Mouthful of Dust: Accessibility and UX updates (v1.1.7)

When our Ned Kelly web experience Mouthful of Dust launched earlier this year, our team had a wishlist of features that didn’t make the cut for release. Like many digital projects, some ideas had to wait.

With this latest iteration (version 1.1.7), those ideas, and more, are now live. The update brings smoother navigation, improved accessibility and new ways to interact with Ned Kelly’s digitised artifacts and stories.

Before we get to the updates, there’s more good news to share: Mouthful of Dust won two major awards this year – the Good Design Award (Digital, Web Design and Development) 1 and the European Museum Academy’s Heritage in Motion Award. 2 It was also a finalist for this year's Australian Access Awards and Victorian Premier's Design Awards.

Much of this success is due to a collaborative effort helmed by the Library’s Creative Studio team.

Shortly after launch, Nick Paustian 3, the project's Lead Developer, worked with Centre For Accessibility Australia (CFA) to ensure Mouthful of Dust met WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards. Taking in feedback from CFA and from Library staff , and knocking a few items off the development wishlist, Nick has released a suite of updates to make the award-winning experience more accessible and easier to use.

Unique URLs

You can now explore individual stories or objects directly via unique URLs.

Want to revisit Grace Chan’s creative piece on Ned Kelly’s death mask? Or share Kelly’s boot with a friend curious about bushranger fashion?

Other direct links:

• Introduction
• Menu
• The Rifle
• The Jerilderie Letter

Pick up where you left off

If you’re partway through a story and get distracted (or accidentally close the tab), Mouthful of Dust now remembers your place when you return. It’s a small change but one that makes revisiting the experience feel seamless.

Menu navigation dot

You might notice something small but effective: a white dot that glides across the navigation menu as you move between stories. If you have little to no experience with 3D navigation or controls, this tiny visual cue helps orient you within Mouthful of Dust’s digitally rendered world.

Making the Jerilderie Letter more readable

One of the most significant items in the Mouthful of Dust experience is the Jerilderie Letter, a 56-page manifesto dictated by Ned Kelly and written by his friend Joe Byrne in 1879.

In this update, the letter now includes an interactive viewer, letting you flip through its pages at your own pace. You can still enjoy Nam Le’s evocative voiceover, but now there’s also a text overlay for easier reading. It's perfect for anyone who finds 19th-century cursive a little tricky.

Enhanced lighting

Digital objects will probably never replace the real thing, but thoughtful lighting can make them feel far more tangible.

Previously, all objects in Mouthful of Dust shared a single HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image) for lighting. While this unified approach worked well overall, it meant choosing one lighting orientation that had to work for every object and moment in the experience, inevitably leaving some objects looking a bit flat.

With version 1.1.7, we've given each object its own carefully positioned lighting setup. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, we can now highlight the unique textures and details of each artefact: the weathered leather of Kelly's boot, the hammered metal of his armour, the carved messages on the wooden stock of his rifle.

The lighting also evolves dynamically during the animated ‘cinema mode’ sequences, shifting to match the narrative tone and draw attention to specific details.

Settings menu accessibility options

The settings menu now includes more options to help people tailor the experience to their needs and preferences.

You can now:

• Show or hide subtitles
• Toggle reduce motion for smoother, simpler transitions
• Invert keyboard X or Y axis for easier navigation
• Move on-screen controls to the left or right of the interface
• Enable high-contrast UI for greater visibility

There are also visible on-screen controls, including a directional pad to move around objects, plus zoom-in and zoom-out buttons, making it easier for everyone to explore at their own pace.

Each of these changes brings us closer to making Mouthful of Dust as accessible and engaging as possible. If you haven’t explored it yet – or it’s been a while – now’s the perfect time to jump back in and see what’s new.

Experience Mouthful of Dust