“And this amazing piece,” says Dr Scott Hocknull, “is kind of a jewel in the crown. Everyone loves it.”
We’re cowering in the shadow of an immense lizard, some four metres tall, its forked tongue flicking at us menacingly. It looks like a supersized goanna or Komodo dragon standing on its hind legs. This is the Megalania – not a dinosaur, but the largest land-dwelling lizard, a scaly carnivore that was still alive and kicking just 40,000 years ago.
Recreated using 3D printing technology, the model Varanus priscus is one the centrepieces of Dinosaurs Unearthed, the Queensland Museum’s free, state-of-the-art display of prehistoric Queensland, which opened in June 2023.
Hocknull, a palaeontologist and passionate science communicator, has reimagined the museum’s permanent dinosaur display with touchscreens, 3D-printed maquettes and 4k animations alongside original fossils and meteorites. There’s also augmented reality – the creatures can come to life anywhere via your phone.
Queensland Museum palaeoecologist Dr Scott Hocknull has reimagined the museum’s permanent dinosaur display. Credit: Queensland Museum
“I am both a research scientist and an interpreter,” Hocknull says. “There are things that I’ve had in my mind for 20 years about how to represent prehistoric Queensland to the public.”
Major museums in Brisbane don’t just have great collections – they also work hard to make them comprehensible, entertaining and hands on. And some cost nothing to visit. Here’s a guide to the city’s best.
Queensland Museum
You’ve walked beneath the pod of humpback whales in the tunnel, but have you been inside the museum lately? Spoiler: there are dinosaurs – not just the popular Muttaburrasaurus skeleton but new life-size models of Queensland’s velociraptor, the Australovenator, and much more in the Dinosaurs Unearthed display.
Megalania was a giant lizard that roamed the Queensland region 40,000 years ago.Credit: Nick Dent
The vast range of animal, bird and fish exhibits includes the popular giant squid, while the Anzac Legacy Gallery has Mephisto, the only German tank from World War I in existence.
The ticketed SparkLab is the big drawcard for kids: an interactive play space covering science, technology, engineering and maths in as fun a way as possible.
Corner of Grey and Melbourne streets, South Bank.
Daily 9.30am-5pm, free (temporary exhibitions attract a charge). Wheelchair accessible.
Museum of Brisbane
“Museum” is a slight misnomer. Located on level 3 of City Hall, the free-to-visit MoB is primarily an art gallery, with a vibrant year-round program of contemporary art, craft, culture and kids’ activities.
The Museum of Brisbane offers free tours of the inner workings of the City Hall clock tower, built in the 1920s.Credit: Museum of Brisbane
You can see the odd historical artefact – a set of convict leg irons, a 200-year-old telescope once owned by Sir Thomas Brisbane – but this brilliant venue is way more interested in capturing Brisbane’s soul as portrayed by its contemporary artists, with a strong focus on First Nations art.
The other drawcard is the Clock Tower tour – a trip up the 1920s elevator to observe the workings of the City Hall clock and experience views of the city from what was once the tallest building in the city. These free tours run every 15 minutes, and the museum also runs daily tours of City Hall itself.
Level 3, Brisbane City Hall, 64 Adelaide Street, Brisbane.
Mon-Sun 10am-5pm, free. Wheelchair accessible.
Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium
The NSW governor 1821-25 was a noted astronomer, and established the first proper planetarium in Australia (in Parramatta). The local planetarium named after him opened in 1978 and sits next to the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens.
Be greeted by a replica of Neil Armstrong’s Apollo spacesuit, spacecraft models and real asteroid fragments; peruse images from the Hubble Space Telescope; and examine other NASA memorabilia.
Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium is named after the NSW governor who was also an astronomer. Credit: Nick Dent
The Planetarium’s curved Display Zone is home to Skylore, a journey through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander astronomy. Access to the Cosmic Skydome is ticketed – book ahead for shows tailored to adults and kids, followed by a brief night sky tour.
Mount Coot-tha Rd, Mount Coot-tha.
Tue-Sun 9am-4pm, free (Cosmic Skydome shows attract a charge). Wheelchair accessible.
Queensland Maritime Museum
If you’ve ever walked across the Goodwill Bridge you’ll have seen this museum’s biggest drawcard: the river class frigate HMAS Diamantina sitting in drydock. Built in Maryborough and launched in 1944 into the thick of the Pacific War, it’s an imposing warship from the outside, but even more fascinating from within – check out the vast engine room, poky crew rooms, galleys and showers, and engineers’ and surgeons’ rooms.
The Queensland Maritime Museum has extensive collections of naval and maritime gear as well as complete seagoing vessels.Credit: Nick Dent
But it’s far from the only thing to explore at the Maritime Museum – the main building has dozens of scale models of historical ships with their stories told in full, and artefacts such as the huge anchor of the Porpoise, lost in the Wreck Reef off Gladstone in 1803 and recovered in 1965.
Don’t miss the six-metre Mark 14 Torpedo, the Bulwer Lighthouse and the Pink Lady, the yacht sailed around the world solo by then 16-year-old Jessica Watson.
Corner Stanley and Sidon streets, South Brisbane.
Wed-Fri 10am-4pm; Sat-Sun 9.30am-4.30pm, $8-$18.
State Library of Queensland
Not just for research, the beautiful green building between the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art has temporary exhibition spaces where you’ll find art and historical artefacts.
Visit the ground floor kuril dhagun space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-themed exhibitions and useful resources for and about Queensland’s First Nations people.
State Library of Queensland’s Australian Library of Art.Credit: Joe Ruckli
On Level 4, the Talbot Family Treasures Wall, Australian Library of Art and the Philip Bacon Heritage Gallery show a rotating program of items from the State Library’s collection – anything from 1980s indie rock posters to artists’ books to maps of early Brisbane.
There is also The Corner, with kids’ books, story time and baby play sessions; and a very stylish gift shop and ground floor cafe.
Stanley Place, South Brisbane.
Open daily except Good Friday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day; free. Wheelchair accessible.
The Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology
Of all the things you might expect to find on the road to Bribie Island/Yarun, an exhibit of artefacts representing a potted history of civilisation would be low down on the list. The Abbey Museum houses the remarkable collection of the Reverend John Ward (1885-1949), a British collector whose heirs settled in Caboolture in 1965.
An ancient Egyptian cartonnage mask from the collection of the Abbey Museum.Credit: Nick Dent
There are Bronze Age axes, Roman Empire jewellery, illuminated manuscripts, medieval armour, 17th-century Dutch pottery, and a penny farthing bicycle, as well as Asian, Islamic and Pacific rarities.
The museum hosts an annual Medieval Festival and the always-popular Jane Austen-themed Picnic at Pemberley.
31 The Abbey Place, Caboolture.
Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, $7-$12. Wheelchair accessible.
Brisbane Motor Museum
Opened in June 2023, this privately owned museum in a two-storey facility in Banyo is a rev-head’s dream. Its founder, Colin Galley, is a collector of classic vehicles, and with the help of grandson Jackson Smith (the museum’s director), has launched the space with the aim of showing off his vehicles and those of other collectors.
A 1960 Jaguar XK150S FHC on display at the Brisbane Motor Museum.Credit: Nick Dent
Explore around 40 beautifully restored convertibles, coupes, sedans and sports cars. You might see a good old 1955 FJ Holden Ute, an eye-catching 1979 Lamborghini Countach or a stunning blue 1960 Jaguar XK150S.
Occupying a former vertical blind factory, the museum has meeting spaces for corporate events plus a large cafe and restaurant serving gluten-free burgers.
959 Nudgee Road, Banyo.
Wed-Sat 10am- 5pm; Sun 8am-3pm, $12.50-$25.
The Workshops Rail Museum
You don’t have to be a trainspotter to be enthralled by the Workshops Rail Museum, which occupies the vast brick edifices in North Ipswich that employed 3000 people at their peak.
The museum has locomotives spanning the history of train travel in the state. A shiny red-and-black 444 locomotive greets you, looking for all the world like the Hogwarts Express.
The Workshops Rail Museum in Ipswich has locomotives spanning the history of train travel in the state.Credit: Queensland Museum
You can take a turn driving a simulation in the actual cab of a 1963 engine (it’s quite a procedure activating these 60-year-old levers) and kids can spend hours with hands-on gadgets demonstrating magnetism, electricity and the physics of train travel.
Be delighted by the extensive toy railway set replicating parts of Queensland’s rail network, which operates continuously.
North Street, North Ipswich.
Mon-Sun 9.30-4.30pm. $11.50-$14.50 (family $44.50). Wheelchair accessible.
Did we get it right? Did we forget something? Let us know at nick.dent@nine.com.au.
Discover Brisbane’s best small and secret museums.