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600 Million Years: Victoria evolves

Now Showing

Pederpes model, extinct tetrapod from Carboniferous period.
Source: Museum Victoria
Photographer: Benjamin Healley

How did life on Earth come to be the way it is and what happened in our part of the world?

Taking you on a journey through time, 600 Million Years brings the story of Victoria’s evolution to life through animation, animatronics, models and multimedia interactives.

Over millions of years Victoria has moved from the tropics to the Antarctic circle and now to the temperate zone. It has been shaped by periods of volcanic activity and major climate shifts.

Featuring fascinating fossils, gold, coal, dinosaurs and whales, the exhibition highlights the processes that make Victoria a special place today.

EVENT DETAILS

Event Type: Permanent Exhibition

Daily, Now Showing
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Science and Life Gallery

Included with museum entry.
MV Members receive FREE museum entry.

Comments (8)

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Hi there, I just watched the video "Reconstructing Palorchestes" with artist Peter Trusler. I am interested in the appearance of an extinct animal and the steps taken to figure it out. I really enjoyed the the way Peter reconstructs the animals through his drawings and I was wondering if there were any other sites where artists demonstrate how they got to reconstructing an extinct animal? I was most interested in the layers or his drawings, from the skeleton to the muscle then to the skin of animal. Are there any more drawings on the website? Thanks, Theresa

Hi Theresa; yes, Peter Trusler's work is amazing - a few other examples are on display in the '600 Million Years' exhibition at Melbourne Museum, including his reconstruction of the mesozoic marine reptile Platypterygius in the video here. The exhibition also has some of Peter's skeletal reconstructions of Victoria's dinosaurs, and the animatronic dinosaurs in the exhibition are closely based on Peter's artworks. Additionally, you may be interested in the book "The Artist and the Scientists" which goes into further detail on Peter's approach in his years of collaboration with Palaeontologists Tom Rich and Pat Vickers-Rich.

Hope this helps

My favourite is Arthropleura, and Eusthenopteron.

I saw this today, and what an exceptional exhibition it is - beautiful to the eyes, and informative and provocative for the mind. A celebration of Victoria's Natural History through time - that is exactly what Melbourne Museum should be about!

Very interesting but after 600 million years I was hoping momentum could have kept the exhibition going forward a 100 million years or more into the future.

Why do you have an exhibit which teaches children's dn adults alike that the ear is 600 million years old yet there is not one piece of scientific proof to back this up? I am sad to say I will never be able to take my children to the museum because they will leave with no education but lies!

Hi Chantel, thank you for the feedback, but I think you may have misinterpreted the exhibition - there is nothing in the exhibition that states that the ear is 600 million years old.

Even if you don't believe something, it's still important to learn about it, if it's a popular viewpoint. First you must accept you could be wrong. I could be wrong and I'll change as soon as evidence is provided. If you admit you CAN'T be wrong, then you should think about that, because that attitude can be easily taken advantage of. For your children's sake they need to know everything, regardless of what you believe.

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