To find more information on identifying high or low sensory spaces, please visit our Visitors with Sensory Sensitivities page.
Outside the Earthquake House
The Earthquake House is in the gallery space called Awesome Earth. The Earthquake House can be noisy. If I would like to go inside the Earthquake House, I can line up outside. Although I can’t see into the Earthquake House from the outside, I might be able to see the curtains in the window shake while I’m waiting for my turn. When it’s my turn to go inside, a staff member will get me. I might go in with other people.
Walking into the Earthquake House
I will walk through a short corridor to get to the Earthquake House. There will be other people in the house with me. The staff member might pretend that the Earthquake House is their house, and that we’ve been invited to a party. The staff member will ask the group to stand or sit inside the room. If I don’t want to feel the shaking of the earthquake I can sit on the couch in the room. The staff member will stand in the doorway between the room and the short corridor.
Inside the Earthquake House
The inside of the Earthquake House looks like the inside of a normal house, except there are glass barriers on one side of the room. I will see some shelves with toys on them and a pretend turtle in a tank on the other side of the glass barriers that I can’t touch. I will also see a window that looks at a house across the road, a tall light and a door to a pretend kitchen on the other side of the glass barriers.
The staff member will tell everyone in the room not to lean against the walls or the glass barriers around the room. They might ask the group questions. If I would like to answer, I can raise my hand and they might pick me. Then I can share my answer. If I have a question, I can raise my hand to ask it.
Feeling the earthquake
The staff member will press a button on a control panel to start the Earthquake House. Music will start to play. After a short time, there will be a noise and the floor will begin to vibrate side to side for a few seconds. The music will also stop. After the floor stops vibrating a video will play on the TV about a small earthquake.
After the video finishes, the music will start playing again. After a short time, the floor will begin to shake from side to side. While the floor is shaking, the music will stop and the furniture around the room will start shaking too. The lights in the room will flicker on and off and I will hear lots of strange and loud noises. The door to the pretend kitchen will slam closed, and the tall light will fall over. At the end of the earthquake, I will see the chimney on the house across the road break and fall down.
After the earthquake
After the earthquake finishes another video will play on the TV about a big earthquake that just happened near Canberra.
When the video finishes the staff member will come back into the room and talk to the group. That will be end of the Earthquake House experience. The staff member might pretend that the earthquake was real and that they need to tidy up.
If there is no one else waiting for a turn on the Earthquake House the staff member might ask the group if they would like to learn more about earthquakes. If they can, the staff member might bring out some toys or experiments about earthquakes. The staff member might press some buttons on the control panel to make the floor shake again without all of the other noises and shaking.
When I finish in the Earthquake House, the staff member will show us out. I can keep exploring Questacon.
Changing my mind
If I feel scared or unwell, I can ask the staff member to stop the earthquake early and they will press a red button to stop it. I can step off the shaking platform into the corridor next to the staff member. I can leave the Earthquake House early if I’d like to.
