Exhibition’s international debut for prehistoric summer at Newcastle Museum

Newcastle Museum is hatching a world premiere 145 million years in the making, as Dinosaurs: Surviving Extinction showcases the giants and babies of the Cretaceous from the brink of oblivion to the skies of today.

The exhibition of bones, fossils and hands-on discoveries by Gondwana Studios is taking shape behind the scenes and will roam the Museum from Saturday, 28 September.

City of Newcastle Director of Museum, Archive, Libraries & Learning, Julie Baird gets up close with one of the prehistoric skeletons as the installation of the Dinosaurs: Surviving Extinction exhibition continues ahead of its opening at Newcastle Museum on Saturday, 28 September.

With interactive dig pits and touch fossils among more than 100 items that will be on display, Dinosaurs: Surviving Extinction tracks the journey from raptor to rosella and the origins of birds today.

City of Newcastle Director of Museum, Archive, Libraries & Learning, Julie Baird, said the family-friendly exhibition will bring thousands of visitors up close and personal with an entirely new cast of dinosaurs who share a story of survival against the odds.

"Newcastle Museum knows how to bring dinosaurs to life and we're seeing it happen right now. Whether you loved Sea Monsters and the Great Baby Dinosaur Show, or you wonder how these creatures connect to the world around us, Dinosaurs: Surviving Extinction has something for you," Ms Baird said.

"What's being assembled in the Museum is a glimpse of a time when life on Earth was in turmoil. Dinosaurs faced their extinction and, as we know, for most it was the end. But for some, life found a way. 

“Newcastle Museum is committed to bringing engaging, high quality touring exhibitions to the Hunter Region that enrich Newcastle's cultural offering and give local communities access to national and international exhibitions.

Seeing this world-first display come together is creating a buzz for our wonderful Museum staff and for the city." 

Ahead of its opening on 28 September, technicians inside Newcastle Museum are busy readying a nine-metre skeleton of an apex carnivore, bones you can touch, dig pits filled with hidden dino clues, baby dinosaurs, and replica dinosaur nests. 

The Cretaceous-period VIPs on display will include the bizarre feathered Utahraptor, the mythical Griffin-inspiring Protoceratops and T-Rex's Steppe-stomping sibling, Tarbosaurus.

While the end of the Cretaceous period caught many by surprise, Ms Baird said this exhibition would be timed nicely around school holidays.

"This will be a fantastic day out for kids, families and visitors of any age. An encounter with a dinosaur in a museum is a treasured memory for many of us and it's fantastic that those memories are being made in our Newcastle Museum," Ms Baird said.

"The setup for Dinosaurs: Surviving Extinction is impressive on its own. This is a sensory collection of everything from eggs to full-scale predators, coming together piece by piece before any other city gets to see it. 

"My advice to any up-and-coming palaeontologist is to look out for suspiciously large footprints around Newcastle, which provide more details on this wonderful exhibition."

Dinosaurs: Surviving Extinction opens to the public on 28 September and runs until 2 March 2025.  

Ticket prices start from $7.50 for children, $15 for adults and $40 for a family of four and will be on sale from 28 September at Newcastle Museum. Tickets can also be pre-purchased online from 20 September via newcastlemuseum.com.au