Category: Research

Archaeology, Collection Management, In the field, Queensland Museum, Research, Uncategorized

Getting Drawn into Archaeology for National Archaeology Week

Guest Blogger – Dr Emma Rehn (@BlueRehn), James Cook University and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) Alongside the fascinating artefacts and objects in the archaeological collections at Queensland Museum, you’ll also find a range of maps and drawings. Archaeological illustrations record crucial data and come in many forms – read on to learn more about visuals in archaeology in honour … Continue reading Getting Drawn into Archaeology for National Archaeology Week

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Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultures, Collection, Exhibitions & Events, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Research

Curating ‘Connections across the Coral Sea’

Connections across the Coral Sea reveals the latest archaeological research around the earliest movements and trade between the seafaring cultures of Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait and the northeast coast of Queensland. Every new exhibition gives us an opportunity to reassess how we curate and develop displays. How can objects be used to tell a story? More importantly, whose story, and which story are we … Continue reading Curating ‘Connections across the Coral Sea’

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Research, SparkLab, Sciencentre

Understanding the world through a child’s eyes

Have you crossed paths with researchers from the University of Queensland’s (UQ) Early Cognitive Development Centre (ECDC) at Queensland Museum before? Queensland Museum hosts ECDC researchers each week as they test theories about inquiry-based learning and development patterns with some of the children visiting the museum. This world-renowned research is facilitated as part of an established academic partnership between SparkLab and UQ and reveals important … Continue reading Understanding the world through a child’s eyes

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Biodiversity, Collection, Marine Environments, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Research

Trolley of Death

I have yet to meet anyone that isn’t fascinated by venomous creatures and their potential to… well, kill you. Australia is full of them and some are not always what you would expect! Working at the museum means I have access to a whole host of natural history objects. Recently I had to do a photoshoot featuring some of the venomous animals I work on. … Continue reading Trolley of Death

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Ancient environments, Conservation, fossil, Geology, In the field, New species, Palaeontology, Queensland Stories, Research

Meet Australotitan, Australia’s largest dinosaur!

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!

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In the field, Marine Environments, Research

Field adventures with Merrick and Darryl

Queensland Museum Collection Managers Dr Merrick Ekins (Sessile Marine Invertebrates) and Darryl Potter (Mollusca) ventured up to Caloundra recently in search of a blue soft coral and some molluscs. As part of an International Collaboration as part of the Cnidarian Tree of Life, DNA sequencing has revealed differences between Australian species of soft corals and those originally described from other parts of the world. This … Continue reading Field adventures with Merrick and Darryl

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5 minutes with, Biodiversity, Marine Environments, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Research

5 minutes with Sue-Ann Watson, Senior Curator Marine Invertebrates

Sue-Ann is Senior Curator, Marine Invertebrates at the Queensland Museum Network, based at the Museum of Tropical Queensland campus in Townsville. Her position is co-appointed with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University. What is your favourite specimen in the collection and why? At Museum of Tropical Queensland we have a very large giant clam shell. This … Continue reading 5 minutes with Sue-Ann Watson, Senior Curator Marine Invertebrates

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Reptiles & Amphibians, Research

New Research: Reptiles on the brink

Slithering serpents! Did you know that Australia is home to around 10 percent of the world’s reptile species – the largest number of any country? Queensland Museum herpetologists Patrick Couper and Dr Andrew Amey recently contributed to the first comprehensive study on snakes and lizards which found 11 species are likely to become extinct by 2040 including the McIlwraith Leaf-tailed Gecko, Orraya occultus,  Cape Melville … Continue reading New Research: Reptiles on the brink

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Collection, Queensland Museum, Queensland Stories, Research, The Workshops Rail Museum, War

What didn’t make it into “Duty, Debt and Picket Lines: the Queensland Railway Department during the First World War”

While researching for my paper Duty, Debt and Picket Lines: the Queensland Railway Department during the First World War for the Queensland Museum Memoir volume 11, I found a large amount of material that, due to space constraints, I was unable to include. Therefore, I thought writing a blog might be a good opportunity to publish these unused images and documents. The paper investigates the … Continue reading What didn’t make it into “Duty, Debt and Picket Lines: the Queensland Railway Department during the First World War”

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New species, Research

New species: velvet gecko discovered on one of Australia’s northern islands

Scientists from Queensland Museum, Griffith University, University of Melbourne and the Northern Territory Government have described a colourful new velvet gecko from Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory. This species only occurs on Groote, Australia’s third largest offshore island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Groote Eylandt Velvet Gecko, Oedura nesos, is a large and colourful species with white bands and yellow spots that lives … Continue reading New species: velvet gecko discovered on one of Australia’s northern islands

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Collection, Collection Management, Conservation, Education, Geology, Mammals & Birds, New species, Palaeontology, Queensland Stories, Research, Uncategorized

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  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

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Collection, Collection Management, Conservation, Education, Geology, Mammals & Birds, New species, Palaeontology, Queensland Stories, Research

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  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

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Collection, Conservation, Education, Geology, Mammals & Birds, New species, Palaeontology, Queensland Stories, Reptiles & Amphibians, Research

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 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

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Collection, Conservation, Education, Geology, Mammals & Birds, New species, Palaeontology, Queensland Stories, Reptiles & Amphibians, Research

What are 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?

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Conservation, Insects & Spiders, Research

Let’s not forget the “little things”

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”

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Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultures, Collection, Insects & Spiders, Queensland Stories, Research

International Women’s Day: women in Australian history

Today is International Women’s Day and we’re highlighting some of our favourite females in Australian history, shared through the lens of the incredible women who are part of the Queensland Museum Network team. Our collections are full of amazing stories and we’re thrilled to be able to share them with you to celebrate this special day.  Jennifer Wilson, Senior Curator, Transport Energy and Science Favourite … Continue reading International Women’s Day: women in Australian history

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Collection, Collection Management, Geology, Insects & Spiders, Mammals & Birds, Marine Environments, Palaeontology, Reptiles & Amphibians, Research

Celebrating women in science

We celebrate the achievements of women, known and unknown, remembered and forgotten, who have forged the way for those of us in science today, and to give an opportunity for children: girls and boys, to choose role models in science – Princess Nisreen El-Hashemite, BSc MSc MD PhD This coming 11 February is International Day of Women and Girls in Science and to celebrate we’re … Continue reading Celebrating women in science

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Cobb+Co Museum, Collection, Research, The Workshops Rail Museum

A Toy Train for Christmas

“I remember clearly the Christmas my parents decided I was old enough to have a model railway all of my own. Saturday mornings were spent in the local hobby shop. I was awe struck by the rows of gleaming model locomotives in glass display cabinets, with little handwritten price tags propped up neatly next to each engine. The present I opened up on Christmas day … Continue reading A Toy Train for Christmas

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Anzac, Queensland Stories, Research, War

A Man From Glamorganvale

Mephisto, the world’s only remaining German First World War tank is without doubt a unique and fascinating object. Visitors come from across the world to see it, and many words have been written about it. It is also a treasured object to many Queenslanders who remember it out the front of the old Museum on Gregory Terrace, or lurking menacingly in the Dinosaur Garden of … Continue reading A Man From Glamorganvale

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Anzac, Collection, Conservation, Queensland Stories, Research, War

Stories in living colour

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

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