Every Palaeontological Item On Display at the Australian Museum (that I know of, as of 2023)

[Psittacosaur9]

Hello everyone and hope you're all having a wonderful day.

 

Recently, I had the brilliant opportunity to volunteer at the Australian Museum in Sydney. It has definitely been a highlight of this year for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! While I was there, I spent a lot of time exploring the museum, and eventually saw and took photographs of every palaeontological item on display I am aware of, and would like to show them all to you now as an early Christmas present. I do know @Notidanodon did get to share some photographs of the museum a while ago. If you're wondering why the opalised shells Notidanodon shared are not in this topic, they are no longer on display as far as I know. I did also get to see some fossil specimens behind-the-scenes, but I did not get to take pictures of them, so these are only the fossils and replicas on public display

 

I do have a lot of photos of other things as well, particularly the Rameses travelling exhibition, as well as labels of the palaeontology items, so if you want anything in particular, please PM me. I also have a lot of similar photographs of the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst, and will probably post those next year.

 

This will be a long topic, and I doubt I'll finish it all today, but here goes:

 

Dinosaur Gallery

 

Entrance

 

Replica skeleton of Jobaria tiguidensis and Afrovenator abakensis, originally discovered by Paul Sereno. You'll see that a lot of Sereno's skeletons are on display in this gallery, as he was involved with its creation.

 

The Jobaria mount from behind; note the upper floor of displays no longer accesible which the sauropod's head reaches up into. From talking with the other volunteers I'm pretty sure this upper floor used to be part of the 'More than Dinosaurs' gallery which the current Dinosaurs gallery replaced, but I cannot find any images of the older gallery to confirm this besides a close-up of a Stegosaurus (which is still in the museum).

 

Mesozoic Plants

 

Pretty nicely, there is a decent amount of space in the gallery dedicated to non-dinosaurs. While I would have preferred a simple 'Fossil Gallery' with a variety of extinct organisms on display, this is still a good compromise.

 

Photograph showing how the plants section, labelled 'A Changing World', is presented. Each of the large windows is into a cabinet displaying the real fossil plants, and are accompanied by a reconstruction of terrestrial life at the time at a child's eyeline, so they can get a better idea of how life on land looked in each period. You can look into them through the small rectangles below the large windows. They all appear in '3D'. The orange circles cover up areas where children can smell what certain plants would have been like (the Triassic one is of a conifer, and the Cretaceous one is of a flowering plant).

 

Australian Triassic plants. Top left is Rissikia media, bottom left is Dicroidium zuberi and right is Cladophelbis australis.

 

Here is the reconstruction of the Triassic. 

 

Australian Jurassic Plants. Left is Agathis jurassica, right is Osmundacaulis sp.

 

Here is the accompanying Jurassic reconstruction.

 

Early Cretaceous Australian plants. Ginkgoites australis at left and Phullopteroides dentata at right. Fun fact; this is where I first learned that seed ferns survived into the Cretaceous, as most dinosaur books simply seem to forget about them after the Triassic period. I guess you can also see my hand here. That's one of the annoying things about all of these items being behind glass; it's difficult to take nice photos of them without getting yourself into them. Still, it's better than the alternative, as you'll see later...

 

Here is the Early Cretaceous reconstruction. Weird how there is a stegosaur, when stegosaurs easily reached their peak diversity and abundance in the Jurassic.

 

Only one plant is in the Late Cretaceous cabinet, and ironically it is unidentified.

 

The final reconstruction, which is of the Late Cretaceous. Interesting how this is the only one to not have a Theropod or Sauropodomorph.

 

Non-Dinosaur Mesozoic Animals

 

Opposite to the plant display, there is a section dedicated to the animals the dinosaurs shared their world with.

 

Interestingly, this section starts out with an Eoraptor lunensis cast, to highlight certain features unique to dinosaurs, such as their hollow hip sockets. You can see parts of the herbivores and carnivores sections in the background. Over my many trips, I often seem to gravitate to this specimen, as besides the Jobaria, Giganotosaurus and Archaeopteryx it is easily the one I have the most photos of on my phone (obviously more than two, don't want to clutter the page).

 

Properly starting off our journey on non-dinosaurs is a display of terrestrial animals. All fossils are real except stated otherwise:

 

Skull of an unidentified Dicynodont found in Zambia.

 

Cast of Rhamphorynchus muensteri from Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany.

 

Parotosaurus wadei skull from Brookvale, NSW, Australia.

 

Clarotitan andersoni from Brookvale, NSW, Australia. There is another specimen in a different gallery which I took a better picture of.

 

Cleitholepis granulata from Somersby, NSW, Australia.

 

Cavernericthys talbragerensis from Tralbragar, NSW, Australia. It is overlaid on a leaf. You'll notice some other fossils from Tralbragar in the Jurassic plants cabinet, as well as in another gallery.

 

Left is a nymph of Promimara cephalota, found in Koonwarra, Victoria, Australia, and right is an unidentified cockroach from Brookvale, NSW, Australia.

 

Aeschnogomphus sp. from Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany.

 

This specimen was special, but very annoying to get a photograph of. Cast of lower jaw of Teinolophis trusleri, a monotreme mammal found in Inverloch, Victoria, Australia. According to the label it is the oldest known mammal in Australia, even older than Steropodon.

 

I'm going to start a new post now so that I don't run out of space.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Psittacosaur9
Inconsistent formatting; I tried to edit the last photo of the Jobaria out but the site won't let me

[Psittacosaur9]

A cast of the icthyosaur Stenopterygius quadriscissus. This is the first object outside of a glass cabinet besides the Jobaria and Afrovenator casts, which makes it easier to photograph but also exposes the specimen which can lead to it degrading. Fortunately most of the casts outside of cabinets still look fine, but there is one in particular which we'll get to later which has been especially badly damaged.

 

The next cabinet is of marine life:

 

An utterly beautiful real fossil of a Steneosaurus bollensis from Germany. You can see its full profile in the above image.

 

Flindersicthys denmeandi from Hughenden, Queensland, Australia.

 

Foreground is cast of Parahesperornis alexi from the USA (which ironically is a dinosaur), and background is cast of Moanasaurus mangahouangae from New Zealand.

 

Cast of Nostochelone costata from Queensland, Australia.

 

Another cabinet of marine fossils:

 

Australiceras jacki from Julia Creek, Queensland, Australia.

 

Sphaerulites sp. from France.

 

Thecosmilia trichotoma from France.

 

Mesolimulus walchi from Solnhofen, Bavaria, Germany.

 

The final marine life cabinet, which displays a cast of Thalissiodracon hawkinsii from England, UK. 

 

The final cabinet in this section, which specifically is for Gondwanan fossils which prove continental drift:

 

Glossopteris fossils from Australia (1), South Africa (2) and Antarctica (3).

 

Dicroidium zuberi fossils from Australia (1), South Africa (2) and Antarctica (3).

 

Brazilosaurus sanpauloensis from Brasil. It looks like a cast to me, but there is no specification on the label. This genus is also found in Africa.

 

Cast of Cynognathus crateronotus from South Africa. This genus is also found in South America and Antarctica.

[Psittacosaur9]

Lightning Ridge

 

Last post I'll do for today, still got hundreds of photos but I'll continue tomorrow.

 

In the Dinosaur Gallery, there is a sizeable section for the Lightning Ridge site, a famous fossil location in New South Wales, Australia, where many opalised fossils have been found.

 

There is this diorama of the life at Lightning Ridge, about 100 million years ago, featuring unidentified dromaeosaurids, a Flugotherium, and a Steropodon. I like the models and how detailed they are, but the dromaeosaurs are pretty outdated.

 

The diroama's attention to detail cannot be understated. There is even an underwater section with a lungfish and bivalves:

 

Here is the first Lightning Ridge cabinet. Almost everything in here is opalised and real.

 

1 and 2 are Aracaurian material, 3 are unionid bivalves and 4 are elongated bivalves.

 

5 are Palaeohyridella godthelpi, 6 are Melanoides godthelpi and 7 are Notopala sp.

 

8 are yabby buttons, 9 are lungfish toothplates, 10 is a cast of a unamed genus of crocodile (species name selaslophensis), 11 is a crocodile dermal scute and 12 is turtle armour.

 

13 is a turtle cervical and 14 is a turtle ulna, both from unknown species.

 

15 are plesiosaur teeth and 16 are the ends of bird hindlimbs, all from unknown species.

 

17 and 18 are Kollikodon ritche lower and upper jaws respecively, and 19 is a  Strepodon galmani lower jaw. All of these mammal fossils are casts for obvious reasons.

 

The second Lightning Ridge cabinet, dedicated specifically to dinosaurs. Everything in here is labelled as real, except for one item.

 

1 are ornithopod tibias and 2 are ornithopod femurs. Both are labelled as 'Hypsilophodontian'.

 

Lower jaws of ornithopods. These are labelled as 3, in case you wonder why I skip a number when referring to these specimens.

 

4, 5 and 6 are all theropod claws. 5 is labelled as a dromaeosaur claw. 4 probably came from the hand and 6 the foot.

 

7 and 8 are unidentified foot bones. 7 is interesting as it is articulated. 9 is the only cast in this cabinet, and it is a hand bone of Rapator ornitholestoides.

 

10 is an ulna from an unknown species.

 

The final Lightning Ridge cabinet, yet again dedicated to dinosaurs. Everything in here is real.

 

1-3 are all verterbrae from unidentified species. 4 are Titanosauriform teeth.

 

4 are Titanosauriform teeth, 5 are Dromaeosaurid-like teeth and 6 is a Muttaburasaurus sp. tooth.

 

Finally, 7 is a Muttaburasaurus sp. scapula.

 

I hope you are enjoying this topic so far, and I will continue to update it tomorrow. There's still a lot to cover; we're only about halfway through the Dinosaur Gallery, and there are multiple other galleries with fossils.

 

Have a good night!

[Yoda]

@Psittacosaur9

Some interesting stuff there. 

I have a keen interest in Australian fossil plants, so nice to see 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very interesting.

Ta very much for taking the time to post all of these for us.

I look forward to the next installment with great anticipation.

[FossilDAWG]

Thanks for giving us the grand tour!  It is much appreciated.  

 

As a very minor point, I feel I need to comment on your use of the word "artifact" in the thread title.  An artifact is something made by humans for a specific purpose, such as a tool or an ornament.  Fossils cannot be artifacts, except maybe those fake trilobites you see for sale sometimes.  I care about this mostly because in many countries fossils are lumped with archeological artifacts in laws that criminalize the collection of both.  The assumption is that fossils are rare and irreplaceable, like the Elgin Marbles.  This misapprehension has done great damage to avocational paleontology, so I think we should try to avoid confusioning fossils and artifacts.

[hadrosauridae]

Awesome! Thanks for the post. Cant wait to see the rest of your pictures!

[Psittacosaur9]

12 hours ago, Yoda said:

@Psittacosaur9

Some interesting stuff there. 

I have a keen interest in Australian fossil plants, so nice to see 

 

10 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Very interesting.

Ta very much for taking the time to post all of these for us.

I look forward to the next installment with great anticipation.

 

7 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

Awesome! Thanks for the post. Cant wait to see the rest of your pictures!

 

Thank you all for the kind words, and I hope you find the rest of the images interesting! I'm about to start posting some of the ornithischian displays.

 

9 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Thanks for giving us the grand tour!  It is much appreciated.  

 

As a very minor point, I feel I need to comment on your use of the word "artifact" in the thread title.  An artifact is something made by humans for a specific purpose, such as a tool or an ornament.  Fossils cannot be artifacts, except maybe those fake trilobites you see for sale sometimes.  I care about this mostly because in many countries fossils are lumped with archeological artifacts in laws that criminalize the collection of both.  The assumption is that fossils are rare and irreplaceable, like the Elgin Marbles.  This misapprehension has done great damage to avocational paleontology, so I think we should try to avoid confusioning fossils and artifacts.

 

Also, thanks for the heads up about the usage of that word; I've changed the topic name to include 'Item' instead, as there are a lot of casts and several life reconstructions on display at the museum.

[Psittacosaur9]

Ok, now that I've had some time to recover, here are some more sections of the Dinosaur Gallery:

 

Herbivores

 

A pretty self explanatory section. Includes replicas and fossils from mostly ornithischian, but some sauropod, dinosaurs. Everything is real unless stated otherwise.

 

Replica skeleton of Muttaburrasaurus langdoni, from Queensland, Australia. Usually the lights underneath the skeleton are turned on; you can see one of them as a 'hole' in the floor.

 

The detail of the cast skeletons is impressive. Here is a photo from October 2023 (I took all the other photos in November 2023, unless I state otherwise) displaying the ridged edge of the beak. Also note the dim pink lighting. Usually, all of the skeletons in the herbivore section have lighting from beneath, which changes colours from pink to blue to green, as you'll see in the later images. When I visited in November, the Muttaburrasaurus was the only skeleton to not have this lighting.

 

Near the Muttaburrasaurus skeleton, and hiding behind the Lightning Ridge display, is this puppet Muttaburrasaurus, named Winnie. On special events, a person will control the Winnie puppet from inside, giving the appearance of a living, moving dinosaur. I've heard she can often frighten the kids a bit! While we stay talking about fun activities, I might add that there is also a wooden 3D puzzle of a Stegosaurus skeleton, which is usually either in the main lobby or the herbivores section of the Dinosaur Gallery which I did not photograph as I did not think that the people on here would be interested.

  

Anyways, the first skeleton cast of note following the Muttaburrasaurus is this Chasmosaurus belli, originally found somewhere in North America. It's often mistaken for Triceratops by many museum visitors.

 

The Chasomosaurus cast is interesting, as it appears to display some sort of pathology or preparation mark. I cannot see this tiny hole next to the fenestrae on any other Chasmosaurus specimen or anatomical diagram. If anyone knows what it is, or the story behind the cast, I'd love to find out.

 

Anyways, next to the Chasmosaurus is this cabinet. If you're wondering why it doesn't show up in later photographs, 6 is a preserved crocodile stomach. The gallery does include some modern animal specimens and replicas to compare to the dinosaurs, but I didn't include them as they are not palaeontological in origin. Also, 3 is the real fossil jaw of a Centrosaurus apertus. I didn't take a separate picture of it as it was so big. 

 

1 is a cast of the jaw of Atlascopcosaurus loadsi, found at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia, and 2 is the cast of an Iguanodon sp. tooth, found in England, UK.

 

4 are Titanosauriform teeth found at Lightning Ridge (similar to the ones in the Lightning Ridge section) and 5 are sauropod gastroliths discovered in the USA.

 

On display nearby is a cast of the back dental battery of Edmontosaurus sp., found in Canada.

 

There are also these two cast skulls. The large one is of Probactrosaurus gobiensis, from China, whereas the small one is of an unidentified juvenile hadrosaur found in Mongolia.

 

There is also another cabinet displaying more Mesozoic plants. All of them represent genera which could also be seen in the Mesozoic plants section.

 

1 is a Cladophelbis australis from Lismore, New South Wales, Australia.

 

2 is Rissikia talbragarensis from Tralbragar, New South Wales, Australia.

 

3 is an unidentified angiosperm from Winton, Queensland, Australia.

 

Nearby is a cast of the skull of Leaellynasaura amicagraphica, from Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia. It is not in a cabinet. This is the specimen I was referring to when I said that cabinets, though annoying to take photos of, are good for preservation. While it was repainted in a recent renovation a few years ago, the new coat has already mostly come off due to people constantly touching the cast, to the point where it is more helpful to look at the accompanying picture to understand what the dinosaur's skull looked like than to actually observe the cast itself.

 

Hey look, it's my avatar! Cast of Psittacosaurus mongoliensis, originally found somewhere in Asia. 

 

Replica of a juvenile Centrosaurus apertus skull, from Canada. You might sometimes see these guys erroneously identified as 'Monoclonius' in some exhibits and books.

 

Parasaurolophus walkeri skull cast, originall found somewhere in the USA. You'll notice a small pump near the hadrosaur's skull; I have honestly no idea what it's for. It certainly doesn't make the Parasaurolophus honk, as if you knock the cast like a door you'll soon realise it's completely hollow.

 

Cast of Stegoceras validum skull, found in the USA.

 

Next up is a small section accompanied by a full scale life model of Minmi paraverterbra.

 

Left is a cast of Minmi sp. skin and right is a cast of an Iguanodon sp. thumb spike.

 

Left are a cast of the ribs of Kunbarrasaurus sp.m found in Richmond, Queensland, Australia, and right are the cast of the ribs of an unidentified ankylosaur from Hugheden, Queensland, Australia.

 

Cast of the skull of Tarchia gigantea, originally found in Mongolia.

 

Cast of Hypsilophodon foxii skeleton, found in England, UK. This one seems to have permanent pink lighting. I remember once a couple of parents telling their child that dinosaurs weren't real (I have no idea why they took the to this museum, then) and in protest the child reached out and felt the Hypsilophodon's shin, claiming it felt like real bone. Ironically, both were wrong, as this Hypsilophodon was a replica.

 

An interesting quirk of the Hypsilophodon is how one of its toes seems twisted. I have no idea why that is.

 

Similarly, I have no idea why this Permian tree stump, which despite anecdotal evidence stating that it came from the South pole most likely was discovered in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia, is in the Herbivore section.

 

Replica femur of Rhoetosaurus brownei, found in Queensland, Australia.

 

Life reconstruction of Atlascopcosaurus loadsi.

 

Finally for this section, we have a replica skull and neck and life reconstruction of Nigersaurus taqueti, originally discovered in Niger.

 

That was a really big section, so I'm only going to do the carnivores section now before I take a break.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Psittacosaur9

[Psittacosaur9]

Carnivores

 

The name of this section is a bit of a misnomer.  It deals with theropod dinosaurs, including herbivorous and omnivorous ones. Everything is real unless stated otherwise.

 

A general overview of the area.

 

Most obvious and eye-catching is the giant Giganotosaurus carolinii replica. Many visitors mistake it for a T. rex. This thing is utterly enormous.

 

Underneath the Giganotosaurus is this somewhat outdated life reconstruction of Sinornithosaurus millenii.

 

Next to the Sinornithosaurus is this lovely replica of a Suchomimus tenerensis skull, originally from Niger. Spinosaurs are some of my favourite dinosaurs, so seeing this makes me happy. Theres some more Suchomimus material later on.

 

Alongside the Suchomimus are these replicas of the skulls of smaller theropods. Left is Archaeopteryx lithographica, from Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany, and right is Velociraptor mongoliensis from Mongolia.

 

There is also this Allosaurus fragilis skull replica from the USA nearby. It is very interesting to look at, as it has erupting teeth.

 

Next to the Allosaurus are these casts of the teeth of Tyrannosaurus rex (left) and Spinosaurus aegyptiacus (right). They are not in a cabinet. The Spinosaurus tooth has suffered similar deterioration to the Leaellynasaura cast from earlier, but the Tyrannosaurus tooth seems fine.

 

Nearby is another cabinet with theropod teeth. 8 are opalised dromaeosaurid teeth from Lightning Ridge.

 

9 is an Albertosaurus sp. tooth from Canada.

 

10 are all Spinosaurus aegyptiacus teeth. The label says they come from Egypt, but I'd bet they come from Morocco.

 

11 is a big Carcharodontosaurus saharicus tooth from Morocco. Note the visible serrations.

 

This last specimen, 12, is a Centrosaurus apertus rib with Tyrannosaur bite marks. A pretty interesting way of showcasing how these animals fed.

 

A Sinosauropteryx prima life reconstruction, alongside a cast of the braincase of Tyrannosaurus rex. The braincase is probably the most ignored object on display in the gallery.

 

Replica of the holotype of Sinosauropteryx prima, originally discovered in China.

 

Cast of the skull of Tyrannosaurus rex. While you can't see its distortion great in this photo, it is AMNH 5027. There is another cast of this skull later in the gallery, where you can see the distortion better.

 

Cast of Coelophysis bauri, originally found at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, USA. One of those 'celebrity casts' which seem to be at every major museum and even purchasable online.

 

Cast of Utahraptor ostrommaysi foot, found in Utah, USA.

 

Cast of the hand and claws of Suchomimus tenerensis, I believe originally from the same specimen that the skull from earlier came from.

 

Cast of the second toe claw of Velociraptor sp.

 

In contrast, the massive hand claw of Megaraptor sp.

 

Replica of second claw of Deinonychus sp. 

 

Cast of unidentified theropod claw from unknown location.

 

Cast of hand claw of Suchomimus tenerensis.

 

Cast of Allosaurus sp. hand claw.

 

10 is cast of Dilophosaurus sp. hand claw, and 11 is cast of another unidentified theropod hand claw from unknown location.

 

To end with a bang, the last replica claw is the largest ever discovered - the hand claw of Therizinosaurus cheloniformis, from Mongolia.

 

4 is a replica of an oviraptorid skull from Mongolia. It is labelled 'Ingenia yanshini', which is nowadays correctly identified as Heyuannia yanshini.

 

6 is a Struthiomimus altus skull from Canada.

 

Replica of the skull of Cryolophosaurus ellioti. The light  changes from red to green. It is unique in that way; all the other lights underneath the casts in this section are red.

 

Finally for the carnivores themselves is this cast of the holotype Dilophosaurus wetherilli. Interestingly, this holotype is unique in that it is 3 specimens of Dilophosaurus stitched together into a complete skeleton.

 

There are a few other exhibits in the 'carnivores' section which aren't of specifically theropod dinosaurs. The first is one of dinosaur eggs.

 

To compare the dinosaur eggs to, there are various modern animal eggs, as well as a cast of the egg of the extinct bird Aepyornis maximus from Madagascar.

 

On left are hadrosaur eggs from China, and right is a Hypselosaurus sp. egg.

 

4 is the cast of an Oviraptor philoceratops egg.

 

3 is a life reconstruction of an Oviraptor philoceratops embryo.

 

5 is the cast of a Saltasaurus loriacus egg from Argentina.

 

6 are casts of the eggs of Gobiopteryx minuta.

 

Next to the egg fossils and replicas is a life reconstruction of a Maiasaura nest.

 

There is also a small section on dinosaur footprints, featuring two casts. The larger is of a theropod from the USA.

 

The smaller cast is of the footprint of a small ornithopod from Winton, Queensland, Australia.

 

There are also these two real theropod footprints from the USA.

 

Finally, in a corner there is a small collection of dinosaur leg bone casts.

 

6, the large beige one, is a Centrosaurus apertus ulna.

 

1 is a hadrosaur toe bone from Canada, 2 is a C. apertus toe bone from Canada, 3 is an ornithopod toe bone from Lightning Ridge and 4 (the long black one) is an ornithopod femur from Inverloch, Victoria, Australia.

 

5 is interesting, as it is a Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei ulna. This is an enigmatic ornithischian found in Kilcunda, Victoria, Australia, which was believed to be an Australian ceratopsian when it was discovered. From what I've read it's more likely to be an ankylosaur.

 

Anyways, that was the carnivores section. I'm going to take a break and have some lunch. Tomorrow I'm pretty busy, but hopefully I'll be able to continue. If not then I can definitely continue on Thursday. Thanks for reading!

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Psittacosaur9
Incorrect grammar

[Jaybot]

10 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

I remember once a couple of parents telling their child that dinosaurs weren't real (I have no idea why they took the to this museum, then) and in protest the child reached out and felt the Hypsilophodon's shin, claiming it felt like real bone.

Possibly they meant that they aren't alive and real anymore, in an attempt to not scare the kid.  I understand the ways of parents 😉

[Tidgy's Dad]

Marvelous.

[Psittacosaur9]

10 hours ago, Jaybot said:

Possibly they meant that they aren't alive and real anymore, in an attempt to not scare the kid.  I understand the ways of parents 😉

Good guess but no. The parents specifically described dinosaurs as a conspiracy made up by the government.

[Tidgy's Dad]

2 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

Good guess but no. The parents specifically described dinosaurs as a conspiracy made up by the government.

There are people everywhere who believe this. 

I have twice been accused of making my fossils here in Morocco. Which perhaps is understandable to some extent as some people here do make them.

But officially, Morocco does accept fossils and evolution, though they say it is all driven by Allah.

[Psittacosaur9]

Miscellaneous Fossils

 

The next section is dedicated to how fossils form, as well as some more footprints. All of the fossils here are real unless stated otherwise. There are also some sedimentary rock samples, which I didn't take photos of.

 

The first fossil on display, 1, are Ordovician trilobite tracks from Central Australia.

 

Fossil 2 are Ordovician marine animal burrows from Central Australia.

 

3 are Jurassic ichthyosaur coprolites from England, UK.

 

4 is a piece of Eocene amber with insect inclusions. The location is unknown.

 

5 is a mortality plate with various Knightia sp. individuals presumably from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, USA.

 

6 is another Dicroidium zuberi from NSW.

 

7 is a partial 'Platypterygius' longmani jaw from Queensland, Australia.

 

8 is a pyritised Jurassic ammonite of an unidentified species from Poland.

 

9 is an opalised freshwater mussel of an unidentified species from Lightning Ridge.

 

The large bone here is a real fossil femur of a Camarasaurus supremus, from the USA.

 

The ID of the Camarasaurus femur - F17745, I think - in case anyone is familiar with it.

 

Permian petrified tree stump of an unidentified species from New South Wales, Australia.

 

A nicely sized Acadoparadoxies briareus specimen from Morocco.

 

Titanites giganteus from England, UK.

 

'Bothriolepis' yeungae from Canowindra, New South Wales, Australia.

 

Leptopholeum australe, from Canowindra in New South Wales, Australia.

 

There is also a part of this section dedicated to the Lark Quarry trackways in Queensland, Australia, including this slab. I am uncertain whether it is a cast or an actual portion of the real trackways. There is also a video of the speculative dinosaur stampede which supposedly caused the tracks.

 

1 is a cast of a Tyrannosauripus footprint.

 

2 is a cast of a Skartopus footprint.

 

3 is a cast of a Wintopus footprint.

 

Finally for this section is a real Skartopus footprint from the Lark Quarry site.

 

T. rex Autopsy

 

Perhaps the most unusual part of the Australian Museum's Dinosaur Gallery is this impressive model of a dissected Tyrannosaurus rex, which displays how, through comparison with living animals, scientists can speculate how, at its size, its organs could have functioned. The model was originally created for a National Geographic documentary, before being donated to the museum. It definitely has some accuracy issues (the head looks a bit too similar to the Jurassic Park T. rex, and I'd say there are too many feathers on it) but overall it is a very interesting and worthy substitute for a Tyrannosaurus replica skeleton. Besides, if I absolutely had to see a replica T. rex skeleton for whatever reason, I could always simply travel to Bathurst and see the one there.

 

An overview of this area.

 

T. rex model eye.

 

T. rex model head. Notice the missing eye.

 

T. rex model stomach.

 

T. rex model heart.

 

T. rex model foot.

 

T. rex model leg bones and muscles.

 

T. rex model ovaries.

 

Near the T. rex autopsy is another copy of the T. rex skull cast alongside a model of a living T. rex head.. You can clearly see AMNH 5027's distortion here. Both T. rex skull casts in this gallery are only the right side of the head.

 

Extinction and Evolution of Birds

 

Finally for the Dinosaur Gallery (it's been a bit of a trip, hasn't it) we have a section on the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and the evolution of birds.

 

Firstly we have this pretty handy cladogram showing when certain stereotypically bird-like features appeared in dinosaurs. All modern bird specimens as far as I can tell but I still thought you all might be interested to see it as it is nicely laid out. The 'primitive feathers' line at the bottom was added in a recent renovation, due to the discovery of feathers in primitive theropods as well as in ornithischians.

 

There is a replica of the famous 'Berlin Specimen' of Archaeopteryx lithographica, found in the Solnhofen Limestone in Bavaria, Germany.. On a personal note, this is one of my favourite fossil specimens in the world and extinct animals in general, and I'd love to own a cast at some point.

 

Another Solnhofen replica is this lovely Compsognathus longipes.

 

A slice of rock at the K-Pg boundary.

 

The last cabinet to talk about is this one, right near the entrance, which displays the evolution of birds using replica skeletons of Bambiraptor feinberogum, Archaeopteryx lithographica and the modern pheasant coucal, Centropus phasianinus. The jaws and tails of the skeletons are highlighted to show how these structures changed over millions of years.

 

Close up of Bambiraptor skeleton.

 

Closeup of Archaeopteryx skeleton.

 

Finally is this old Archaeopteryx reconstruction. It is probably the most obscure item in the entire gallery; unlike the Tyrannosaurus braincase, which is clearly on display but is simply ignored by people due to distraction from nearby specimens and a general feeling of 'what the hell is that and why is it in a dinosaur gallery', this Archaeopteryx is pretty well hidden and has no signage indicating its existence. I only noticed it after visiting the gallery many times. I'm not going to say exactly where it is, so that in case anyone on the forum goes to the Australian Museum they can try to find it themselves, as it is pretty fun to look for. I've cropped the image so that only the Archaeopteryx is visible. Make sure to tell me if you ever notice it!

 

Thanks for looking though this topic so far. We are done with the Dinosaur Gallery! We've still got quite a bit to cover though, and I'll probably post the rest of the images tomorrow. Have a good night!

[Tidgy's Dad]

[Psittacosaur9]

Surviving Australia Gallery

 

Near the dinosaur gallery is one about Australian animals and climate change, known as Surviving Australia. You may have seen it in the backgrounds of some of the previous posts. While most of the gallery deals with modern life, there is a section dedicated to Australian megafauna. Again, everything is real unless stated otherwise.

 

Staring proudly across the rest of the gallery is a replica skeleton of Diprotodon opatum.

 

In a compartment below the replica skeleton is this rather sheep-like life reconstruction of Diprotodon. I regretfully did not take any good photographs of it, but there is a baby facing backwards in its pouch.

 

Displayed next to the reconstruction are the incisors, molar and lower jaw of Diprotodon opatum. The lower incisor was found at Reddestone Creek in New South Wales, Australia, everything else was found at Bingara, New South Wales.

 

Near the Diprotodon display is a similar one for Thylacoleo carnifex, complete with this life reconstruction.

 

Thylacoleo carnifex skull and lower jaw, both found at Wellington Caves in New South Wales, Australia.

 

There is also a third and final display of a more obscure megafauna species, Thylacinus potens, which was much larger than the recently extinct thylacine. The museum refers to is as the 'powerful thylacine'. Like the other two, there is a life reconstruction. I know at one point there was a Procoptodon reconstruction at the museum too, but it is no longer on display.

 

Cast of the upper jaw and real partial skull and lower jaw of T. potens. The upper jaw was originally found at Alcoota, in the Northern Territory, Australia, whereas the skull and lower jaw were found in the Wellington Caves, New South Wales, Australia.

 

A cast of the skeleton of Simosthenurus occidentalis, originally found in the Green Waterhole Cave in South Australia. It is rather cleverly displayed near mounts of real kangaroos.

 

There is also a small section dedicated to the evolution of monotremes, which includes this replica Obdurodon dicksoni skull from Riversleigh, Queensland, Australia.

 

Replica Megalibgwilia ramsayi skull from the Naracoorte Caves in South Australia.

 

Finally for the megafauna, there are several domes containing more megafauna specimens, such as this cast of an Ekaltadelta ima skull from Riversleigh, Queensland, Australia.

 

Pelvis of an unidentified macropod from Merriwa, New South Wales, Australia.

 

Simosthenurus occidentalis lower jaw from Mount Gambier, South Australia.

 

Procoptodon goliah lower jaw from Bingara in New South Wales, Australia.

 

A comparison between a cast of the skull of Phascolonus gigas, found at Lake Callabonna in South Australia, and a modern southern hairy nosed wombat skull.

 

On the left, a verterbra of Varanus priscus (labelled as 'Megalania') found at Darling Downs in Queensland, Australia, and on the right, a Meiolania platyceps skull found on Lord Howe Island in New South Wales, Australia.

 

Finally for this section, we have the partially reconstructed skull of Bullockornis planei, found at Bullock Creek in the Northern Territory, Australia.

 

I hope you are enjoying this so far! I'll finish the whole series tomorrow.

[Psittacosaur9]

Ok, let's finish this.

Just realised I forgot about this fella from the Surviving Australia gallery. It is a replica of a 2.7 billion year old stromatolite from the Fortescue Group in Western Australia. It is at one of the entrances to the gallery.

 

Wild Planet Gallery

 

This gallery mostly focuses on taxidermy of living animals, but it does contain a few fossils. Everything is real unless stated otherwise.

 

13 is a Mesolimus walchi from Solnhofen.

 

16 is a replica skull of a Meiolania platyceps originally from Lord Howe Island in New South Wales, Australia.

 

17 is a Simbirskites nepaulensis from Papua New Guinea, and 18 is a Paradoxies carens from the Czech Republic.

 

Finally, 19 is a 800 million year old stromatolite from the Northern Territory, Australia. I'd suspect it is a Boxonia, but I'm not sure.

 

Westpac Long Gallery

 

This gallery focuses on many of the unique treasures in the Australian Museum's collections. Every fossil in here is real.

 

An impressive slab of Devonian fish fossils from Canowindra, New South Wales, Australia, containing 'Bothriolepis' yeungae, Remigolepis walkeri and Mandageria fairfaxi, the last of which is New South Wales' state fossil. Unfortunately I do not seem to have taken a good photograph of them, but there are some plant fossils from Tralbragar in the background (left of the fish slab), as well as another M. platyceps skull just out of frame (the white blob in the lower right hand corner).

 

The spectacular partially opalised skeleton of an Umoonasaurus demoscyullus, nicknamed 'Eric', found in Cooby Pedy in South Australia. If you look closely, under Eric's ribcage, there is a cardboard printout of the pliosaur's abdomen and forelimbs. This is because, when the fossil was originally installed a couple of years ago, these skeletal portions was not on display, and the cardboard temporarily served as a substitue.

 

A slab of jasperised Araucarioxylon arizonicum wood from the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, USA.

 

The skeleton of Megaloceros giganteus from Europe.

 

The upper jaw of a Zygomaturus trilobus, found at Lake Leaghur in New South Wales, Australia, and on display in a cabinet about archaeology.

 

Finally, there is a cabinet completely dedicated to palaeontology.

 

1 is a Dicroidium odontopteroides found at St Peters in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

 

2 is a slab of Cylostrobus sydneyensis found at Turrimetta Head in the Northern Beaches, New South Wales, Australia.

 

3 is a slab of Paraschizoneura jonesii found at Turrimetta Head in the Northern Beaches, New South Wales, Australia.

 

4 is a Unionella bowralensis found at Bowral in the Southern Highlands, New South Wales, Australia.

 

5 is a Union dunstani found at Bowral in the Southern Highlands, New South Wales, Australia.

 

6 is an unidentified dragonfly found in the Beacon Hill Quarry in Brookvale in the Northern Beaches, New South Wales, Australia.

 

7 is the wing of Clatrotitan sp. found in the Beacon Hill Quarry in Brookvale in the Northern Beaches, New South Wales, Australia.

 

8 is Notoblattites sp. found in the Beacon Hill Quarry in Brookvale in the Northern Beaches, New South Wales, Australia.

 

9 is Macroaethes brookvalei, found at Hornsby Heights in Northern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

 

10 is Xenacanthus sp. from the Wianamatta Group, New South Wales, Australia.

 

11 is a Palaeoniscoid fish found at Somersby on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia, and 12 are two Cleithrolepis granulata found at Hornsby Heights in Sydney, Australia.

 

Miscellaneous Fossils

 

There are some other fossils not in these aforementioned galleries.

 

In an educational children's gallery named Burra, there is a geological timeline, which contains life reconstructions of Dikinsonia, Sprigginia, Kimberella, Hallucigenia and 'Bothriolepis', casts of Suchomimus terensis, Obdurodon insignis and Diprotodon opatum, and fossils of Colpocoryphe grandis, Encrinus mitchelii, Loxonema sp., unidentified bryozoans, Dicroidium sp., Podozamites jurassica, an unidentified ammonite and Mesohippus sp.

 

Near a cafe is this fibreglass model reconstruction of a dromaeosaurid.

 

Near the Minerals gallery is this specimen of banded iron, found in the Ord Ridley Ranges in the Pilbara, Western Australia.

 

In the Minerals gallery itself is a specimen of ammolite from Canada.

 

Finally is this cast of Homo florensis near the Wild Planet gallerym originally found in the Flores Islands.

 

I hope you've enjoyed this trip through the Australian Museum. I'm sure I missed one or two specimens, but this is every item I am aware of. I made this for all the people who cannot visit the museum for one reason or another, and I hope they have found it as interesting as I have. I truly love this museum, have visited it throughout my life and wish to keep volunteering there in the future. Thanks for reading, and have a good day/night!

 

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Psittacosaur9
Accidentally posted duplicate images

[Tidgy's Dad]

I enjoyed a trip through this museum very much and thank you very much for sharing it all with us.

Some truly amazing specimens and nice displays, though perhaps a little short on invertebrates and not a brachiopod to be seen!

But it is great you allowed us all to visit a wonderful museum that most of us will never get the chance to visit ourselves.

 

[Psittacosaur9]

6 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I enjoyed a trip through this museum very much and thank you very much for sharing it all with us.

Some truly amazing specimens and nice displays, though perhaps a little short on invertebrates and not a brachiopod to be seen!

But it is great you allowed us all to visit a wonderful museum that most of us will never get the chance to visit ourselves.

 

Well I'm glad that people who will never get to see the museum got a chance to see the specimens. And I might have to update this page in the future, when new or renovated galleries open. I would agree that the displays should probably have a bit more variety (with more invertebrate specimens, as you said, but also just more Palaeozoic and Cenozoic specimens in general) but I still really like the museum. And luckily for us who like our non-dinosaurs, the Bathurst Fossil and Mineral Museum is just a 3 hour drive from the Australian Museum, and I'll post some photos of that place maybe this year but probably early next year. Anyways, thanks for your praise! 

[Paleoworld-101]

A VERY commendable effort photographing all of these palaeontological items in the museum!

I have been visiting this museum since i was a young child and have fond memories of exhibitions here going back to the earliest 2000s (when i was about 6 years old). 

I can still remember the original 'More than Dinosaurs' exhibition with the slanted uphill walkway taking you past the battling skeletons of the stegosaur and the Afrovenator (same one that is in the current dinosaurs gallery next to Jobaria), and also the Chinese Dinosaurs special exhibition that came to the museum in 2002 (i remember how red everything was, the walls, the curtains, that was definitely the theme of that exhibit!). 

 

I went looking for pictures of both of these old exhibits and came across this Youtube video from 2002 that shows both of them! It brought back so much nostalgia to see my original childhood museum again. I do enjoy the "200 treasures" gallery that is now on display on the ground floor, though i wish it didn't have to replace the original "skeletons: frameworks for survival" gallery which was another classic. That skeletons gallery is also shown at the start of the Youtube video linked below. 

 

2002 - Australia - Sydney - Chinese Dinosaurs at Australian Museum - YouTube

 

By the way, in your post you speculate that the current Dinosaurs gallery was in the same space as the original 'More than Dinosaurs' gallery. As you can see in the linked video from 8:14 through to 8:24, the same ceiling and railing from the central area of the current Dinosaurs gallery is visible, but back in 2002 this was part of a different exhibit. If the More than Dinosaurs exhibition area was the same as the current Dinosaurs gallery, it would have to have been one of the lateral 'wings' of the gallery, not the central area where the current Afrovenator and Jobaria skeletons now stand.  

Edited January 1 by Paleoworld-101

[Psittacosaur9]

On 12/31/2023 at 11:22 PM, Paleoworld-101 said:

A VERY commendable effort photographing all of these palaeontological items in the museum!

I have been visiting this museum since i was a young child and have fond memories of exhibitions here going back to the earliest 2000s (when i was about 6 years old). 

I can still remember the original 'More than Dinosaurs' exhibition with the slanted uphill walkway taking you past the battling skeletons of the stegosaur and the Afrovenator (same one that is in the current dinosaurs gallery next to Jobaria), and also the Chinese Dinosaurs special exhibition that came to the museum in 2002 (i remember how red everything was, the walls, the curtains, that was definitely the theme of that exhibit!). 

 

I went looking for pictures of both of these old exhibits and came across this Youtube video from 2002 that shows both of them! It brought back so much nostalgia to see my original childhood museum again. I do enjoy the "200 treasures" gallery that is now on display on the ground floor, though i wish it didn't have to replace the original "skeletons: frameworks for survival" gallery which was another classic. That skeletons gallery is also shown at the start of the Youtube video linked below. 

 

2002 - Australia - Sydney - Chinese Dinosaurs at Australian Museum - YouTube

 

By the way, in your post you speculate that the current Dinosaurs gallery was in the same space as the original 'More than Dinosaurs' gallery. As you can see in the linked video from 8:14 through to 8:24, the same ceiling and railing from the central area of the current Dinosaurs gallery is visible, but back in 2002 this was part of a different exhibit. If the More than Dinosaurs exhibition area was the same as the current Dinosaurs gallery, it would have to have been one of the lateral 'wings' of the gallery, not the central area where the current Afrovenator and Jobaria skeletons now stand.  

Thank you so much for such an amazing discovery!

 

It's nice to see the old skeleton gallery again, I like the Westpac gallery but I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer the older one. I remember it had a pterosaur model on display as well, but I couldn't see it in the footage.

 

The Chinese dinosaur exhibition looks interesting, if a bit bare bones. I wish Pinuccio G., who recorded the footage, took more shots of the labels in the exhibition, as it can be difficult to tell exactly what everything is. I could read Shunosaurus and Huyangosaurus from the labels, and could see mounts I could identify as Tsintaosaurus, Omeisaurus and Mamenchisaurus, but besides those I struggle to identify them. The exhibition reminded me of an even older temporary exhibition, 'The Great Russian Dinosaurs', which was on display at the Australian Museum in 1993 and inspired one of John Conway's artworks. There was an excellent variety of fossil animals on display, including Permian critters and insects, and I used to own a second-hand program of the exhibition. There's a video of it online, uploaded by the Monash University. I think you can see the aforementioned pterosaur model at 13:40.

 

As for the footage of the More Than Dinosaurs gallery, it looks pretty great. I love the more dynamic pose of the Stegosaurus skeleton, and the overall feel of the exhibit. Looking at the footage, it seems I was wrong in my speculation, and whatever the gallery at 8:14 was the one where the Dinosaurs gallery currently is. If you look in the background at 6:40, you can see one of the exits currently for Surviving Australia. Seeing as both the Dinosaurs and Surviving Australia galleries opened at the same time, and some of the megafauna models in More Than Dinosaurs are currently on display in Surviving Australia, I assume that More Than Dinosaurs and the gallery I don't know the name of were replaced in the early 2000s by Surviving Australia and Dinosaurs respectively.

 

I also love the megafauna models. I've read about the Procoptodon model, but could never confirm it's existance until now. I never knew about the emu-like model (I presume it's Genyornis), so it's very interesting to see. Behind the emu-like model at 7:05, you can see the wooden Stegosaurus puzzle still at the museum (circled in blue), and what I assume is a Canowindra slab (circled in red).

 

I wish there was a bit more footage of More Than Dinosaurs, but I'm glad to have any footage at all. Thanks to Pinuccio G. for the footage of the old museum exhibits!

[Paleoworld-101]

3 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

Thank you so much for such an amazing discovery!

 

It's nice to see the old skeleton gallery again, I like the Westpac gallery but I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer the older one. I remember it had a pterosaur model on display as well, but I couldn't see it in the footage.

 

The Chinese dinosaur exhibition looks interesting, if a bit bare bones. I wish Pinuccio G., who recorded the footage, took more shots of the labels in the exhibition, as it can be difficult to tell exactly what everything is. I could read Shunosaurus and Huyangosaurus from the labels, and could see mounts I could identify as Tsintaosaurus, Omeisaurus and Mamenchisaurus, but besides those I struggle to identify them. The exhibition reminded me of an even older temporary exhibition, 'The Great Russian Dinosaurs', which was on display at the Australian Museum in 1993 and inspired one of John Conway's artworks. There was an excellent variety of fossil animals on display, including Permian critters and insects, and I used to own a second-hand program of the exhibition. There's a video of it online, uploaded by the Monash University. I think you can see the aforementioned pterosaur model at 13:40.

 

As for the footage of the More Than Dinosaurs gallery, it looks pretty great. I love the more dynamic pose of the Stegosaurus skeleton, and the overall feel of the exhibit. Looking at the footage, it seems I was wrong in my speculation, and whatever the gallery at 8:14 was the one where the Dinosaurs gallery currently is. If you look in the background at 6:40, you can see one of the exits currently for Surviving Australia. Seeing as both the Dinosaurs and Surviving Australia galleries opened at the same time, and some of the megafauna models in More Than Dinosaurs are currently on display in Surviving Australia, I assume that More Than Dinosaurs and the gallery I don't know the name of were replaced in the early 2000s by Surviving Australia and Dinosaurs respectively.

 

I also love the megafauna models. I've read about the Procoptodon model, but could never confirm it's existance until now. I never knew about the emu-like model (I presume it's Genyornis), so it's very interesting to see. Behind the emu-like model at 7:05, you can see the wooden Stegosaurus puzzle still at the museum (circled in blue), and what I assume is a Canowindra slab (circled in red).

 

I wish there was a bit more footage of More Than Dinosaurs, but I'm glad to have any footage at all. Thanks to Pinuccio G. for the footage of the old museum exhibits!

 

That is another fantastic video, and strange for me to be seeing inside the Australian Museum from before i was born. It's hard to think that the children visible in that video would likely be in their late 30's or 40's now! Thanks for sharing. For an exhibit entitled Russian Dinosaurs there certainly was a lot of non-dinosaurs and non-Russian material  it was particularly nice to see the variety of Mongolian fossils on display, i just recently returned from fieldwork in Mongolia and visited a lot of those dinosaur localities including the Flaming Cliffs and Nemegt. 

 

I wondered if the attacking Stegosaurus in the More than Dinosaurs gallery was the same one as in the current dinosaurs gallery, i suppose it is despite the different posture. The megafauna models are indeed great, and i'm glad the Diprotodon is still in the Surviving Australia gallery today. Yes i presume the bird is Genyornis too. Good spotting of the Canowindra fish slab. 

 

Do you know of any videos of the Dinosaur Unearthed exhibit from 2006 or the When Mammoths Roamed exhibit from 2009? I remember both of those fondly as well. More recently, Tyrannosaurs: meet the family was very nicely done too. 

 

One thing i sorely miss is the Giganotosaurus skeleton when it was positioned in the main foyer, prior to the 2008 Dinosaurs gallery opening (picture below). I thought that was fantastic having it as the centrepiece of such an important and well-lit area. Nowadays i think it's neglected in the Dinosaurs gallery, where it is overcrowded with other stuff and in a more confined and darker space to be able to appreciate properly.

 

 

 

[Psittacosaur9]

15 hours ago, Paleoworld-101 said:

 

That is another fantastic video, and strange for me to be seeing inside the Australian Museum from before i was born. It's hard to think that the children visible in that video would likely be in their late 30's or 40's now! Thanks for sharing. For an exhibit entitled Russian Dinosaurs there certainly was a lot of non-dinosaurs and non-Russian material  it was particularly nice to see the variety of Mongolian fossils on display, i just recently returned from fieldwork in Mongolia and visited a lot of those dinosaur localities including the Flaming Cliffs and Nemegt. 

 

I wondered if the attacking Stegosaurus in the More than Dinosaurs gallery was the same one as in the current dinosaurs gallery, i suppose it is despite the different posture. The megafauna models are indeed great, and i'm glad the Diprotodon is still in the Surviving Australia gallery today. Yes i presume the bird is Genyornis too. Good spotting of the Canowindra fish slab. 

 

Do you know of any videos of the Dinosaur Unearthed exhibit from 2006 or the When Mammoths Roamed exhibit from 2009? I remember both of those fondly as well. More recently, Tyrannosaurs: meet the family was very nicely done too. 

 

One thing i sorely miss is the Giganotosaurus skeleton when it was positioned in the main foyer, prior to the 2008 Dinosaurs gallery opening (picture below). I thought that was fantastic having it as the centrepiece of such an important and well-lit area. Nowadays i think it's neglected in the Dinosaurs gallery, where it is overcrowded with other stuff and in a more confined and darker space to be able to appreciate properly.

 

 

 

I do wish that there was some exhibit in the foyer. Giganotosaurus would have been cool, if a bit confusing seeing as it's from South America. Especially since it's not especially well labeled or displayed in the gallery it currently is in, I think the Diprotodon skeleton could be a good fit for the foyer, as it is rather small (the foyer has a lot of space for temporary exhibitions now, so nothing too big can be displayed) and it is an Australian icon.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot find any footage of either of those exhibitions you mentioned. They are on the Australian Museum's exhibition list (https://australian.museum/about/history/timelines/exhibitions-timeline/) proving they did exist, but I can find no further information on them. This is probably due to their generic titles; 'Dinosaurs Unearthed' is also the name of a permanent exhibition at the Queensland Museum, and almost all of the search results are of that one, and 'When Mammoths Roamed' sounds similar to another temporary exhibition from the Australian Museum, 'Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age' from 2017, which I remember being really well put together. Unfortunately, even those exhibitions have been poorly archived, and there is absolutely no footage of Giants of the Ice Age in the Australian Museum anywhere (there are some clips of it in London), and very limited footage of Tyrannosaurs. There is this well-put together video of the 2021 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDQXq1whd8Y, and this clip of the 2013 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr2htiM4g6Q, but nothing else. From memory, the two exhibitions were almost identical in terms of the items on display, with the major difference being where in the museum they were displayed. I do have a few photographs of Mammoths on an old phone, so when I get time I'll search for them and post them here. I used to have a lot of photographs of the 2021 version of Tyrannosaurs, but the phone they were on completely broke and I was too stupid to make a backup. In the recent Sharks exhibition, there were a few paleontological items, and I will share some photos when I get a chance. I have no photos of any previous palaeo-exhibitions.

 

Also, I forgot to mention this earlier, but the Birds gallery has remained unchanged since at least when the 2002 video was taken. Also, at one point you can notice a label reading 'Mass Extinctions', but you cannot see any associated items.

[Paleoworld-101]

5 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

I do wish that there was some exhibit in the foyer. Giganotosaurus would have been cool, if a bit confusing seeing as it's from South America. Especially since it's not especially well labeled or displayed in the gallery it currently is in, I think the Diprotodon skeleton could be a good fit for the foyer, as it is rather small (the foyer has a lot of space for temporary exhibitions now, so nothing too big can be displayed) and it is an Australian icon.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot find any footage of either of those exhibitions you mentioned. They are on the Australian Museum's exhibition list (https://australian.museum/about/history/timelines/exhibitions-timeline/) proving they did exist, but I can find no further information on them. This is probably due to their generic titles; 'Dinosaurs Unearthed' is also the name of a permanent exhibition at the Queensland Museum, and almost all of the search results are of that one, and 'When Mammoths Roamed' sounds similar to another temporary exhibition from the Australian Museum, 'Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age' from 2017, which I remember being really well put together. Unfortunately, even those exhibitions have been poorly archived, and there is absolutely no footage of Giants of the Ice Age in the Australian Museum anywhere (there are some clips of it in London), and very limited footage of Tyrannosaurs. There is this well-put together video of the 2021 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDQXq1whd8Y, and this clip of the 2013 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr2htiM4g6Q, but nothing else. From memory, the two exhibitions were almost identical in terms of the items on display, with the major difference being where in the museum they were displayed. I do have a few photographs of Mammoths on an old phone, so when I get time I'll search for them and post them here. I used to have a lot of photographs of the 2021 version of Tyrannosaurs, but the phone they were on completely broke and I was too stupid to make a backup. In the recent Sharks exhibition, there were a few paleontological items, and I will share some photos when I get a chance. I have no photos of any previous palaeo-exhibitions.

 

Also, I forgot to mention this earlier, but the Birds gallery has remained unchanged since at least when the 2002 video was taken. Also, at one point you can notice a label reading 'Mass Extinctions', but you cannot see any associated items.

 

The 'Dinosaur Unearthed' exhibition from 2006 was centred around a newly acquired Centrosaurus skeleton block that the museum received through a specimen trade with a museum in Canada. The block was on show in the temporary exhibition space on the ground floor next to the foyer cafe (along with a variety of other dinosaur specimens) and you could watch museum staff doing preparation on it live. To this day the block (or at least part of it) has not been fully prepared, and up until relatively recently it was part of the current Dinosaurs gallery situated in front of the life-size dissected T. rex model. It has now been removed though, and i'm not sure of its current whereabouts. 

 

Yep the 2009 Mammoths exhibition was similar to the 2017 one. In the museum gift shop at the time they were even selling real mammoth hair in small riker display cases. I bought one and it was the coolest thing ever (i was 14 at the time). Are the photos of Mammoths you have from the 2009 or 2017 exhibits? I would be interested to see them if you find them

 

I do have some photos of myself (as a 7 year old!) at the 2002 Chinese Dinosaurs exhibition, and also photos and video from both the 2013 and 2021 Tyrannosaurs exhibits. If you're interested i could post them here, or we could compile them into a separate thread dedicated to past palaeontology exhibits of the Australian Museum. 

 

Regarding the birds gallery: The birds themselves are indeed the same but I was surprised to see during my visit last month that the insect box displays along the inner railing of that gallery have been removed. The gallery was often referred to as "Birds and insects". I wonder why they were taken down. There is nothing in their place (just bare railing). Perhaps a new insects exhibit is being planned. 

 

Edited January 4 by Paleoworld-101