Now Open: The Largest and Most-Complete Tyrannosaurus Rex Fossil Ever Seen in Australia Is on Display in Melbourne
You've got until October to check out the skeleton of a T. rex fittingly called Victoria, which features 199 bones and measures more than 12 metres in length, at Melbourne Museum.
A piece of history is making history in Australia. Until October 2024, Melbourne Museum has a must-see sight on display for everyone interested in dinosaurs — so, everyone — courtesy of its Victoria the T. rex exhibition. The titular fossil isn't any old Tyrannosaurus rex, not that such a description ever fits the first kind of dino that always comes to mind when anyone thinks about dinos. This one happens to be one of the world's largest and most-complete T. rex skeletons, and also the biggest and most-complete specimen ever to display Down Under.
Showing until Sunday, October 20, 2024, Victoria's fossil has made Aussie debut in the state with the absolute best name for the occasion. In the process, it also marks the first time that a real T. rex has ever been on display in Victoria.
And it isn't small: found in South Dakota in 2013 but dating back 66 million years, Victoria is comprised of 199 bones, including a skull that weighs 139 kilograms. The fossil reaches 12 metres in length and 3.6 metres in height. And, because the skull is so heavy, it has to be displayed separately as it can't be mounted upon Victoria's body.
The Victoria the T. rex exhibition also features interactive elements, such as multi-sensory installations that let you experience how the Tyrannosaurus rex saw and smelled, plus dioramas and a section where you can make your own customised 3D T. rex. Welcome to... the cretaceous period, then. The informative side of the showcase steps through recent palaeontological findings, so that you can get an idea of what Victoria's life was like all that time ago — and also find out what brought about her end.
If that's not enough dino action to make you feel like David Attenborough — or his brother Richard in Jurassic Park and The Lost World — Victoria the T. rex is displaying alongside Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs, which has been open at Melbourne Museum since 2022. The latter permanently features Horridus, the world's most complete Triceratops fossil, and entry to both exhibitions is included in one ticket.
At IMAX Melbourne, 45-minute documentary T.REX 3D is also be showing, complete with footage of Horridus.
"Victoria the T. rex is a monumental addition to our world-class exhibition lineup. Melbourne Museum is the home of dinosaurs in Australia, and currently the only place on earth where visitors can see two of the finest examples of a real T. rex and a real Triceratops under one roof." said CEO and Director of Museums Victoria Lynley Crosswell.
As Museums Victoria Research Institute senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology Dr Thomas Rich explains, there's another highlight, too.
"Not only can visitors to Melbourne Museum see one of the world's finest examples of a T. rex; they can also see a related and extremely rare fossil cared for in the State Collection: Timimus hermani, one of the state of Victoria's most unique dinosaurs and possibly a great-great-great grandfather of T. rex. This 105-million-year-old fossil is an example of the only undoubted tyrannosauroid from the southern hemisphere and is on public display in the exhibition 600 Million Years."
Victoria the T. rex is on display from Friday, June 28–Sunday, October 20, 2024 at Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton. Head to the museum's website for tickets and further information.
Images: Eugene Hyland.
