Written by Dr Peter Cowman, Principal Scientist and Curator, Biosystematics “I always wanted to be a marine biologist!” is the refrain I get when I tell people I am one. But like most career paths, there is more to it than people think. ‘Marine biologist’ sounds like a career that involves visiting exotic places, scuba-diving every day and seeing amazing underwater animals. But marine biology … Continue reading Careers in Coral Reef Science
Written by Patrick Couper, Senior Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians, Queensland Museum The beginning of the Plastic Age Large-scale plastic production began in the 1940s. Over the following decade, production was stepped-up to supply items for the mass consumer market. Plastic quickly became an integral part of our daily lives. It was hailed as a wonder product, versatile, light weight and cheap, manufactured from hydrocarbons … Continue reading Throwaway living – decades of marine damage
by Shannon Robinson, Queensland Museum Librarian Rewrite. Renew. Reimagine. This is the theme of 2022’s Library and Information Week #LIW2022, to not only celebrate Australian libraries and the stories their collections hold but to also consider the opportunities for re-telling and re-interpretation. What better place to find a collection full of material primed for this theme than the Queensland Museum Library? Our library holds items … Continue reading Reimagining the Collection for Library and Information Week 2022
In honor of the 230th anniversary of the sinking of HMS Pandora, Dr Maddy McAllister, Senior Curator of Maritime Archaeology has selected three objects rarely seen from the extensive collection held at Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville. _______________________________________________ HMS Pandora was the British Royal Navy warship dispatched to the South Pacific in pursuit of the infamous Bounty mutineers. On its return journey, approximately 140km east of Cape York, … Continue reading Small things sometimes mean a whole lot
By Rochelle Lawrence, Senior Research Assistant, and Scott Hocknull, Senior Curator, Geosciences, Queensland Museum It is time to meet Australotitan cooperensis, a new species of giant sauropod from Eromanga in southwest Queensland. Australotitan, the ‘Southern Titan of the Cooper’, named from where it was found, has been scientifically described by palaeontologists and staff at Queensland Museum and the Eromanga Natural History Museum. The fossilised skeleton … Continue reading Meet Australotitan, Australia’s largest dinosaur!
How many couples do you know celebrate their wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve? One married couple whose wedding story features in the museum’s exhibition I Do! Wedding Stories from Queensland did so throughout their married life. Mary Ann and John Dunlop were married 157 years ago today in 1863. What a big day it must have been for the couple to travel from Oxley down … Continue reading A Wedding Anniversary on Christmas Eve!
Cobb+Co Museum has always wanted a Queensland buckboard, and we think we have one… By Jeff Powell, Curator, Cobb+Co Museum The American buckboard was about as simple a four wheeled vehicle as it was possible to build. They looked like someone had taken a section of picket fence, attached a wheel in each corner and placed a seat on top and halfway back. Comfort was … Continue reading Is it a buckboard?
By Rochelle Lawrence, Palaeontological Research Assistant, and Scott Hocknull, Senior Curator, Geosciences, Queensland Museum The giant kangaroo tibia (shinbone) found at the megafauna fossil sites of South Walker Creek, travelled safely back to the Queensland Museum’s Geosciences collection. The specimen is treated like evidence for a case (fossil evidence!) and is processed through a series of stages from field collection (Part 1) and preparation, to … Continue reading Discovering the world’s largest kangaroo – Part 2: In the lab
By Rochelle Lawrence, Palaeontological Research Assistant, and Scott Hocknull, Senior Curator, Geosciences, Queensland Museum As the weather begins to cool, the ‘dig’ season starts for us (palaeontologists) as we venture off along the coast and into the outback heart of Queensland. Over the last ten years we have been investigating a series of fossil sites at South Walker Creek located near the town of Nebo, … Continue reading Discovering the world’s largest kangaroo- Part 1: In the field
By Rochelle Lawrence, Palaeontological Research Assistant, and Scott Hocknull, Senior Curator, Geosciences, Queensland Museum In 2008, an extraordinary discovery was made at South Walker Creek, located near the town of Nebo, west of Mackay in Queensland, Australia. Traditional owners of the area, the Barada Barna people, were conducting a cultural heritage survey for the South Walker Creek Mine when they came across some interesting bones. … Continue reading A Crime scene of the past – investigating tropical ice age megafauna
By Rochelle Lawrence, Palaeontological Research Assistant, and Scott Hocknull, Senior Curator, Geosciences, Queensland Museum. Megafauna are giant animals usually weighing over 44 kilograms (kg). Most megafauna are now extinct (no longer exist) and were closely related to living species of animals we see today. You have probably heard of the more commonly known megafauna species, like the saber-toothed cat and woolly mammoth from North America. … Continue reading What are megafauna?
By Dr Mike Rix (Principal Curator, Arachnida, and Research Fellow) Most of us are all too familiar with the plights of large and charismatic species such as the tiger, black rhinoceros, giant panda and polar bear. Their iconic status and magnificence are synonymous with the international conservation movement, as their continued existence on planet Earth remains so dependent on the concerted efforts of citizens and … Continue reading Let’s not forget the “little things”
This blog post is part of an ongoing series titled Connecting with Collections. The series offers readers a peek inside the collections at Museum of Tropical Queensland, highlighting objects and their stories. In 2016, the Queensland Museum purchased a collection of items from Jirrbal Elder, Dr Ernie Grant. The Ernie Grant Collection, now housed at Museum of Tropical Queensland, represents the cultural and social life … Continue reading In Focus: The Ernie Grant Collection
This blog post is part of an ongoing series titled Connecting with Collections. The series offers readers a peek inside collections at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, highlighting objects and their stories. In 1790, HMS Pandora sailed out of England with a clear mission: to find the HMS Bounty and its 25 mutineers. Pandora reached Tahiti in March 1791, and captured 14 of the mutineers, … Continue reading Re-imagining Pandora
This blog post is part of an ongoing series titled Connecting with Collections. The series offers readers a peek inside collections at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, highlighting objects and their stories. National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June) celebrates the shared histories, cultures and accomplishments of Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders and the broader Australian community. It urges all Australians to learn … Continue reading National Reconciliation Week
World Turtle Day is #Shellebrated globally on 23 May, to celebrate these incredible creatures, increase knowledge, raise awareness of the impact of plastic pollution, and to highlight the importance of protecting their disappearing habitats. Did you know six of the world’s seven marine turtle species are known from Queensland? You can read more on sea turtles here. The Impact of Plastic Pollution Every bit of … Continue reading World Turtle Day
World Wildlife Day, held annually on 3 March, was created to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. The day has now become the most important global annual event dedicated to wildlife. This year’s theme is “Life below water: for people and planet”. Oceans harbour a rich variety of communities and a wealth of strange and beautiful creatures, each with its … Continue reading Sharing nature’s gems for World Wildlife Day
By Dr Geraldine Mate, Principal Curator, History, Industry and Technology, Queensland Museum When I was asked to say a few words at the opening of the new Anzac Legacy Gallery, I thought “yes, that would be great”…then they said three to four minutes and I thought that would be impossible. I could talk for an hour, but how could I fit so many incredible stories … Continue reading Stories in living colour
When it comes to growing the State Collection, objects find their path to the Queensland Museum Network in a variety of ways. Objects are often acquired, such as the purchasing of art works or other items of significance. Other times, we receive an object through a donation or cultural gift. But in some cases, an object is so old and so rare that we aren’t even sure exactly how we received it to begin with – perhaps even through chance.
Written by Carl Tanner, compiled by Dr Madeline Fowler
The final part of a blog series written by undergraduate students at James Cook University, who undertook research on objects in the Museum of Tropical Queensland’s maritime archaeology collection as part of the 2017 topic AR3008 Boats and Beaches.
The shipwreck
HMCS Mermaid was built at the Howrah Dry Docks on the Hooghly River in Calcutta, India, in 1816, by the shipwrights Thompson (Phipps 1840:108, 123). Built out of Indian teak, it was iron-fastened and clad in copper sheathing along the keel (Hosty 2009:17). Designed as a cutter, it was originally rigged as a one-masted ship, but was refitted later into an armed, two-masted schooner (Hosty 2009:17; ANSD 2017). The ship displaced 83-85 gross registered tons, was 17m in length, 5.48-5.6m in beam and had a draught of 2.7m (Hosty 2009:17; Phipps 1840:123; ANSD 2017).
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