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![City museums and city development](https://recollections.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0015/330522/41-City-museums-and-city-development-thumb.jpg)
City museums and city development
review by J Patrick Greene
What is the role of the city museum? Is it to act as a source of knowledge to influence the development of the city, or is it simply to be a repository for city treasures?
![Desert tsunami](https://recollections.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0016/330523/42-Tsunami_thumb.jpg)
Desert tsunami: Australia's inland floods from prehistory to present
review by Brett Galt-Smith
Examining the sediment of ancient flood deposits in Central Australia shows us how the land was once laid, how lives were once lived and offers a vision of how life might be in the Australian desert in the future.
![Red coat dreaming: How Australia embraced the British Army](https://recollections.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0017/330524/43-Red_coat_dreaming_thumbnail.gif)
Red coat dreaming: How colonial Australia embraced the British Army
review by Grace Karskens
Has Australia's obsession with Anzac elided the much longer military history of the British army?
![Museum materialities](https://recollections.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0018/330525/44-Museum-materialities_thumb.gif)
Museum materialities: Objects, engagements, interpretations
review by Andrew Simpson
Essays in this multidisciplinary collection examine the mulitfaceted relationship between objects and people in the museum context.
![Connecting kids to history](https://recollections.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0019/330526/45-Connecting-kids-thumb.gif)
Connecting kids to history with museum exhibitions
review by Louise Zarmati
If you are a curator, exhibition designer, educator or historian who has anything to do with a history museum that is visited by kids, then this book is for you.
![Do museums still need objects?](https://recollections.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0020/330527/46-Do-museums-thumb.gif)
Do museums still need objects?
review by Andrea Witcomb
In his new book, Steven Conn ponders the role played by objects in contemporary museums, and poses the question: If objects no longer play a central role, should this be cause for worry?