Small town pushes to reopen rare dinosaur cavern
Mount Morgan in Central Queensland hopes to bring tourists back to a palaeontological wonder that's been sitting idle for more than a decade.
Mount Morgan's tourism body is advocating to reopen a unique cavern containing 195-million-year-old dinosaur footprints, releasing a feasibility study to revitalize the struggling town. The Fireclay Caverns, located south of Rockhampton, were shut in 2011 due to safety concerns. The caverns house the only known example of its kind in Australia, with hundreds of dinosaur tracks.
A local business owner and palaeontological enthusiast shares his excitement about the prospect of reopening the caverns, describing the awe-inspiring experience for visitors. The current 10,000 annual visitors have dwindled since the caves closed, and the town's economic and social situation has been affected since the gold mine closed in 1990.
Despite legal complications, the state government and tourism department are supportive of the feasibility study.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
