Richmond Things to Do

All the foregoing doesn’t explain the thing you never forget about Richmond. It’s those teeth. Because, 10 years after their initial great finds, the Ivers hit the jackpot.
The Kronosaurus came to light. Far and away the best of its kind and this thing is a beast.
You probably haven’t heard of one before. Well, as a predator they make Tyrannosaurus Rex look like an amateur. This was the apex hunter and they could literally swallow you whole, as attested to by the fibreglass replica outside that you can comfortably sit in while having your photo taken. Its teeth are simply the most awesome you’ve ever seen.
Rob’s passion flows throughout his presentation and he's so justly proud that his museum is 'the real deal'. He hates putting things behind glass and wire so everything is on open display.
They even have a preparation room that is set behind clear glass so the public can see what’s going on. Not, as Rob loves to tell you, buried in a basement somewhere.
Naturally enough, everybody loves that attitude and now the museum is thriving.

I was lucky and had a guided tour of the museum with Rob and a busload of American students.
They actually get 1,000 American school children out here each year to look at the museum in addition to all the grey nomads who roll through each day (part of 30,000 total tourists) and then head out to either of two public fossicking sites where you can easily locate something for your mantelpiece; most likely some Inoceramus shell, a now extinct giant clam that must have existed in great quantities as there are layers upon layers of them at the site – you just have to know what you’re looking at!

"Just a couple of years ago they built a lake right next to the middle of town and it's fully landscaped, has exercise stops, playground for kids, free barbecues and is just a lovely place to stop (I know, I spent half a night there).
It has led more than one tourist to remark that it's like an "oasis in the desert". It's not that they don't get rain in the area but the landscape at times is fairly bland in the area and Lake Tritton, named after a head councillor who had vision, is truly a standout."

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"The caravan park has had to expand twice and currently wants to expand a third time.
A new motel was optimistically built, hoping the buses would come. They did and Rob reckons their occupancy rate is just under 100%.
In July 2008 they made a free camping site available just two blocks from the dinosaur centre.
The town's public garbage bins are replicas of dinosaurs’ feet and the traffic islands are lined with dazzling bougainvillea (glad I don’t have to trim them!)."

"Of course, it was only 3 months later when the brothers discovered Australia’s best preserved dinosaur relic - period. That happened to be a giant armadillo-like creature called the Minmi. It was less than 3 kms from the original find.
The Qld Museum were then given the fossils for 5 years to enable study.
Next came the question, what to do with the skeletons when they were returned?
In Rob's words, 'I could sell them for more money than I, my children and grandchildren would make in a lifetime; or, I could give them to the public.'"

Rob Ivers is from the old school, he wanted to keep it for the local region.
Rob had served a term on the Flinders Council, where the bones were actually found, so he offered them to Flinders. They saw no possible use for them.
However, the adjacent Richmond Council, hosted by the visionary Fred Tritton, after whom a lake is named, saw value in what was proposed and his council put up the not insubstantial sum for a local council of $60,000 to buy what used to be the cinema but was then a hayshed owned by local farmer Harry Jones.
So they put them on show in the disused theatre and people started to come but it was obvious more money was needed. After unsuccessfully applying for grants he got the Minister for Tourism, Bruce Davidson, up to have a look. Bruce wrote him out a $60,000 cheque on the spot for air conditioning.
Rob Borbridge was soon in on the act and another $300,000 was forthcoming to expand the building into the vacant area next door and that was backed up by the maximum possible annual grant they can get for such projects from Queensland Heritage Trails Network Funding, $1,000,000.
The rest, as they say, is history.