lots of ideas and you can ask questions at the end.

[Image changes to show the Lucky’s Star book cover on the left featuring the bush and a farm house, with a girl and a dog looking up at the stary sky in the foreground]

Lucky's Star, The Story of a Meteorite.

[Music plays as the image changes to show a shooting star flying over a mountain range with the bush and house in the foreground]

There is the little town of Murchison. Can you see a shooting star flying through the sky there? Can anyone see it?

[Image changes to show cows in a pen, with Lucky the girl carrying a pail of milk with a dog beside her all looking up]

Lucky was milking the cows when it arrived from outer space.

[Image changes to show a meteorite flying over farm houses, farm land and a river]

Crackling, fizzing, zipping, whizzing, shot through the sky, lighting up the fields and farms.

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap]

This big huge fireball came over.

[Image changes to show the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show the flying meteorite over farms, and then the photos change to show a meteorite shower over a house]

It was a Sunday morning and everybody was going about their business.

[Image changes to show a meteorite shower over a farm house on with scared cows in a pen, Lucky dropping the milk pail and the dog looking scared as they all look at the sky]

Ba-Boom! Houses shook. Windows rattled.

[Image changes to show the wide view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show the previous photo]

Even the cows were spooked. Can you see those cows being really spooked by the sound of the meteorite as it landed in town?

[Image changes to show a split screen of Lucky and the dog watching a small meteorite rock landing, Lucky and the dog crouching over the meteorite, and Lucky’s index finger touching the meteorite]

Well, a hissing little space rock landed at Lucky's feet.

[Image changes to show Lucky squatting and holding up the meteorite showing the sitting dog]

Hello, little star, she said. It was warm to touch and a little bit stinky when she popped it in her pocket.

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap and a hand clutching his chin in thought]

Why would a meteorite be stinky, I wonder?

[Image changes to show a close view of listening children sitting on the floor, and then the image changes to show a town street with three mothers talking and Lucky on her bike in the foreground]

Well, the celestial spectacle was the talk of the town that Sunday morning. The Murchison locals gossiped.

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap]

They said that the sooty rocks strewn all across the spring pastures might contain alien germs.

[Music plays as image changes to show a male farmer using a hose and a dog chasing the water]

I don't like the smell of them, said Mr. Brisbane. He hosed down the dairy, washing those cosmic curiosities into the manure pit.

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap, and image changes to show listening children in the audience]

Oh, do you think they did contain alien germs?

[Music plays as image changes to show a policeman leaning on a car reading a newspaper while a police woman is taking notes in the car, and a policeman is talking with three scientist behind the car]

News headlines announced visitors from outer space. The police were baffled.

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap]

To investigate the strange objects a professor led a team of science students to the dairy.

[Music plays as image changes to show the farm with cows, two scientist digging through a manure pile while Lucky and the dog study rocks with a scientist with lab equipment in the foreground]

Lucky watched them roll up their sleeves and they searched through the cow dung for the gritty lumps of space rocks.

[Image changes to show a close view of listening children in the audience sitting on the floor]

Can you imagine searching through cow dung to try and find a piece of meteorite?

[Music plays as the image changes to show the wide view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show the scientists on the farm again, and the camera zooms in on Mark]

The professor knew all about these space rocks. They're rarer than moondust, he said.

[Image changes to show a split screen of Lucky and the dog, looking closely at the meteorite in a jar, a front view of a hand holding the meteorite, and a side view of the hand holding the meteorite]

Like other people in Murchison, Lucky kept her star in a jar. One side was smooth, it had a few small imprints and and dimples.

[Image changes to show a close view of listening children sitting in the audience, and then the image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera with a hand resting on the laptop]

The other side was chipped and flecked and dusted with star white flecks. I wonder what those star white flecks were.

[Image changes to show Lucky kneeling on her bed and leaning out her window looking up at the stary night sky]

And when the fields and farms were cloaked in darkness, Lucky gazed out her bedroom window. If a star falls, she wondered, does it leave an empty space in the sky?

[Image changes to show the wide view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show Lucky looking up out her window at the stars]

What do you think? If a star falls, does it leave a space?

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap]

Well, Lucky thought that maybe she needed to do something about that.

[Image changes to show Lucky reading a book while sitting at a desk covered in books, various toys, the meteorite in a jar, a magnifying glass, a record disc and pencils]

So she read books about the mysteries of the universe. I'll find a way to put you back in the sky, she whispered to her star.

[Music plays as image changes to show a dog running around beside a windmill while Lucky is holding a kite with the meteorite taped to it]

So she waited for a blast of wind to carry her star up and away. But it was too heavy to fly.

[Image changes to show Lucky building a ramp from a plan the meteorite in a jar is sitting on while the dog rolls around on its back]

So she built a contraption to launch her star way up into the heavens.

[Image changes to show Lucky and the dog looking over the pig pen’s fence as pigs are eating from the feed trough where the meteorite has landed]

But it landed in the pigpen.

[Music plays as image changes to show a split screen of Lucky in a tree watching the meteorite falling landing on the dog’s head, and Lucky and the bandaged dog looking at the meteorite she’s holding]

So ,safe in the arms of a favourite tree, Lucky tossed her star into the sky. But it bounced through the branches and crashed back to earth.

[Music plays image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap and his other hand on his chin]

Poor little doggie got a meteorite on his head.

[Music plays as the image continues to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap and his other hand on his chin]

Don't worry, Lucky assured her star.

[Image continues to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap as he points at the camera then turns a page in the book]

The professor will know what to do.

[Image changes to show the professor scientist sitting at a desk surrounded by lab equipment, books and samples, with Lucky looking sadly at the meteorite in a jar she’s holding]

Shooting stars that land on Earth are actually called meteorites the professor told Lucky. And we can't put them back in the sky.

[Image changes to show a wide side view of Mark talking to the audience, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap]

But in a museum like this one, your star could shine brightly for all to see.

[Music plays as the image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, with a hand resting on the laptop and the book open on his lap and his other hand on his chin]

Lucky looked at the star. Perhaps the professor was right, she thought.

[Image changes to show a rear wide view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show Lucky looking sadly down at the meteorite in a jar she’s holding]

Her little star could shine a light on the mysteries of the universe.

[Image changes to show Lucky sleeping in her bed with the stary night sky morphing into her blanket]

Well, that night the sky was a glittering blanket. Tucked snugly in bed, Lucky closed her eyes and she made a wish.

[Image changes to show a female and a male holding a boy looking at the meteorite in a rock display cabinet]

Things slowly returned to the way that they were in the little town of Murchison.

[Image changes to show the rear wide view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show the previous image]

And Lucky’s star did find a forever home in a museum just like this one.

[Image changes to show Lucky looking down, and the shiny inside of the meteorite rock]

And, strangely, hidden inside its sooty crust, scientists discovered something incredible. That thing you were talking about, stardust. The thing we're all made of.

[Image changes to show the audience listening to Mark talking, as the projected photos show information “The Murchison meteorite”, and image changes to show Mark talking to the camera]

So in the story of the Murchison meteorite, I have to tell you that Lucky is actually a made up character based around those two boys who found all those Murchison meteorites in 1969. But the Murchison meteorite itself is absolutely real. In fact, it's one of the most important space rocks in the world. They say it has clues to information about our stars, about our solar system, about our planet, even the origins of life on Earth.

[Image continues to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera as he  holds up the book and pointing at the information to show the camera]

In the story of Lucky’s Star, at the back here you can find all the information about this incredible meteorite that landed right here in Victoria.

[Image continues to show a medium view of Mark talking and holding up the book to the camera, as he picks up small meteorite rock to show the camera]

On the other page over here, there are lots of stories about mysteries, about, I love meteorites so much I collect them and keep them in my pocket.

[Image changes to show listening children sitting in the audience checking their pockets, and one boy standing up pulling out his pockets]

Don't you have a meteorite in your pocket?

[Music plays as image changes to show the rear wide view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show the information pages and the boy continues holding out his pockets]

Ah, you don't have a pocket for a meteorite.

[Image continues to show the rear wide view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show the previous image, as the boy sits back down]

Ah, well, that's no wonder then.

[Image changes to show a display wall with various shapes and sizes of meteorites as the camera pans right]

But I love Murchison meteorites and I love all sorts of meteorites, so there are lots of mysteries.

[Images move through to show a girl sitting in front of a display of a large rock with smaller rocks, a smooth meteorite on the display wall, a “Glossary” of words associated with space]

And for anybody who wants to know a little bit more, there is a glossary page here with lots of incredible words, kind of words like alien.

[Image continues to show a wide side view of the audience listening to Mark talking, and the projected photos show the “Glossary”]

We know what alien is, but what about amino acids? What about atoms? And celestial?

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, reading out words from the book]

Interplanetary? Extraterrestrial?

[Image continues to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, pointing at the book he’s holding up to show the camera]

And if you look right down here, there's even a description of what we call stardust.

[Music plays as the image continues to show Mark talking, closing the book, using the laptop, and images move through to show views of children looking at rock displays, and views of rock displays ]

Lucky loved her little star, but she decided the best place for her star would be right here in a museum like this so that young people like you could come to the museum and go and find out all about the mysteries of the universe, just like she was fascinated by.

[Image changes to show a medium view of Mark talking to the camera, and image changes to show a wide view of Mark talking to the audience, and the projected photos show a stary sky over farm land]

And eventually, maybe you're going to find out a little bit more about the mysteries of the universe when the latest meteorite is discovered here in Victoria.

[Music plays as image changes to show a stary sky with the Museums Victoria logo below text: With thanks to]

[Image changes to show a split circle, and photos move through of CSIRO activities in either side of the circle, and then the circle morphs into the CSIRO logo]