fullsizeoutput_408f.jpeg

Brisbane’s natural history museum showcases an intriguing collection of specimens from across Australia’s most biodiverse state, including a great white shark and some iconic Australian dinosaur tracks.

Nestled in Brisbane’s cultural district, right across the river from bustling downtown Brisbane, the Queensland Museum houses specimens that tell the evolving story of the state of Queensland. The museum was founded by the Queensland Philosophical Society in 1863 inside a windmill. From there it has changed locations several times, eventually landing at Brisbane’s South Bank area in 1986, as well as changed hands, eventually landing in the hands of the Queensland Government. 

Although a relatively smaller museum compared to other natural history museums (and not much to look at from the outside), what the museum lacks in size and stature it makes up for with interesting specimens and strong narrative exhibits. The main foyer, which also houses the shop, has several large sea creatures and a 1920’s aircraft suspended from the ceiling. The airplane belonged to famed Australian aviator, Bert Hinkler. Hinkler was the first pilot to fly solo from England to Australia and was dubbed the “Australian Lone Eagle” (an awesome nickname). It was very cool to see the retro plane contrasted in the rafters with several of Australia’s iconic large sea creatures, including a great white shark, lunging at the plane with jaws agape, and a manta ray soaring through the air with its pectoral fins splayed.

Above: Image 1: Close up of the lower wing and wheel of the plane. Image 2: Great white shark and dolphin suspended near the plane. Image 3: Hinkler’s plane.

After you walk through the large foyer you come across several display cases housing interesting specimens from around Queensland, including a giant crystal, a soaring termite mound, and the trunk of a tree carved by early explorers to Queensland hundreds of years ago. A juvenile great white shark was displayed in a large tank of alcohol, preserved as if it had just been pulled out of the ocean yesterday. Although it pales in comparison to coming across an actual white shark while exploring the reef, there is something very interesting in seeing a real white shark up close and taking in the rows of teeth and the cold, black (“doll eyes” as Quint calls them in the movie Jaws) eyes of the misunderstood marine behemoth. Although Hollywood has painted a deceptively fearsome picture of sharks, the fact is that shark-human encounters (especially with great whites) are very rare and we kill sharks exponentially more than they even attack us (around 100 million sharks are killed each year due to everything from fear to shark fin soup). Getting a chance to see this shark up close was very fascinating because there is still so much we do not know about great white sharks, from their breeding habits to how many of them are still inhabiting our oceans.

Above: various views of the great white shark specimen, including a painting I did afterwards based on the specimen.

The shark was not the only giant ocean creature displayed in this first floor hall. Several large cephalopods inhabit similar tanks to the shark. A diamondback squid, named for the triangular shape of its two fins, and a giant cuttlefish, the largest species of cuttlefish that can change color like the rest of its brethren, occupy one of these tanks. A nearby tank contains a giant squid, a deep-sea denizen of mythic proportions. This squid specimen is aptly giant (its tentacles need to be folded back in order to fit inside of its tank) with an accompanying eye bigger than a balled up fist. The huge eye helps it see in the abyss that it resides in and helps it find prey, which it quickly disposes of with its great beak.


The magnificent eye of the giant squid straight from the abyss.

The magnificent eye of the giant squid straight from the abyss.

The final display case of the first floor hall houses the skeleton of Australia’s, and the world’s for that matter, most venomous land snake, the inland taipan, about to strike the skeleton of a rat. The dramatic scene is frozen mid-strike, showing off the articulated tension in the upper-half of the snake as it lunges forward. Inland taipan venom is potent enough to kill several humans, but one does not have to worry about coming across this shy and rare species of snake that lives in semi-arid habitats. Only a couple people have been bitten and none of them have died thanks to quick medical treatment. This display and the shark specimen were my two favorite specimens from the Queensland Museum.


A rat frozen in an attempt to scurry away from the lightning-quick strike of an inland taipan.

A rat frozen in an attempt to scurry away from the lightning-quick strike of an inland taipan.

After walking past all of the display cases, you arrive at the paleontology exhibit, called Lost Creatures, which houses several dinosaur and megafauna specimens from around Queensland. The exhibit proceeds in chronological order, from Australia’s early days as part of the supercontinent Gondwana through the evolution of Australian dinosaurs and then into the domination of large marsupials during the Pleistocene period. 

Several specimens stood out, including a large swath of dinosaur tracks from Lark Quarry, the site of Dinosaur Stampede National Monument which is the location of the world’s only preserved dinosaur stampede. Part of the actual quarry is displayed at the museum, while a large cast of the rest of the quarry shows the large predatory dinosaur footprint and the resulting chaos that ensued as the herd of herbivores frantically dispersed. In addition to the famous dinosaur tracks, the exhibit also displays the actual fossil of a small ankylosaur (armored dinosaur) called Kunbarrasaurus and a large cast of Muttaburrasaurus, Australia’s famed iguanodon, that acts as the fulcrum of the exhibit. Both of these dinosaurs resided in primeval Queensland and are displayed alongside several other fossils dating from their time, including pterosaurs skeletons that “fly” overhead.

Image 1: Muttaburrasaurus skeleton Image 2: Kunbarrasaurus skeleton with some fossilized patches of skins Image 3: The only evidence of a dinosaur stampede, straight from the Lark Quarry (most prints shown here are from the startled bipedal herbivores).

The second part of the paleontology exhibit focuses on Queensland’s rich history of megafauna, displaying skeletons of giant kangaroos and the skeleton of the largest marsupial ever to lumber across the continent, diprotodon, the precursor to today’s wombats and koalas. My favorite part of this exhibit was the skeleton of megalania, a fearsome giant goanna dating back to this super-sized era of earth’s animals. The museum does a great job of displaying how fearsome this creature would have been to encounter, displaying its bones alongside the skeletons of a Komodo dragon and a crocodile monitor (which has eerily long teeth itself), the two largest species of living lizards. Both skeletons are dwarfed by megalania’s skeleton. This fearsome beast has been found with giant kangaroo bones inside its gut, which has led to widespread belief that these monster lizards fed on the monster marsupials they shared the Pleistocene outback with. It is also hypothesized that megalania was probably venomous like the monitor lizards of today. This venom would have helped them tackle larger prey.


Megalania is the giant killer lizard from Queensland’s past. In the back of the picture to the left you can see a Komodo dragons skeleton, roughly the length of megalania’s tail for scale.

Megalania is the giant killer lizard from Queensland’s past. In the back of the picture to the left you can see a Komodo dragons skeleton, roughly the length of megalania’s tail for scale.

Going up to the second level, visitors pass a large amount of construction and a fun case of mammal skulls that allows visitors to test their knowledge by trying to match the skulls with the correct species. On the second floor is the Wild State exhibit. Queensland truly is a wild state (the most biodiverse of Australia’s six states) housing 13 different terrestrial bioregions (ecologically and geographically defined regions larger than an ecosystem) and 14 different marine bioregions. These bioregions serve as home to 70 percent of Australia’s mammal species, 80 percent of its bird species, half of its reptiles and amphibians and 8,000 different species of plants according to a figure outside of the exhibit. To quickly put these numbers in perspective, Australia is the number one mega-diverse country in terms of the amount of endemic vertebrate species in the whole world, which makes Queensland’s diversity that much more astounding.


Some amazing statistics about Queensland’s biodiversity as Australia’s most mega-diverse state.

Some amazing statistics about Queensland’s biodiversity as Australia’s most mega-diverse state.

The Wild State exhibit does a great job of showcasing this diversity by displaying many of Queensland’s animal species in a sleek modern area, including some with accompanying habitat displays. The animals range from the giant perentie lizard, Australia’s current largest lizard now that the Megalania is no longer around, to dozens of butterfly and moth species, to flying possums, and to the dugongs that feed on the seagrass in Queensland’s estuaries. There is a very cool Great Barrier Reef display housing several species of large tropical fish and great big sea turtles.

The Queensland Museum is perfect for locals and tourists alike because it displays several incredible specimens that tell Queensland’s wild story from the mega beasts that used to call it home to the mega-diverse state it has become. The museum is a source of pride for native Queenslanders, as well as a great source of education and inspiration for all visitors. Besides the fact that it is the rare free museum that delivers quality, it also displays several unique specimens I had never seen before. Ultimately, the museum never strays far from the central goal of relaying Queensland’s remarkable natural history journey. 

Pictures and art all by Jack Tamisiea