Queensland Museum

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Queensland Museum — 1862–1869
The Windmill in Wickham Terrace
( Queensland Museum's first home )

Queensland Museum — 1879–1899
cnr. William Street and Elizabeth Street, Brisbane — ( opposite Queens Gardens )

Queensland Museum — 1899–1986
the Old Museum Building in Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills

Queensland Museum — 1986–present
a part of the Queensland Cultural Centre
(the pedestrian bridge can be seen on the right)

Queensland Museum was first founded by the Queensland Government in 1862, and had several temporary homes in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The temporary homes included: The Windmill (1862–1869), Parliament House (1869–1873) and the General Post Office (1873–1879).

Queensland Government built a home for the Museum in William Street (later called the John Oxley State Library), with Queensland Museum moving there in 1879. The museum stayed in William Street for 20 years.

In 1899, the Queensland Museum moved into
the Exhibition Hall (now called the Old Museum), on Gregory Terrace in the Brisbane suburb of Bowen Hills (staying for 86 years).

In 1986, the Queensland Museum moved to the Queensland Cultural Centre at South Bank, where the museum is adjacent to the Queensland Art Gallery.

One of the outdoor features of the Museum is the "Dinosaur Garden", with its life-size dinosaur models of a "Tyrannosaurus Rex" and a "Triceratops". There is also "Mephisto", a German A7V Tank which was captured by Australian troops during World War I. These were all features at the Old Museum Building, and were moved to the Queensland Cultural Centre when the museum was relocated there during 1986.

A mould of a dinosaur stampede in the Museum, and skeleton casts of a Muttaburrasaurus and a Diprotodon, are also major exhibits within the Museum itself. The Muttaburrasaurus was an Australian plant-eating dinosaur living in Queensland, and its fossilised remains were originally found in Muttaburra in Queensland. The Muttaburrasaurus dinosaur was named after the location of its discovery. The Diprotodon was one of Australia's megafauna (giant animals), and its closest living relatives are the Wombat and the Koala.

In 1987, when the Queensland Museum required more room to display its horse-drawn coaches and carriages, the museum opened its Cobb & Co Museum campus in Toowoomba, Queensland.

The Museum of Tropical Queensland, which is a campus of the Queensland Museum in Townsville, Queensland, is "Home of the Pandora" and "Centre for Maritime Archaeology".

The Sciencentre, a project of the Queensland Museum, was relocated from the former Government Printing Office on George Street to South Bank site in 2004.

Both a tunnel and pedestrian bridge connect the Museum and Art Gallery buildings with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Three lifts were added to the bridge in 2004 to provide access to the platforms of the Cultural Centre Busway Station. There is a large sculpture of a Cicada in front of the centre lift, possibly because the Cultural Centre Busway Station is the bus stop for the museum.

The Queensland Museum and Sciencentre are open to the public seven days a week.

Diprotodon
Australian megafauna

"Dinosaur Garden" at Queensland Museum

"Mephisto", a World War I German

Muttaburrasaurus skeleton, in its original position at Queensland Museum. Also, footprints of fleeing dinosaurs (which were made during a dinosaur stampede).

Muttaburrasaurus
Australian dinosaur, in its present location at Queensland Museum

Muttaburrasaurus skeleton, as viewed from the Information Section at the Queensland Museum

Another view of cast in Queensland Museum

Male Golden-shouldered Parrot in an aviary at the Queensland Museum. The male Golden-shouldered Parrot, who has since died, is now on display in the endangered species section within the museum.