Have you noticed something going on at the Age of Fishes Museum in Gaskill St? A long term goal of Cabonne Council has finally begun with work starting on the construction of a specially-built storage facility to house Canowindra’s famous fish fossils.
The new fossil storage and research centre at the Age of Fishes Museum in Canowindra is being built to store the 350-million year-
old fossil slabs that are not already on display at the museum. Funded by a $300,000 NSW Government grant through the ClubGrants program and $300,000 from Cabonne Council, the new building will provide a secure, tailor-made facility to house the fossils, as well as providing easy access for research purposes.
From the Devonian period, the fossils are of pre-historic fish from a time long before dinosaurs roamed the earth. They were discovered by chance in 1955 when a council grader driver turned over a large rock slab with strange impressions on its under surface. Almost 40 years later, an exploratory dig uncovered about 80 tonnes of rock slabs containing around 4,000 fish fossil specimens.
The best of these fossil slabs are on display at the museum, but about 200 slabs are currently stored off-site in Canowindra. The Age of fishes Museum offers visitors an exciting range of permanent exhibitions and activities, the Grossi Gift Shop, a timeline walk and fossil dig pits for the young visitors.
The new building will enable all the slabs to be stored at the museum, fulfilling a long-term goal of Cabonne Council and the museum’s board. Work is expected to be completed within the next few months.
The Age of Fishes Museum will be open during the construction phase and is open 7 days per week from 10am to 4pm.