This week, Rover decided that with the weather these holidays not always being quite right for outdoor activities, he would like to share his recent trip to a fascinating museum in Bathurst - the Fossil and Mineral Museum. Rover loves rocks and fossils, and was absolutely amazed by the range of rocks and other specimens to see.
If you would like to visit the Australian Fossil And Mineral Museum, it is located at 224 Howick Street in Bathurst. Entry to the museum is $14 for a full priced adult, with children being just $8, and there is also a family pass available. There is plenty to see at the museum, and of course plenty more to see out and around Bathurst itself!
Many may not expect to find one of the most significant and spectacular collections of fossils and minerals in the Central West, but that is just what the Bathurst Fossil and Mineral Museum displays. The museum, which is housed in the old 1876 Public School building, is home to the Somerville Collection, which contains some of the best and rarest examples of fossils and minerals in the whole world. The collection was created over a lifetime by Warren Somerville AM, and the specimens which are on display at the museum are only about a quarter of the complete collection! Some of the highlights of the collection include crystals from over 100 Australian mines, beautiful gemstones, Australia’s only T.Rex Skeleton, fossilised dinosaur eggs and a selection of Australia's unique opalised fossils.
So who exactly is Warren Somerville? Somerville gilds five degrees, was a university lecturer, TAFE teacher and orchardist in Orange. However, his great passion was always fossils and minerals. He started to collect unusual rocks at age six and found his first fossil when he was nine. Yet it wasn’t until he was a teenager and a visiting scientist looked though his 1000 piece collection that this fossil, a 400 million year old piece of coral, was identified. From that point on, Somerville dedicated his life to the study and collection of geology and palaeontology. Yet when his wife Joy was diagnosed with cancer, he realised that he would have to sell the family orchard and close his unusual private ‘museum’. The question then was what to do with the collection? Despite offers to sell it overseas (with some offers apparently of up to $15 million), Somerville decided to donate the collection to the people of Australia.