Queensland is home to a network of fossil centres, museums, and dinosaur trails—each offering a chance to get up close with ancient history. Celebrate National Dinosaur Day by planning a visit, and booking that trip of a lifetime (or millennia!).
So, pack your sense of wonder, and your boots because the ancient past is waiting. Must-stops include:
🦕 Eromanga Natural History Museum – Home to some of Australia’s largest dinosaurs, including Cooper the titanosaur—the country’s biggest dino ever discovered—the Eromanga Natural History Museum is an Outback marvel. Located in Queensland’s south west, this state-of-the-art facility lets visitors get up close with real fossil labs, experience behind-the-scenes tours, and even meet the palaeontologists unearthing ancient secrets. It’s a once-in-a-200-million-year kind of place!
🦖 Flinders Discovery Centre – At home in Hughenden, the Flinders Discovery Centre is where the past comes alive. Featuring the life-sized replica of Hughie, a Muttaburrasaurus, and showcasing an incredible array of fossils from the inland sea era, the centre is both an educational hotspot and a launchpad for exploring the broader Flinders region’s dinosaur trails and geological wonders.
🦴 Riversleigh Fossil Discovery Centre (Outback at Isa) – Step into the ancient world of Australia’s prehistoric mammals at the Riversleigh Fossil Discovery Centre in Mount Isa. As the gateway to one of the world’s richest and most significant fossil mammal deposits (a UNESCO World Heritage site), the centre showcases rare and remarkable finds—think giant platypuses, marsupial lions, and megafauna—from a time when the Outback was a lush, tropical paradise (yep, it actually was).
🦈 Kronosaurus Korner – Dive into Australia’s ancient inland sea at Kronosaurus Korner in Richmond, home to Australia’s most complete marine reptile fossils. The star? Kronosaurus queenslandicus, a fearsome pliosaur with teeth the size of bananas 🍌! With immersive exhibits, dig experiences, and a fossil prep lab on show, this museum is a jaw-dropping window into Queensland’s prehistoric underwater world.
