Mineralogy and Petrology - METEORITE AND TEKTITE COLLECTIONS

THE METEORITE and TEKTITE COLLECTIONS

Two specimens of the Murchison meteorite which fell at Murchison, 80 km north of Melbourne, on the 29 September 1969. Murchison is a rare type of meteorite classified as a carbonaceous chondrite. Also featured, is a perfect flanged australite button from Port Campbell.

THE METEORITE COLLECTION

There are 307 specimens in the meteorite collection representing 166 different meteorites. Although the collection is small it contains several rare and significant meteorites including approximately 11 kg of the carbonaceous chondrite Murchison. There are several impressive specimens of the Cranbourne iron, each weighing up to 1 tonne. The collection is completely registered and the data computerised. A catalogue is available.

THE TEKTITE COLLECTION

There are over 3000 specimens in the tektite collection, including 40 perfect australite buttons from Port Campbell, Victoria. Most of the material is from Victoria, although there are representative collections from all Australian localities along with impact glasses from overseas localities. The core of the collection was largely assembled by the late George Baker.