Australian Opal Center
The Australian Opal Center is a national museum with the world's largest public collection of Australian opals and opalized fossils . It is also dedicated to preserving the history of opal mining.
The museum is located in the outback at Lightning Ridge in New South Wales , Australia . The construction costs of the museum amounted to 28.5 million AUD . In 2012, the Australian government provided AUD 107,040 for further development of the museum.
Museum building
The museum opened in 2008 in a two-story, 100-meter-long underground building in the historic Three Mile Opal Field . The complex includes a permanent exhibition, cinema, gallery, library, laboratory and displays a garden with plants that grew 110 million years ago, such as wollemies , ferns and cycads . The building has no electrical or water connection; it generates its own energy, water and fresh air through the roof at ground level, which collects rainwater and generates solar energy .
collection
In 2010 the Australian Opal Center had a collection of 4,000 opalized fossils and opals. Some of the fossils are the subject of scientific research.
The collection of 110 million year old Early Cretaceous fossils includes artifacts from the opal fields of White Cliffs , Coober Pedy , Andamooka , Mintabie and Lambina .
The collection includes both numerous specimens of early flora and fauna.
The museum shows opalized plants such as primitive conifers like the ( Araucariana queenslandica ), stone slices ( Podocarpus ) and kauri trees , ferns, seed ferns , günsel , mushrooms and lichens , mosses , liverworts and horsetail .
The fauna collection includes relics of opalized shells and snakes, turtles , shark and crocodile teeth , fish and dinosaur bones from sauropods , sauropodomorphs , theropods , ornithopods , ornithomimosauria , hypsilophodontidae and pterosaurs . The museum is the only opal outer spine of a mammal world from a spine of the steropodon , one the Platypus -like animal.
Further development
In 2012, the Australian government made A $ 107,040 available for further development of the museum.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ australianopalcentre.com ( Memento of the original from March 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Welcome to the Australian Opal Center , accessed February 18, 2012
- ↑ australianopalcentre.gofundraise.com.au : Support the most exciting project in Australia and help us set a crowdfunding World Record! , in English, accessed February 18, 2012
- ↑ theland.farmonline.com.au : Funding to build opal center in Lightning Ridge , Nov 23, 2011, in English, accessed February 18, 2012
- ↑ australianopalcentre.com ( Memento of the original from March 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : An amazing Building , accessed February 18, 2012
- ↑ australianopalcentre.com ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Collection in English, accessed February 18, 2012
- ↑ australianopalcentre.com ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Opalised fossils , accessed February 18, 2012
- ↑ theland.farmonline.com.au : Funding to build opal center in Lightning Ridge , Nov 23, 2011, in English, accessed February 18, 2012
Coordinates: 29 ° 25 ′ 43.8 ″ S , 147 ° 58 ′ 32.4 ″ E