It is likely Joyce McCulloch will get to do some unusual things in her term as Mount Isa mayor but donning a lab coat and extracting a fossil could be the strangest yet.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That was what Cr McCulloch was doing on Monday while celebrating a milestone in the reopening of the Riversleigh Fossil Museum Centre Lab.
The Mayor started the process of extracting a Riversleigh National Park fossil from limestone in the lab which has re-opened after seven years.
Outback at Isa business manager Angi Matveyeff said the lab was closed after its funding ran out in 2010.
“In November 2015 a visiting paleontologist told us it wouldn’t cost a great deal of money to start the lab up again,” Ms Matveyeff said.
“He also said this was one of the best labs in Queensland, better than the one at Queensland Museum, and restart the lab we didn’t need a paleontologist, just someone who knows more than the average person about the subject and who could tell a story.”
Enter Alan Rackham, who was recovering from heart surgery which disabled him from working in the mines.
Alan has a long association the fossil field and he took over as resident paleontoloist and enthusiastic tour guide and the Museum has been rewarded with huge tourism numbers through the door.
Mayor McCulloch said she used to sit on the Riversleigh advisory committee for council but previous councils did not support the museum financially or have the passion for it.
“We are the largest world heritage area for that particular fossil and a lot more people need to go up to Riversleigh and spend time there to understand what those fossils mean,” Cr McCulloch said.
“It’s a shame the lab closed, it really lost momentum.
Cr McCulloch said she believed it would quickly get back going again under Mr Rackham’s stewardship.
Mr Rackham said it was a pleasure to get the lab up and running with the first fossil extraction in seven years.
“The fossil field at Riversleigh is massive, there is over 70 square kilometres of country that could carry bones," Mr Rackham said.
“In other words, the rock is of the right age with over 300 (bone) sites.”
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
