Australian Age of Dinosaurs upgrades to drive tourists to Winton

The Australian Age of Dinosaurs' Dynamic Destination Project was officially opened on Saturday with about 300 people from across the region and interstate attending the events.

The project includes the March of the Titanosaurs exhibition housing Australia's best preserved sauropod tracksite, the Gondwana Stars Observatory and two life-sized bronze sauropods at the exhibition entrance.

Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum founder David Elliott said they had been working non-stop on the project.

"There are two really important and immediate outcomes to the Dynamic Destination project: the first is the preservation of the 54-metre-long tracksite that conserves a moment in time from Winton's distant past and the second is the impact this project will have on tourism in outback Queensland," he said.

"The long-term drought in western Queensland coupled with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 make catalyst projects such as the Dynamic Destination project even more necessary to kick-start regional sustainability and instigate the growth required for western Queensland to be international-tourism ready."

In 2019 the museum was awarded $4.9 million through the Queensland government's Growing Tourism Infrastructure Fund to complete the project.

While the museum had committed to contribute $733,000 towards the project, in 2020, following delays in construction and cash flow shortages because of COVID-19, the state government waived the museum's remaining contributions.

The project began in 2019 when the museum began to excavate and relocate the 54-metre-long track site found on Karoola Station, just outside Winton.

It was decided to relocate it due to shifting flood water paths and the risk of severe damage to the tracks.

Over three years the entire track site, weighing more than 300 tonnes, was relocated and is now permanently housed in the March of the Titanosaurs exhibition.

Tourism minister Stirling Hinchcliffe said last year more than 827,000 visitors took in an outback road trip experience, contributing around $467 million to outback Queensland's COVID-19 economic recovery.

"With the new additions to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs and the development of a Queensland dinosaur roadmap, Winton is gearing up for an outback visitor stampede this winter after above average numbers of tourists to the region over summer," he said.