Sport is an Australian passion; it is a central part of our popular culture with most of us growing up taking outdoor play for granted. The backyard cricket game is legendary!

Over recent years, technology has reshaped sports - equipment companies spend millions of dollars to improve athletic performance and safety while spectator experience has been revolutionized through television and the media. Sports stars have become household names by endorsing products through sponsorship and advertising.

The Hats Bats and Balls exhibition showcased in May 2010 highlighted these issues and brought together the history, achievement, equipment and apparel from a range of field spots like cricket, tennis and football to the not so well known like hurling. Other land based sports that were portrayed were highly competitive, others enjoyed more for fun.

The exhibition showed that its not about being a spectator but about being involved by picking up and feeling the difference in weight or texture of the objects, of finding fun in stories that amuse us through the Fun Facts and discovered through the interactive touch screen the changes in sport fashions over the decades. Sporting knowledge was tested on the quiz and you could even stand on the Olympic podium and have your photo taken with the Olympic Torch.