An internationally significant collection of fossils is being relocated within the ANU amid claims its new location is too small and will put priceless research items at risk.
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The collection from the former Department of Marine and Earth Sciences is being relocated to refurbished space in the John Curtin School.
Palaeontologist and visiting fellow at the ANU Dr Gavin Young says he has been losing sleep for months over the move, because the new venue did not have an appropriate museum-style compactus for the fossils, including the world's largest collection of fossil vertebrates (backboned animals) from the 400-million-year-old Devonian limestone deposits around Burrinjuck Dam and Wee Jasper near Yass.
"I'm the only person [at the ANU] who can say whether any of these have been smashed up," Dr Young said. "Not one request was made to me for consultation."
Dr Young said a suitable compactus was a new type in use at the Australian Museum in Sydney.
Research School of Earth Sciences director Professor Ian Jackson said he had taken advice and engaged International Conservation Services, a company of professionals experienced in moving museum collections.
This enabled the ANU to offload any consideration of risk concerning the move.
"They were not by any means the lowest tenderer, but they were the group with the expertise to ensure the safe and effective move of the collection," Professor Jackson said.
"In addition, we took advice that in designing a new compactus to go into the refurbished space to house the collection, that the fragile skeletal fossils should be stored in cushion drawers to minimise any effects of the impact of vibration in their storage."
Professor Jackson said the new storage was an improvement on the previous storage.
Professor Jackson said Dr Young's advice had been considered all the way. "We got the best outcome possible within the prevailing budgetary constraints and the outcome we got is substantially better accommodation for the fossils than the current arrangement.
The preparation and move would take weeks, costing about $100,000 and part of the refurbishing project budget.
Dr Young said the new compactus was too small.
"The collection will not fit in the new space, and many specimens – the world's most fragile fossils – are too large to fit in the drawers. Yet nobody bothered to consult with the scientific experts about what was required."
Dr Young said the collection was of world heritage significance and would be lost to the ANU eventually , and relocated to a more appropriate museum in either Sydney or Melbourne. He intended to write to vice-chancellor Ian Young with his concerns.
Among the fossils is the largest lungfish found at Wee Jasper with a massive lower jaw, the end product of an evolutionary sequence for lungfish laid out in the 15 million years of limestone deposition at Burrinjuck.
"It is diverse and of considerable value, it contains in general materials which have been the subject of research by the staff and students of the school over many decades, and the school therefore values it very highly," Professor Jackson said.
