Butterflies and Ammonite

Today was the Queensland Labour Day public holiday so rather than sitting around the house we packed a picnic basket and headed to Southbank to visit the Queensland Museum. 

On display at the Museum was The Butterfly Man of Kuranda. OMG what an utterly incredibly beautiful exhibition.  

Frederick Dodd at the sensible age of 37 left Charters Towers, Queensland, with a wife and three children, suddenly quit a successful banking career to devote his life to the study of insects. Dodd spent 42 years collecting insects until his death at Kuranda in 1937. He supplied tens of thousands of perfect specimens to great museums of the world and to wealthy private collectors of the Victorian era.

The exhibition showcased some exquisite butterflies, moths and stunning beetles. Yes I know stunning and beetle are not normally two words you see alongside one another but his exhibit, The Grand Parade (below), which displayed Christmas beetles, flower Chafers and Stag Beetles was truly amazing.

If you live in Queensland and are able to get to the museum then I can't recommend it highly enough. They have even published a small book which outlines the history of the Butterfly Man as well as photos of all of the  amazing butterflies and insects in the exhibit. 

Click here if you'd like to read more about the exhibit which is on display until 12 July 2010.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Whenever I visit the museum I always check out their gem displays. They have some amazing pieces on display with my favourite being the ginormous (yes that is a word) chunks of malachite.

Well today I treated myself to two gorgeous pieces of ammonite. 

My pieces are sliced tulear ammonite from Madagascar which were labelled 135 M.Y.O. Now my hubby reckons that means they are 135 million years old but to me that just seems unbelievable... I mean how could I be holding something that old in my hands. So I did a bit of searching on good old Google and yep it turns out my little old, with old being the operative word, piece of ammonite could be 135 millions years old. 

In case you don't know what ammonite is I found this useful little piece of information on the 

Western Australian Museum website.

AMMONITES

Ammonites existed in the Mesozoic Era (248-65 MYO). They had hard shells of a chalky mineral named aragonite and are known for their complex suture lines (the stripes and patterns on their surface ).

They had a squid-like head and a curved shell, and swam by jet propulsion.

I plan on doing some bead embroidery with one of my pieces so watch this space for my 135 M.Y.O. piece!