Queensland Museum draws record crowds

Queensland Museum has attracted more than 1.5 million visitors to Brisbane’s South Bank in the first nine months of 2015/16, more than it typically receives in a full year.

The rise in visitor numbers has been attributed to the first World Science Festival outside of New York and the world premiere of a new British Museum exhibition.

The Museum attracted more than 120,000 people to the inaugural World Science Festival and more than 85,000 visitors to Medieval Power: Symbols and Splendour - an Australian exclusive from the British Museum. The World Science Festival Brisbane will return to the Cultural Precinct in 2017 for another celebration of supercharged science from 22nd to 26th March 2017.

Welcoming the rise in visitor numbers, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stated “World Science Festival Brisbane delivers on the government’s Advance Queensland initiative, putting Queensland at the forefront of innovation in an era of unprecedented global technological change.

“This is an exciting time for Queensland Museum, which was named the most visited museum for two years running, and highlights Queensland’s capacity to host significant international events, and generate tourism dollars and jobs.

“This year alone, Queensland hosted Nobel prize-winning scientists, Hollywood stars and medieval knights, and chatted with the world’s first emotionally intelligent robot as part of the supercharged inaugural World Science Festival Brisbane.”

“We are confident the World Science Festival Brisbane will become one of the State’s major tourist drawcards, further bolstering the $23 billion Queensland tourism industry which supports local economies and more than 200,000 jobs.”

The international collaborations with British Museum and World Science Festival in New York have also helped to deliver Queensland content overseas.

World Science Festival New York, to be held from 1st to 5th June 2016, follows on from the Brisbane event, while an ongoing relationship with British Museum has established valuable links for museum research staff.

“Closer to home, Queensland Museum is set to welcome back Dinosaur Discovery: Lost Creatures of the Cretaceous on 21st June. The exhibition will then head to Townsville, opening at the Museum of Tropical Queensland on 10th December 2016.

During their six months at the museum in 2015, the 20 animated, life-size dinosaur models broke the record as the most visited temporary exhibition in Queensland Museum’s history, fascinating 231,485 visitors.

Queensland Museum Chief Executive and Director, Professor Suzanne Miller, said the museum was always striving to develop new ways to share natural and cultural treasures and stories with the public.

Professor Miller added “we have enjoyed incredible success with our festival and exhibition programs this year, which is testament to the hard work and passion of the Queensland Museum Network staff and to the public’s insatiable appetite for information.

“But we aren’t slowing down; visitors can expect exciting and engaging programming to keep on coming from our network of museums throughout the state.

“With continued support from the public I am confident we’ll achieve our goal.”

For more information go to www.qm.qld.gov.au

Images: Dinosaur Discovery at the Queensland Museum (top) and the Museum's galleries (below).

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21st September 2015 - $5.5 MILLION FOR QUEENSLAND TOURISM AND EVENTS PROJECTS

22nd July 2015 - AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST DISCOVERED DINOSAUR TO GO ON DISPLAY AT NEW EROMANGA NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

14th May 2015 - NEW BIODIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP FOR QUEENSLAND MUSEUM

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