Planetary Sciences

  • Diamonds to Dinosaurs Gallery

    10 Feb 2016

    Diamonds to Dinosaurs Gallery Decant

    The Diamonds to Dinosaurs Gallery is currently being decanted, the process having starting in the first week of February 2016. The decant is being overseen by Alex Bevan, who is the Head of Department, Earth and Planetary Science, and Curator of Mineralogy and Meteorites at the Western Australian Museum.

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Image of the mineral Malachite with associated pyromorphite.

    20 Apr 2015

    A short history of the mineralogy collection

    A rich hunting ground for prospectors and collectors, Western Australia has been a prolific source of new minerals and fine mineral specimens. Surprisingly, for one of Australia’s premier mining states, the mineral collection of the Western Australian Museum has had a chequered past. Placed in storage in the mid-1960s and inaccessible to the public for around twenty years, the collection was badly neglected. The history of the collection is a salutary lesson in what can happen to a public asset lacking curatorial responsibility.

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Main mass (12.4 t) of the Mundrabilla meteorite on route to the Western Australian Museum

    25 Mar 2015

    Meteorite Collection

    For more than a century, Western Australia has been a rich hunting ground for prospectors and collectors, and has proved a prolific source of meteorite finds. This article presents an account of how the Western Australian Museum meteorite collection was born and continues to grow.

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Image of a yellow diamond from the Kimberley

    4 Mar 2015

    The story of diamonds in Western Australia

    Pink and yellow treasures from the deep 

    Precious, brilliant and hard – diamonds have fascinated us since time immemorial. Over time scientific investigation has revealed their origins, even if some mysteries remain…

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Five of the largest diamonds from the Argyle pink diamond collection, Kimberley, Western Australia

    16 Feb 2015

    A behind-the-scenes look at our mineral collection

    The Western Australian Museum mineral collections contain around 30,800 specimens of some 1,300 mineral species from more than 10,000 localities in Australia and the rest of the world. This photo gallery showcases some specimens from this large collection. 

    Further Information

    To find out more on the Western Australian Museum mineral collection, visit the collection hightlights on the Museum website.

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    Photo Galleries
    Jessica Scholle

  • A series of ancient shark teeth assembled in a line

    7 Aug 2013

    Palaeontological detective work unravels evolution of megatooth sharks

    New discoveries of fossil material from the North West of Western Australia, France, USA and Sweden have revolutionised the early history of megatooth sharks.

    Skeletal remains and teeth between 95-80 million years old, described this week in the scientific journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, indicate the megatooth group - which ruled the oceans for 60 million years until the extinction of Otodus megalodon, the mother of all beasts, two million years ago - was far more diverse than previously thought.

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    News
    Niki Comparti

  • Yellow diamonds from the Ellendale diamond collection

    19 Sep 2012

    The Kimberley Diamond Company Ellendale diamond collection

    In November 2011, the Kimberley Diamond Company and private benefactors, donated to the Western Australian Museum, a representative collection of yellow and white diamonds, to a total weight of 38.06 carats, from their operations at Ellendale in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. These images showcase some of these diamonds.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • A section of the Early Permian Cundlego Formation siltstone

    11 Feb 2011

    An introduction to fossils at the WA Museum

    This gallery features a small range of fossils from the WA Museum, including Lamniform Sharks, the famous Cundlego Formation from the early Permian period, and the Mcnamaraspis kaprios.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Desert Fireball Networking - fence line at sunset

    27 Oct 2010

    Desert Fireball Networking…

    In September 2010 scientists from around the world headed out to the Nullarbor in search of meteorites. This was no ordinary meteorite search, but part of the ongoing cooperative of the “Desert Fireball Network” that utilises a number of cameras spread across the Nullarbor to record meteorite fireballs as they fall to Earth.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

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