Removalists aren’t always known for their delicate hands, but luckily for one very old Macquarie community member, extra care was on hand for a big move across campus last week.
A six-and-a-half-metre dinosaur skeleton called Jack – named after Professor Jack Bassett, who retired in 2004 – was moved to the Biological Sciences Museum to accommodate the construction of a new MacShop outside MUSE, which is scheduled to open on 18 November.
The skeleton was first installed at Macquarie in 1996, and is molded from a fossil of a Tarbasauraus bataar found in the Gobi Desert and believed to be approximately 75 million years old.
With over 200 fragile pieces in the skeleton, moving Jack was a full-scale exercise, with external specialists and Macquarie staff taking almost a week to move and re-assemble him, and a Channel Nine news crew following proceedings.
Watch the Channel Nine news story >>
Museum curator Libby Eyre says it’s very fitting that Jack’s new home is with the Biological Sciences team.
“Our colleague Professor Walter Ivanstoff, who sadly passed away earlier this year, was instrumental both in securing this specimen and in setting up the Biological Sciences Museum,” Libby says.
“It’s amazing to see our Jack ‘come back to life’ in his new showcase – he’s going to be very much loved.”
Jack will be all cleaned up and ready to view in the Biological Sciences Discovery Centre in early November.
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