Eleven hours due west of Brisbane lies Eromanga, a town of 100 people. It is also the site of Australia’s largest dinosaur fossil and the world’s third largest. The Eromanga Natural History Museum has grown rapidly to keep up with the hundreds of other fossils found. It’s a site of massive regional museum investment and emblematic of the move for museum repatriation – to keep invaluable findings close to their source rather than transport them to metropolitan centres.
Corey Richards is the Museum’s General Manager of Operations, but he began working there nine years ago as a tour guide. In the last decade, the Museum has experienced rapid growth and international acclaim, and it has received three international design awards. Richards has a long-term vision for the venue.
“We have more than 100 years of fossil work to complete,” he tells ArtsHub. “So whatever we design here is leaving a legacy.”
The Museum is about to begin its next major construction project – a venue large enough to house its biggest dinosaur fossil in a full reconstruction. Lovingly named ‘Cooper’, the Australotitan cooperensis fossil weighs over 80 tonnes, is 30 metres long, and over six metres high.
In the meantime, Richards says the Museum is one of the few arts and culture venues that was able to stay afloat during COVID-19 due to a rise in domestic tourism. The Museum receives almost 15,000 visitors a year.
“We’re starting to see secondary investment in the town, which is excellent,” Richards tells ArtsHub. “By keeping these collections here, there’s huge economic output. We’re reinvigorating these communities. Regional and remote children now have access to some of the best fossils in the world.”
Accommodation and more tourism is growing in Eromanga. The Museum is open to the public.
