Modern storage for ancient cargo

13 February 2007

Usually used to transport frozen or fresh commodities around the world, two refrigerated containers will shortly be packed with a product that is 95 million years old.

Dinosaur bones, as large as six foot long, will be stored in the two second-hand containers that will leave for Winton on 19 February.

Purchased by the Port of Brisbane Corporation for the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, the containers will provide a constant temperature in which to prepare and store the bones and fossils that have been discovered at two “dig” sites, just outside the township.

Winton, located in central western Queensland, is where Australia’s largest known dinosaur, Elliot, was discovered by David Elliott on his sheep station in 1999.  And just 110km southwest of town at Lark Quarry is the only recorded evidence of a Dinosaur Stampede.

Elliot is a Sauropod and would have been the height of a two-storey building and the length of six cars.

According to Mr Elliott, who is also the President of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Inc, it is important to keep the bones and fossils that have been discovered since the first Elliot dig in 2001, at a constant temperature.

“The refrigerated containers are insulated, and therefore are not affected by the temperature outside.  It is important to avoid the peaks in cold and hot temperature, so that we can effectively preserve the bones and fossils.

“Since the first dig in 2001, the Queensland Museum’s Paleontology Department and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum have been conducting digs on a yearly basis to recover the skeletons of a number of dinosaurs.

“We have already filled one container with smaller bones from the Elliot dig site and from the Ho-Hum dig site, which was opened up in 2005.

“It was becoming vital that we ‘find’ some more containers to store the large bones as they are prepared.  And, what better place to look for containers than at Queensland’s largest container port - the Port of Brisbane,” Mr Elliott said.

Seeing the containers off from the Port of Brisbane, Scott Hocknull, Curator of Geosciences at the Queensland Museum, and Young Australian of the Year in 2002, was pleased that the containers would be in place for this year’s dig in September at the Elliott’s property.

A dinosaur enthusiast since he first began working at the museum as a volunteer at the age of 15, Mr Hocknull has been involved in all of the Winton dinosaur digs and is an avid supporter of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.

“The Queensland Museum has been involved with the Australian Age of Dinosaurs in all the Winton digs, providing the expertise required to recover and preserve the dinosaur bones.

“However, much of the work depends upon volunteers and the support of sponsors.   It will take us about two years to fill one of these containers, so we were very pleased when Jeff Coleman, the CEO of the Corporation, agreed to the donation of two containers to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum,” Mr Hocknull said.

“As one of the leading industries in the South East Queensland region and Australia’s fastest growing container port, we receive many requests to support a range of activities.  However, this would have to be the most unusual request we have ever received,” said Mr Coleman.

The containers are being transported by Reinke’s Transport to Winton, via Toowoomba, Dalby, Blackall, Roma and Longreach.