Museum of Tropical Queensland facts for kids
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| Former name | Museum of Tropical Queensland |
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| Established | 1987 |
| Location | Townsville, Queensland, Australia |
| Type | Natural history, maritime archaeology |
Queensland Museum Tropics is located in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It used to be called the Museum of Tropical Queensland. This museum gives you a peek into North Queensland. It has galleries that tell stories about World Heritage-listed rainforests and coral reefs. You can also learn about the sad tale of HMS Pandora. This ship was sent to catch the mutineers from the famous HMS Bounty.
The museum also explores life in the tropics, from ancient times to today. Its many exhibits focus on nature, culture, and how living things are connected. It is part of the Queensland Museum Network.
Contents
History of the Museum
The Queensland Museum Tropics first opened in 1987. It was located by Ross Creek in Townsville's city center. Back then, it was called "Queensland Museum, North Queensland Branch."
In 1990, its name officially changed to "Museum of Tropical Queensland." This new name showed that the museum focused on studying and sharing the cultural and natural history of tropical Queensland.
People were very interested in the HMS Pandora shipwrecks. The Townsville community, the Pandora Foundation, and the government all supported building a new museum. They raised money to create a special building. This new museum would house and display the items found from the Pandora wreck site.
The new museum opened in 2000. It included a life-size copy of the front part of the Pandora ship. There was also a special Pandora Gallery. The museum gained two more levels for galleries and exhibits. It also became home to large collections of corals, biodiversity, maritime items, and cultural objects. These now form part of Queensland's State Collection.
Research at the Museum
Scientists at the museum are known around the world for their work. They are especially famous for their research on marine topics.
Maritime Archaeology
The Queensland Museum's collection of maritime archaeology has over 8,000 items. These come from about 25 shipwrecks found along the Queensland coast and the Great Barrier Reef.
A big part of this collection comes from the HMS Pandora (1779) shipwreck. Other important sites include Foam (1893), Scottish Prince (1887), HMCS Mermaid (1829), and SS Yongala (1911). The Museum of Tropical Queensland keeps items found from the Pandora wreck. This is one of the most important shipwrecks in Australian waters. The Pandora sank off the coast of North Queensland in 1791. It went down after capturing some people involved in the famous mutiny on the Bounty.
The museum studies many areas in maritime archaeology. They mainly focus on understanding the items they have. They also learn more about shipwrecks through the objects they hold.
Dr. Maddy McAllister leads current research. She focuses on shipwrecks that have been found but whose names are still a mystery. Maddy is looking into ways to find out when and where these ships were built. She does this by studying copper items found on the wrecks. They are also looking through old records to try and name these unknown shipwrecks along the coast.
Aboriginal Cultures
Queensland is special because it is home to two First Nations groups. The First Nations collections show the rich history and living culture of both Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This collection is full of stories about culture, language, ceremonies, and technology. The Queensland Museum Network looks after more than 22,000 objects in the Queensland Aboriginal collection. It also has over 28,000 items from outside Queensland and more than 12,000 old photographs.
The Aboriginal cultures collection covers many centuries. Some of the oldest items were made by Ancestors long before the 1880s. Newer items have been bought from First Nations artists and communities. These artists create new works using both traditional and modern styles. These collections show how diverse Aboriginal cultures are across the state.
Recent additions to the Aboriginal cultures collection include works by Bindal, Wulgurukaba, and Wakka Wakka artist Niketa Law. There are also works by Yidinji artist Paul Bong (Bindur-Bullin).
The Queensland Museum works closely with First Nations communities. They research and explain the collections they care for. By focusing on and recording First Nations voices, languages, and stories, these collections can be properly looked after. They can also be shared with communities and visitors.
Current research with First Nations collections at Queensland Museum looks at how museums can continue to "decolonize" their collections. This means giving more power to Traditional Owners and Knowledge holders. Staff across the museum network are also working together. They are finding ways to include First Nations knowledge in wider research fields. This includes cultural and social history, biodiversity, and geoscience.
Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre (TATSICC) Collection Project
Since 2005, the TATSICC has been a place for working together. It shows the important history, living culture, and heritage of Townsville's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
In 2020, the collection of old and new objects from the Cultural Centre moved. It found a new temporary home at the Museum of Tropical Queensland. The TATSICC asked for the collection to stay at the museum. It will remain there until a new cultural center is built in Townsville.
Corals
The Queensland Museum has one of the world's largest and most important collections of reef corals. The collection includes many samples from Queensland's famous Great Barrier Reef. It also has samples from around the world. By comparing corals from the Great Barrier Reef to those from other places, like Western Australia or Indonesia, we can learn how unique the Great Barrier Reef's corals are.
The Queensland Museum studies corals in many ways. They look at how to name and classify them, where they live, how they interact with their environment, and how they have changed over time. We still don't know basic things, like how many coral species live on the Great Barrier Reef or exactly where they live. However, correctly identifying species is very important. It helps us understand how our changing environment affects corals. It also helps guide how we manage and protect reefs.
Palaeontology
The Queensland Museum has been a center for studying Australian dinosaurs since the 1920s. This started with finding and naming the first dinosaur in Queensland: the sauropod Rhoetosaurus. Even after a hundred years of study, Queensland's ancient rocks are still revealing their secrets. Many questions still need answers. New technologies are helping scientists learn a lot from fossils. In the past, fossils had to be carefully removed from the rock, which could take months or years. Today, imaging tools like synchrotron x-ray micro-CT scanning let scientists see through the rock. They can even see inside the fossils, showing details that would otherwise be hidden.
Understanding the geology around fossils is key to understanding the fossils themselves. Better dating of fossil-bearing rock formations in Queensland helps place them in a global timeline. For example, recent dating of Triassic rocks suggests they are a bit younger than first thought. This means they are from roughly the same time as the oldest dinosaur fossils from South America. It raises the chance that some of the world's oldest dinosaurs might one day be found in Queensland.
Images for kids
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A view of the museum from up the creek
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A view of the museum from across Ross Creek
