Museum Progress

STAGE 1 SETUP FOR OPENING DAY
Everyone pitches in to convert the Stage 1 building from a giant shed into a working museum! Here you can see how the area was transformed from empty floorspace to where visitors can see the exhibits and once again help us prepare dinosaur bones in our new open-access lab. Most of the work was done in a frenetic two week period just prior to opening.

STAGE 1 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
Construction of the main building, amenities, and delivery of shipping storage containers.

SURVEYING AND FENCING
One of those jobs that should remain invisible but required considerable time and effort was the drawing of boundary lines and fencing. Fencing has a variety of functions, from ensuring visitor safety to keeping feral animals as well as sheep and cattle away from the Jump-Up.

JUMP-UP HOUSING
Delivery and installation of staff housing and temporary visitor accommodation

JUMP-UP ROAD CONSTRUCTION
Building an all-weather road from the Landsborough Highway to the top of the Jump-Up was a major undertaking. Notably the blasting and removal of huge boulders on the side of the mesa so the road could pass through.

DAM CONSTRUCTION
The Jump-Up is too remote for a town water supply must be made self-sufficient, so a large dam was constructed. Water is pumped from the dam to a holding tank high on the mesa by solar power. Drinking water is collected into a separate tank as rainwater runoff from the Stage 1 building roof.

WILD GOAT MUSTERING
The Jump-Up had a large wild goat population that caused significant damage to the mesa environment. A challenging task was to round up all the animals and transport them away. As the Jump-Up site is so large and the topography so diverse, the task was not easy, requiring ultralight aircraft, motorbikes and dogs.