Part 1: Scholarly concerns over science communication and in particular public attitudes towards and engagement with science have continued for almost half a century, but the establishment of a ‘hands-on' science centre in Canberra in 1980 put practice ahead of theory and led to the building of Questacon—the National Science and Technology Centre in 1988. The driving force behind this development was Australian National University physicist Dr Mike Gore. Funding came from the Australian and Japanese Governments—the latter a bicentennial gift—and a team of ‘explainers' at the centre helped visitors to appreciate that this science centre was not a museum but a place where science had a human face.