It takes a dinosaur to make a community

Who doesn’t love a dinosaur? Especially when it becomes the backbone of a niche tourism industry. A conjunction of interests including mining, other corporate sponsors, local government and community in far south west Queensland are helping to make the Eromanga Natural History Museum a reality. Stuart and Robyn Mackenzie plaster a bone from Australotitan cooperensis at the Warrena lease earlier in the dig. The museum is the showcase for dinosaur remains in the Cooper Basin one of which is being excavated on the Plevna Downs property west of Eromanga towards Cooper Creek. Bengal Energy has the Wareena Lease on the property and is funding the design of a dinosaur-themed children’s playground at the museum. Plevna Downs owner Robyn Mackenzie is also the museum director and said there’re six dinosaur sites so far identified on the lease. The discoveries continued to reveal surprises about Australia’s heritage, Mrs Mackenzie said. “We're basically developing a world class Natural History Museum,” she said. “It's recognized across the nation by tourist bodies and they are very keen to see this promoted internationally.” “Within that lease, we've actually got several really significant dinosaur sites, including Australotitan cooperensis, Australia’s largest dinosaur. “A scientific announcement was made last year of a new genus and new species. One of the world's largest, Australia's largest, a massive dinosaur, that grew up to 30 meters long, and six and a half meters high.” Gas exploration and mining has been ongoing on Plevna Downs since 1967, Mrs Mackenzie said. Mining companies operating on the property were ever more mindful of the significance of the sites, including a trackway left by plant-eating dinosaurs in muddy ground she said. “What we've done with Bengal, again, is just highlighted the internationally significant discoveries and the importance of that lease, and protecting those sites from their own activities.” “We have provided them with induction material that they give their workers at their toolbox sessions, so that any of the new crew coming in are aware of what's in the area, and its significance and what to do if they think they have found something significant elsewhere.” “They don't go near those existing dinosaur sites.” Other Cooper Basin resources companies have contributed to the success including Santos, Beach Energy and IOR and there is a long list of other supporters and contributors as well. Significant paleontological finds have been made all around the district and showcased at the museum which is recognised for its contribution by the Queensland Museum as the most significant regional collection of fossils from central Australia, said Mrs Mackenzie. The effort made at the grassroots and corporate level have produced tangible returns, she said. “Basically, we've gone from virtually no tourism, to 13 and a half thousand tourists to the Eromanga Natural History Museum in five years. And, it's just growing exponentially.” “The great thing about where it's located is that everybody has to travel through all the shires and regions to get to it.“And so, everybody spends money on their journey out to the Eromanga Natural History Museum. It is becoming a destination. “We’re probably the closest Dinosaur Museum to all the state capital cities.”

It takes a dinosaur to make a community

Industry Queensland

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