New Museum Of the Riverina exhibition explores the secret lives of Australia's pests

They're all non-native animals that plague the Riverina and they're all the focus of a new exhibit at the Museum of the Riverina - 'Going Feral: The secret lives of pests'.

Since 1770, over 3000 foreign animal, plant and insect species have been brought to Australia and have had a devastating impact on the local ecosystem.

The new exhibit charts the history of the six pests specific to the Riverina, from their introduction to their spread and impact on the land and our attempts to control them.

Museum of the Riverina Curator Michelle Madison said the exhibit is part of a yearlong focus on environmental issues for both the museum and the Wagga Art Gallery.

"They wrought havoc and destruction," Ms Madison said of the pests.

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But the history of the animals is not simple, with some animals proving crucial to many emerging farming communities.

Back in the 1950s the Riverina had a huge Rabbit plague which coincided with the time of the soldier-settlers coming back from WWII.

They couldn't farm until they got rid of the rabbits, Ms Maddison said.

But they were a "blessing and a curse", she said, because they provided farmers with food and the local iceworks in Wagga would buy carcasses and sell the pelts.

"So they could make a living off the rabbits, but they couldn't make a living off the land until they got rid of the rabbits," she said.

The aim of the exhibit is not to demonise the animals, but to teach children the mistakes of the past in the hopes that they aren't repeated.

"It's a good way to introduce kids in a gentle way to get them to start thinking about these things," Ms Maddison said.

The exhibition is free and is open from this Saturday.

Plastic planet

Also launching on Saturday is the Art Gallery's new exhibition - Plastic: unwrapping the world.

The exhibit is co-curated by professor Gay Hawkins from Western Sydney University and features works from four artists that use and explore the way plastic impacts our society.

The gallery's curator Dr Lee-Anne Hall said the "unique" yearlong focus on the environment has the goal of leading conversation in the community about the threat of climate change.

"It's about getting people here and starting to have conversations ... galleries are not about art on the walls, they're always about ideas," she said.

"But also as much as possible, to be positive, to be solution focused, it's not our intention to frighten people ...but that we can act," she said.

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