Eromanga dinosaur museum plans delayed as fossils move to new site

Plans to open a new dinosaur museum in south-west Queensland have been delayed.

The Eromanga Natural History Museum was hoping to open its $800,000 stage one for visitors in the coming months.

The Eromanga region is home to some of Australia’s largest dinosaurs, dated about 95 million years old.

Collections manager Robyn Mackenzie said it would be late this year at the earliest before the museum was ready for tourists and it was still looking for more funding.

“It is disappointing, particularly for people who have been waiting to see it,” she said.

“I actually feel very sorry for the local businesses and anyone who is waiting to use this opportunity to build a tourism business around it.

“It is difficult for us as well to answer emails and say, ‘no, I am sorry we are not open yet’.

“We are doing everything we can to get to that stage but there is still a lot ahead of us.”

Tonnes of dinosaur bones and fossils have now been moved.

The plaster jackets of ancient material had been stored in a field laboratory and in farm sheds on a remote sheep and cattle station near Eromanga but have been moved to the site of the natural history museum.

Ms Mackenzie said the fossils were safely on site.

“That was a bit of a procedure, because there was lots and lots – tonnes of material to come in,” she said.

“So cattle trucks, trailers, four-wheel drives, flat tyres – all these things happened in the process of moving the field jackets in but nothing was jeopardised and the field jackets are now safely housed on the palette racking and they look fantastic, so that was a really successful move.”