In this new museum space, children are invited to touch and climb into a giant eel – 83½ meters long – roughly 90 times the size of a real eel.

The 700 square metre space is funded by the NSW government, the Australian Museum Foundation and its $7 million bequest from former Australian Museum educator Patricia McDonald.

Another major sponsor, Wollemi Capital Group, run by Robyn Denholm who also chairs Tesla, is supporting former Blue Mountains primary school teacher Blanche Hortense as the Burra project officer to explain the stories to younger visitors.

McBride, a Wailwan and Kooma woman, says the new space follows burra on their epic migration journey with three levels of learning woven in: western science, Indigenous knowledge and a First Nations value – a moral or ethical lesson written in Dharug, such as “give as much as you receive” and “Listen to all the voices of Country – especially those different to your own.”

“It is the teaching of the third point that embodies the way First Nations people learn,” she said.

“Museums and education facilities can teach people facts about the environmental impacts but adding Indigenous values can build in relational perspectives.

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”Aboriginal people know that when they move through Country, the right time to hunt eels and not disrupt their populations, and they are deeply respected as a food resource ... Smoking trees where eels were cooked and preserved are found in Sydney and NSW; south-east Australia holds stone eel trap systems that were used for at least 6600 years and there is a high concentration of eel engravings right through Sydney and surrounding regions.”

Australian Museum chief executive Kim McKay says the 1827-built museum usually welcomes 50,000 children a year, which this year she hopes will double to 100,000, thanks to free entry at this landmark education centre.

“It demonstrates how science and culture can actively support and enrich each other, while sharing the importance of caring for Country and looking after our environment,” McKay said.