Australian Age of Dinosaurs, Natural history museum in Winton, Australia.
The Australian Age of Dinosaurs is a natural history museum set on a high plateau called The Jump-Up, dedicated to studying and preserving dinosaur fossils from the region. The facility houses active preparation laboratories where paleontologists work on specimens, exhibition spaces, and an area called Dinosaur Canyon that lets visitors watch fossils being uncovered.
In 1999 David Elliott found a large sauropod femur on his Belmont property near Winton. He and Judy Elliott called a public meeting in Winton on 17 August 2002, and Australian Age of Dinosaurs Incorporated began operating that October. In 2006 the Brittons donated 1,400 hectares of Jump-Up mesa for the museum, which opened to the public in July 2009.
The dinosaur nicknames come from Australian culture: "Matilda" and "Banjo" honour Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson and his poem "Waltzing Matilda", while "Wade" honours palaeontologist Dr Mary Wade, who died during the 2005 dig. The museum's patron is Dame Quentin Bryce, and members at the highest level are called "Million Year Members".
The museum sits atop The Jump-Up, a mesa 24 km south-east of Winton; from the Landsborough Highway it is 11 km along Dinosaur Drive on a sealed road. Caravans can be towed to the top, and an unhitching area at the base of the mesa serves visitors towing with a small 2WD vehicle. The museum opens daily from April to October and six days a week, closed Sundays, from November to March.
This place holds the world's largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils and runs the most active preparation laboratory south of the equator. Visitors watch as new fossils are uncovered and processed, making it an ongoing research center rather than just a display space.
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