Queensland Museum

Queensland Museum

The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland. The museum currently operates five separate campuses, two in Brisbane (at South Brisbane and Woolloongabba), as well as in the regional centres of Ipswich, Toowoomba and Townsville^[1]. The museum is funded by the State Government of Queensland.

History

Queensland Museum — 1862–1869
The Old Windmill in Wickham Terrace
(Queensland Museum's first home)

Queensland Museum — 1879–1899
cnr. William Street and Elizabeth Street, Brisbane — (opposite Queens Gardens)

Queensland Museum — 1899–1986
the Old Museum Building in Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills

Queensland Museum (1986–present), a part of the Queensland Cultural Centre. A pedestrian bridge, linking the museum and the Queensland Art Gallery to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, and also to lifts to platforms at the Cultural Centre Busway Station, can be seen on the right.

Queensland Museum and Sciencentre at night

The Queensland Museum was founded by the Queensland Philosophical Society on 20 January, 1862^[2], one of the principal founders being Charles Coxen, and had several temporary homes in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The temporary homes included: The Old Windmill (1862–1869),^[2] Parliament House (1869–1873)^[2] and the General Post Office (1873–1879).^[2]

The Queensland Government built a home for the Museum in William Street (later called the John Oxley State Library), with Queensland Museum moving there in 1879. The museum occupied the William Street location for 20 years.^[2]

In 1899, the Queensland Museum moved into the Exhibition Hall (now called the Old Museum), on Gregory Terrace in the Brisbane suburb of Bowen Hills, remaining there for 86 years.^[2]

In 1986, the Queensland Museum moved to the Queensland Cultural Centre at South Bank, where the museum is adjacent to the Queensland Art Gallery.^[2]

Exhibits

One of the outdoor features of the Museum is the "Dinosaur Garden", with its life-size dinosaur models of a "Tyrannosaurus rex" and a "Triceratops". There is also "Mephisto", a German A7V Tank which was captured by Australian troops during World War I ("Mephisto" is the only remaining German tank from the First World War^[3]). These were all features at the Old Museum Building, and were moved to the Queensland Cultural Centre when the museum was relocated there during 1986.

A mould of a dinosaur stampede in the museum, and skeleton casts of a Muttaburrasaurus and a Diprotodon are also major exhibits within the museum itself. The Muttaburrasaurus was an Australian plant-eating dinosaur living in Queensland, and its fossilised remains were originally found in Muttaburra in Queensland. The Muttaburrasaurus dinosaur was named after the location of its discovery. The Diprotodon was one of Australia's megafauna (giant animals), and its closest living relatives are the Wombat and the Koala.

Affiliate Museums

In 1987, when the Queensland Museum required more room to display its horse-drawn coaches and carriages, the museum opened its Cobb & Co Museum campus in Toowoomba, Queensland.

The Museum of Tropical Queensland, is another branch of the Queensland Museum in Townsville, Queensland. The Museum of Tropical Queensland is "Home of the Pandora" and "Centre for Maritime Archaeology".^[4]

The Sciencentre, a project of the Queensland Museum, was relocated from the former Government Printing Office building on George Street to a South Bank site in 2004.

Links to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and Busway

Both a tunnel and pedestrian bridge connect the Museum and Art Gallery buildings with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Three lifts were added to the bridge in 2004 to provide access to the platforms of the Cultural Centre Busway Station. There is a large sculpture of a Cicada in front of the centre lift, possibly because the Cultural Centre Busway Station is the bus stop for the museum.

Opening Hours

The Queensland Museum and Sciencentre are open to the public seven days a week.

Museum display photographs

Diprotodon Australian megafauna	"Dinosaur Garden" at Queensland Museum	"Mephisto", a World War I German A7V Tank	Another aspect of "Mephisto", the German WWI A7V Tank
Muttaburrasaurus skeleton, in its original position at Queensland Museum. Also, footprints of fleeing dinosaurs (which were made during a dinosaur stampede).	Muttaburrasaurus Australian dinosaur, in its present location at Queensland Museum	Muttaburrasaurus skeleton, as viewed from the Information Section at the Queensland Museum	Another view of cast in Queensland Museum
Male Golden-shouldered Parrot in an aviary at the Queensland Museum. The male Golden-shouldered Parrot, who has since died, is now on display in the endangered species section within the museum.	Male Golden-shouldered Parrots in an aviary at the Queensland Museum	Male and female Golden-shouldered Parrots in an aviary at the Queensland Museum	Male and female Golden-shouldered Parrots in an aviary at the Queensland Museum
Koala specimen on post at Queensland Museum	Koala specimen on post at Queensland Museum	Marsupial Lion specimen with moving tail and moving head etc. on display at Queensland Museum

See also

• Steve Van Dyck, Senior Curator of vertebrates
• Scott Hocknull, Vertebrate palaeontologist and Assistant Curator in Geology
• North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum

References

External links

• Queensland Museum
• Queensland Museum — Geoscience
• Queensland Museum — Publications
• Queensland Museum South Bank - Queensland Government website
• Museum of Tropical Queensland — a Queensland Museum campus in Townsville (North Queensland) —: the Museum is home of the Pandora and Centre for Maritime Archaeology
• Nature Works — Zoos and Animals — including Queensland Museum
• Cultural Centre Busway Station map — includes showing position of the Queensland Museum — PDF
• Queensland Museum - OurBrisbane website
• Queensland Museum is at 27°28′22″S 153°01′04″E / 27.472886°S 153.017916°E / -27.472886; 153.017916Coordinates: 27°28′22″S 153°01′04″E / 27.472886°S 153.017916°E / -27.472886; 153.017916