August 14, 2025 • 12 mins
In this episode of iHeart Tassie, Ebony Abblitt takes a look at Tasmania's premier celebration of science: The Beaker Street Festival.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
My Heart Dazzi, starting as a three night meet the
scientist style of Vente in twenty seventeen to a two
week statewide celebration of science now in twenty twenty five,
the Biggest street Festivals helped to shake up Tasmania sees
and interacts with the world of science. Year nine of
Bega Street got underway earlier this week, transforming parts of
(00:22):
Hobart into Antarctica, alongside events in the state's north northwest
and far south, opening the minds of the young and
young at heart about the big wide world of science
and how it's a lot more fun than we might think.
Ebbidieapler and For this week's episode of My Heart Tazzy,
I spoke with doctor Margo Adler, the festival director and
creative scientific mind behind the biggest street festival, talking about
(00:46):
everything from its more humble beginnings to what we can
expect in this year's edition My Heart Dazzi. Doctor Margo
Adler was living in Sydney when she saw the Crescent
Hotel in North Hobart up for sale in twenty fifteen.
She had always had a dream of opening a science
Saint Boh.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
My partner and I went and looked at it and
made some offers, and I had this whole dream of
having all these scientists and interesting things to look at
and talk some things inside a bar. And even though
that fell through, after having spent some time like getting
to know the scientific community in Hobart, I just really
(01:24):
felt it was the right place to do something.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Margaret had never imagined a career in science. She started
out as a magazine journalist.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And then I decided that I really wanted to be
a dog psychologist, oddly enough, and that led me down
a funny track that ultimately led me to doing a
PhD in evolutionary biology, very unexpectedly, and I yes, so
I'd done my PhD at unsw and then I had
(01:54):
done some work in labs overseas in Sweden in Toronto,
and then yeah, I was back in Sydney and really
was realizing that my passion was in kind of getting
people together around science and organizing events, those.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Two culminating to a very interesting time in Margo's personal life.
For the first iteration of biggest of each, nine years ago, I.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Had applied for a National Science Week grant. That year
it approached the Tasmanian Museum and art Gallery and said, Hey,
I have this idea for a pop up science bar
and could it be at the museum and they said yes,
and I put in a grant and I was in
the hospital giving birth to my first child when I
(02:41):
got the call that I had received the grant. So
it was a whirlwind kind of putting together this what
I was imagining would be a sort of three night
science bar at the museum, which turned into something much
bigger than I think I or anyone else expected. I
just kept thinking, oh, this would be fun, and there
(03:01):
were just so many people with ideas and putting their
hands up to help out. So it was just turned
into something huge. Even the first year. We had five
thousand people through the doors our first year, which was amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Big is straight evolving from that three day interaction with
scientists seemed to a multiday advante that's actively rashaping the
white has main Nians think about and interact weight science.
It's not on Googles and what overscience web codes.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I really think that science has kind of a bad rap.
Like I hated science as a kid. I never wanted
to study science. I'm still shocked that I ended up
going into science, but It was really that when I
started doing my PhD and seeing how much fun it
was even just to look at things through a microscope,
(03:47):
I thought, you people really don't have the opportunity to
do this, especially adults. You know, get out of school,
and if you're not interested in science, it's sort of
like no one's trying to get you interested anymore. I
think that's such a shame. And I really feel that
science is a way to bring people together. You know,
people are so divided these days. Everyone kind of is
(04:09):
in their own little world of facts that maybe don't
always match reality. And if we can come together and
at least agree on a system for deciding what's true,
and you know, agreeing on some basic things about the
universe and going from there, I think that's a really
(04:30):
good place to start.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Tasmania has a thriving scientific community where the gateway to Antarctica.
We've got the CSIRO in Hobard, and we've got some
incredible research happening right across the state.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
There is something to having this incredible scientific community here
in Tassy, where you get them to come out so
interesting and they actually a lot of them don't really
talk to a lot of non scientists much of the time,
and a lot of non scientists don't often talk to science.
It's just a great opportunity to get people together and
(05:04):
get some conversations started.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Baker Straights evolved organically, Margo says, ag there's more people
wanting to get involved these you relin. More than two
hundred scientists have volunteered to participate. It started with Margo's
assault Trader, but it's become fully incorporated as a not
for profit with staff and aboard the capacity to do
more with more support leading to its natural expansion.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
It's really incredible to me. Like this year it's a
two week festival. We've got things happening, not just in
Hobart but all around the state and I still can't
believe it. Actually, I think the festival it resonates with
people because it's really immersive and experiential. You're not just
sitting there listening to a talk. You're jumping into a
(05:46):
polar plunge pole or going into a hot sauna. You're
going on a walk with a scientist who knows that
environment intimately.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So what exactly is on offered Baker Straight this year?
Think you I'll let you know after the short break.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I hats Asi, I hearts.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
As for Margo, the biggest and most important part of
these years festival is the opportunity to have one on
one interactions we'd always in the business, including one event
that sounds a little bit like spade.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Dating or aproving Scientists far where you can go and
sit at a bar table and just have a casual
chat with a scientist look at things under a microscope.
It's just fun and it's casual and there's no expectation
and no pressure. It also makes it easier for the
scientists to take part because very often when they're asked
to do something, there has to be getting up in
(06:41):
front of an audience and giving a talk, and that
can be very daunting for a lot of people. But
asking somebody to just come and sit at a bar
table and chat with people about their work, that is
much more accessible. It is just fun. It's fun and
it is not boring.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
One of the biggest evans and off of these year
is part of biggest is Hobara and Antarctic theme devand
taking all about Hobot's waterfront.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Are Antarctic precinct that that's going to be amazing this
year We've got lots of stuff happening in bell Reeve.
You can take a free night ferry between Hobart and
Bellerie on our first weekend, the fifteenth and sixteenth, And
in Bellrie we have what's called the Maca Dome, which
is Macca is what they call Mcquarie Island, so we're
(07:26):
sort of pretending bell Reeve is Mcquarie Island. And you
can go into this dome and look at footage of
Mcquarie Island which is shot by an amazing local filmmaker.
You can talk to people from the Mcquarie Island Conservation Foundation.
You can check out some VR headsets that they'll be
bringing and have a sort of immersive view of Mcquarie Island.
(07:48):
There's going to be live music, it's going to be telescope,
so much stuff happening. Plus our Antarctic domes on the
Hobart side are going to be housing all sorts of
interesting artworks. They have the electual concerts eight nights of
the festival. There's also free nightly talks and live music
in our Antarctic Jazz Lounge and the Waterside Pavilion, which
(08:11):
is going to run from the twelfth to the twenty
fourth of August. So there's just so much happening. I
can get through all of it.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
DC Baker Streets transformed and not as I about centric
as it once was. There's events right across the state
now and into the regions.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
We have experimented over the years with trying things in
different locations. It can be really hard for a small
team to run, you know, events outside of our home base.
But as our teams starting to grow a bit, we're
kind of taking some risks and trying out some new
stuff this year, which is really exciting. I mean, having
(08:47):
Doctor Carl and Devenport, for example, is incredible. We have
an eight hundred person auditorium at the Paranapple Convention Center
and it is more than sold out is I think
a wait list of one hundred and twenty people. So
obviously there's demands for events like these around the state,
(09:08):
and yeah, it's really great to be able to be.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Delivering some of them, reaching people where they are. He's
a big focus of the festival going forward, resources being
what's stopping them from further expansion At the stage Bile,
they're our plans and the works to make it more accessible.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So yeah, we were so happy to be able to
take part in that. It's you know, quite an exciting
thing for a festival that is in a growth stage
to be able to see that there's backing for that
and that there's like excitement from all around the state.
I mean certainly when we contacted the Paranapple and Devonport,
they couldn't have been more welcoming. And then we got
(09:46):
a grant from Devonport City Council which enabled us to
keep the ticket prices super low, so just make sure
everybody can get there. We've got oddline interpretation there as well.
So I think that's the thing is, you know, if
you're going to do an event, do it properly. Make
sure everybody can come. And that's really what we're trying
to do.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Sidewalk Astronomy one of the new things on a for
the festival in the South this weekend and we need
to next weekend.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
It means that people can just go out and talk
to really enthusiastic astronomy nerds as they like to call them.
You know, they've got their telescopes, they've got incredible pictures
that they've taken and you can look through the telescopes
and see something amazing. I mean, it's incredible the power
of sort of everyday telescopes now and what you can
(10:35):
see with them. I'd really encourage people to get out
and check that out.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Reflecting back, Margo says she couldn't have imagined the idea
she had initially would expand into what Bake a Straight
is now.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
To be honest, if I had known, I'm not sure
I would have done it, because it's been a lot,
a lot of work and a lot of ups and towns,
you know, two kids along the way. But it's been
fabulous and it's been amazing. I'm so glad that I
went in completely naive, you know, sort of learn as
(11:08):
you go. I have didn't know anything about the festival world,
didn't know anything about the world at the time. And
of course now we work with some of the best
event producers in the state, some of the best people
of the country really and yeah, it's just been so
much fun and quite an incredible journey. I can't believe
this is our ninth year.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
And although there's several events occurring across the state over
the next week or so, if you can't get along
to one all the one you're interested in is selled out.
Don't worry, there's always next year.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We're definitely planning for a tenth year. I cannot tell
you what it's going to be like at this moment,
but there is no question that we are going to
be celebrating our tenth anniversary next year in style.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And that's it for this weeks episode of My Heart Tassie.
I'm Ebanie Applett. Thanks so much for joining me my
Heart's as ach.
My Heart Dazzi, starting as a three night meet the
scientist style of Vente in twenty seventeen to a two
week statewide celebration of science now in twenty twenty five,
the Biggest street Festivals helped to shake up Tasmania sees
and interacts with the world of science. Year nine of
Bega Street got underway earlier this week, transforming parts of
(00:22):
Hobart into Antarctica, alongside events in the state's north northwest
and far south, opening the minds of the young and
young at heart about the big wide world of science
and how it's a lot more fun than we might think.
Ebbidieapler and For this week's episode of My Heart Tazzy,
I spoke with doctor Margo Adler, the festival director and
creative scientific mind behind the biggest street festival, talking about
(00:46):
everything from its more humble beginnings to what we can
expect in this year's edition My Heart Dazzi. Doctor Margo
Adler was living in Sydney when she saw the Crescent
Hotel in North Hobart up for sale in twenty fifteen.
She had always had a dream of opening a science
Saint Boh.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
My partner and I went and looked at it and
made some offers, and I had this whole dream of
having all these scientists and interesting things to look at
and talk some things inside a bar. And even though
that fell through, after having spent some time like getting
to know the scientific community in Hobart, I just really
(01:24):
felt it was the right place to do something.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Margaret had never imagined a career in science. She started
out as a magazine journalist.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And then I decided that I really wanted to be
a dog psychologist, oddly enough, and that led me down
a funny track that ultimately led me to doing a
PhD in evolutionary biology, very unexpectedly, and I yes, so
I'd done my PhD at unsw and then I had
(01:54):
done some work in labs overseas in Sweden in Toronto,
and then yeah, I was back in Sydney and really
was realizing that my passion was in kind of getting
people together around science and organizing events, those.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Two culminating to a very interesting time in Margo's personal life.
For the first iteration of biggest of each, nine years ago, I.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Had applied for a National Science Week grant. That year
it approached the Tasmanian Museum and art Gallery and said, Hey,
I have this idea for a pop up science bar
and could it be at the museum and they said yes,
and I put in a grant and I was in
the hospital giving birth to my first child when I
(02:41):
got the call that I had received the grant. So
it was a whirlwind kind of putting together this what
I was imagining would be a sort of three night
science bar at the museum, which turned into something much
bigger than I think I or anyone else expected. I
just kept thinking, oh, this would be fun, and there
(03:01):
were just so many people with ideas and putting their
hands up to help out. So it was just turned
into something huge. Even the first year. We had five
thousand people through the doors our first year, which was amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Big is straight evolving from that three day interaction with
scientists seemed to a multiday advante that's actively rashaping the
white has main Nians think about and interact weight science.
It's not on Googles and what overscience web codes.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I really think that science has kind of a bad rap.
Like I hated science as a kid. I never wanted
to study science. I'm still shocked that I ended up
going into science, but It was really that when I
started doing my PhD and seeing how much fun it
was even just to look at things through a microscope,
(03:47):
I thought, you people really don't have the opportunity to
do this, especially adults. You know, get out of school,
and if you're not interested in science, it's sort of
like no one's trying to get you interested anymore. I
think that's such a shame. And I really feel that
science is a way to bring people together. You know,
people are so divided these days. Everyone kind of is
(04:09):
in their own little world of facts that maybe don't
always match reality. And if we can come together and
at least agree on a system for deciding what's true,
and you know, agreeing on some basic things about the
universe and going from there, I think that's a really
(04:30):
good place to start.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Tasmania has a thriving scientific community where the gateway to Antarctica.
We've got the CSIRO in Hobard, and we've got some
incredible research happening right across the state.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
There is something to having this incredible scientific community here
in Tassy, where you get them to come out so
interesting and they actually a lot of them don't really
talk to a lot of non scientists much of the time,
and a lot of non scientists don't often talk to science.
It's just a great opportunity to get people together and
(05:04):
get some conversations started.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Baker Straights evolved organically, Margo says, ag there's more people
wanting to get involved these you relin. More than two
hundred scientists have volunteered to participate. It started with Margo's
assault Trader, but it's become fully incorporated as a not
for profit with staff and aboard the capacity to do
more with more support leading to its natural expansion.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
It's really incredible to me. Like this year it's a
two week festival. We've got things happening, not just in
Hobart but all around the state and I still can't
believe it. Actually, I think the festival it resonates with
people because it's really immersive and experiential. You're not just
sitting there listening to a talk. You're jumping into a
(05:46):
polar plunge pole or going into a hot sauna. You're
going on a walk with a scientist who knows that
environment intimately.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So what exactly is on offered Baker Straight this year?
Think you I'll let you know after the short break.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I hats Asi, I hearts.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
As for Margo, the biggest and most important part of
these years festival is the opportunity to have one on
one interactions we'd always in the business, including one event
that sounds a little bit like spade.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Dating or aproving Scientists far where you can go and
sit at a bar table and just have a casual
chat with a scientist look at things under a microscope.
It's just fun and it's casual and there's no expectation
and no pressure. It also makes it easier for the
scientists to take part because very often when they're asked
to do something, there has to be getting up in
(06:41):
front of an audience and giving a talk, and that
can be very daunting for a lot of people. But
asking somebody to just come and sit at a bar
table and chat with people about their work, that is
much more accessible. It is just fun. It's fun and
it is not boring.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
One of the biggest evans and off of these year
is part of biggest is Hobara and Antarctic theme devand
taking all about Hobot's waterfront.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Are Antarctic precinct that that's going to be amazing this
year We've got lots of stuff happening in bell Reeve.
You can take a free night ferry between Hobart and
Bellerie on our first weekend, the fifteenth and sixteenth, And
in Bellrie we have what's called the Maca Dome, which
is Macca is what they call Mcquarie Island, so we're
(07:26):
sort of pretending bell Reeve is Mcquarie Island. And you
can go into this dome and look at footage of
Mcquarie Island which is shot by an amazing local filmmaker.
You can talk to people from the Mcquarie Island Conservation Foundation.
You can check out some VR headsets that they'll be
bringing and have a sort of immersive view of Mcquarie Island.
(07:48):
There's going to be live music, it's going to be telescope,
so much stuff happening. Plus our Antarctic domes on the
Hobart side are going to be housing all sorts of
interesting artworks. They have the electual concerts eight nights of
the festival. There's also free nightly talks and live music
in our Antarctic Jazz Lounge and the Waterside Pavilion, which
(08:11):
is going to run from the twelfth to the twenty
fourth of August. So there's just so much happening. I
can get through all of it.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
DC Baker Streets transformed and not as I about centric
as it once was. There's events right across the state
now and into the regions.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
We have experimented over the years with trying things in
different locations. It can be really hard for a small
team to run, you know, events outside of our home base.
But as our teams starting to grow a bit, we're
kind of taking some risks and trying out some new
stuff this year, which is really exciting. I mean, having
(08:47):
Doctor Carl and Devenport, for example, is incredible. We have
an eight hundred person auditorium at the Paranapple Convention Center
and it is more than sold out is I think
a wait list of one hundred and twenty people. So
obviously there's demands for events like these around the state,
(09:08):
and yeah, it's really great to be able to be.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Delivering some of them, reaching people where they are. He's
a big focus of the festival going forward, resources being
what's stopping them from further expansion At the stage Bile,
they're our plans and the works to make it more accessible.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So yeah, we were so happy to be able to
take part in that. It's you know, quite an exciting
thing for a festival that is in a growth stage
to be able to see that there's backing for that
and that there's like excitement from all around the state.
I mean certainly when we contacted the Paranapple and Devonport,
they couldn't have been more welcoming. And then we got
(09:46):
a grant from Devonport City Council which enabled us to
keep the ticket prices super low, so just make sure
everybody can get there. We've got oddline interpretation there as well.
So I think that's the thing is, you know, if
you're going to do an event, do it properly. Make
sure everybody can come. And that's really what we're trying
to do.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Sidewalk Astronomy one of the new things on a for
the festival in the South this weekend and we need
to next weekend.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
It means that people can just go out and talk
to really enthusiastic astronomy nerds as they like to call them.
You know, they've got their telescopes, they've got incredible pictures
that they've taken and you can look through the telescopes
and see something amazing. I mean, it's incredible the power
of sort of everyday telescopes now and what you can
(10:35):
see with them. I'd really encourage people to get out
and check that out.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Reflecting back, Margo says she couldn't have imagined the idea
she had initially would expand into what Bake a Straight
is now.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
To be honest, if I had known, I'm not sure
I would have done it, because it's been a lot,
a lot of work and a lot of ups and towns,
you know, two kids along the way. But it's been
fabulous and it's been amazing. I'm so glad that I
went in completely naive, you know, sort of learn as
(11:08):
you go. I have didn't know anything about the festival world,
didn't know anything about the world at the time. And
of course now we work with some of the best
event producers in the state, some of the best people
of the country really and yeah, it's just been so
much fun and quite an incredible journey. I can't believe
this is our ninth year.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
And although there's several events occurring across the state over
the next week or so, if you can't get along
to one all the one you're interested in is selled out.
Don't worry, there's always next year.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We're definitely planning for a tenth year. I cannot tell
you what it's going to be like at this moment,
but there is no question that we are going to
be celebrating our tenth anniversary next year in style.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And that's it for this weeks episode of My Heart Tassie.
I'm Ebanie Applett. Thanks so much for joining me my
Heart's as ach.
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