What is your favourite object/species in the collection and why? My favourite species is the ghost bat (Macroderma gigas). Ghost bats are pretty special being Australia’s only mainly carnivorous bat. As well as eating invertebrates, especially locusts and grasshoppers, they have been regularly recorded catching and eating birds, mammals (rodents and other small bats), reptiles and frogs. They are a relatively large bat, weighing up … Continue reading 5 minutes with Dr Jessica Worthington Wilmer, Research Fellow and Molecular Identities Lab Manager

What is your favourite object in the collection and why? One that comes to mind is the core formed Greek alabastron, a small glass vessel, used for holding perfumed oils from the antiquities collection. I am drawn to this item because of the method of manufacture, and its resultant inherent beauty. Made sometime during the 4th -3rd cent BCE, it was formed by winding or … Continue reading 5 minutes with David Parkhill, Assistant Collection Manager of Archaeology

What is your favourite object in the collection and why? My favourite object is the German wagon. This was a common type of farm wagon in South-East Queensland. The style was introduced by German immigrants from the 1860s, but adopted by farmers of many ethnic backgrounds. The style can be traced back to northern European peoples in Roman times or earlier. German wagons remained largely … Continue reading 5 minutes with Jeff Powell, Curator of Cobb+Co Museum

What is your favourite object in the collection and why? My favourites are those that look uneventful, but actually have a large story behind them with links to numerous people, events and places. For example, two wooden straight edges, made from the broken propeller of Vickers Vimy G-EAOU, flown by Ross Smith and Keith Smith from England to Australia in 1919. During the flight from … Continue reading 5 minutes with Jennifer High, Senior Curator of Transport and Energy

What is your favourite object in the collection and why? There’s so many great stories and objects from the Queensland Museum Network Collection that spring to mind making it difficult to choose, so I’ll go with the first object donated to Queensland Museum’s social history collection on 11 October 1876 – a letter from Sir Walter Scott to Mr George Harper donated by George’s son … Continue reading 5 minutes with Judith Hickson, Curator of Social History

Dr Espen Knutsen is a Senior Curator Palaeontology at the Queensland Museum Network. As a key collaborator on the new exhibition, Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators, we chatted to Espen to uncover more about his fascinating career and discoveries. What is your favourite species in the collection and why? I have many favourite specimens in the Queensland Museum collections, one of which is the skull … Continue reading 5 minutes with Espen Knutsen, Senior Curator Palaeontology

What is your favourite object in the collection and why? My favourite objects in the arachnology scientific collection are our Pelican Spiders of the family Archaeidae. Pelican Spiders were actually known from fossils before living specimens were first discovered in the forests of Madagascar in the 19th Century. Today, living species are known only from Australia, Madagascar and southern Africa, but fossils are known from … Continue reading 5 minutes with Dr Michael Rix, Principal Curator & Research Fellow, Arachnology

What is your favourite object in the collection and why? My favourite object is a large, stuffed turtle said to be from the Fly River region of New Guinea, donated to us in the 19th century.  Ogilby, a curator at Queensland Museum, described Devisia mythodes in 1907, in honour of Charles De Vis, the Director of the museum at the time.  It was a most … Continue reading 5 minutes with Dr Andrew Amey, Collection Manager of Herpetology

Did you know…. archaeology is also a science? Spend 5 minutes with Nick Hadnutt, Curator of Archaeology and find out what his favourite collection item is. What is your favourite object in the collection and why? The Investigator Tree. I’m interested in this amazing artefact due to its connection with early Australian exploration. It was located on Sweers Island, Gulf of Carpentaria – a place … Continue reading 5 minutes with Nick Hadnutt, Curator of Archaeology

On average there are around 30 new fish species from Australian waters described annually – how fin-tastic! Spend 5 minutes with Jeff Johnson, Senior Collection Manager of Ichthyologist and find out what his favourite collection item is. What is your favourite object/species in the collection and why? My favourite collection object is a pair of dried vertebrae from a huge White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias. The … Continue reading 5 minutes with Jeff Johnson, Senior Collection Manager and Ichthyologist

Today’s #CouchCurator is Dr Merrick Ekins, Collection Manager of Sessile Marine Invertebrates who is sharing some of his favourite items from the collection. What is your favourite species in the collection and why? Carnivorous sponges, because they have evolved as a carnivorous feeding type from a filter feeder to adapt to the lack of food at the ocean’s abyss. Do you have any interesting facts? … Continue reading 5 minutes with Dr Merrick Ekins, Collection Manager of Sessile Marine Invertebrates

Today’s #CouchCurator is Dr John Healy, Curator of Marine Biodiversity (Molluscs) who is sharing some of his favourite items from the collection. What is your favourite species in the collection and why? My favourite molluscan object in the collection would probably be the Giant Triton (Charonia tritonis) because both the shell and the rarely photographed living animal are both very attractive. This species has a … Continue reading 5 minutes with Dr John Healy, Curator of Marine Biodiversity (Molluscs)

Today’s #CouchCurator is Imelda Miller, Curator, Torres Strait Islander and Pacific Indigenous Studies who is sharing some of her favourite exhibition at the museum. Tell us a little bit about your area and why do you love working in this specific research area? Queensland is home to two distinct First Nations Peoples; the Aboriginal People of the mainland continent of Australia and the Torres Strait … Continue reading 5 minutes with Imelda Miller, Curator, Torres Strait Islander and Pacific Indigenous Studies