When 80-year-old Elizabeth Kodela first visited Eromanga in outback Queensland she had no idea her passion for ancient rocks would eventually result in the town's installation of a 3D-printed dinosaur nest.
In 2019, she travelled from Brisbane to volunteer at the Eromanga museum to pursue her lifelong interest in fossils.
"I've always been interested in rocks, I don't know why, but I've had an incredible passion for them ever since [I was] a child," Ms Kodela said.
"My window sills are covered in rocks and fossils from many years ago."
Alongside PhD students, scientists and volunteers, the octogenarian visits the town for short stints to help with the "painstaking process" of uncovering and examining 90-million-year-old dinosaur bones.
"We get sore knuckles and dust-filled nostrils … but it's also one of the most rewarding things we've ever been part of," she said.
A couple of years in, she wanted to give back to the tight-knit community that welcomed her more than 1,000km away from her Brisbane home.
What she commissioned was a very modern take on prehistoric fossils — a 3D-printed sculpture of a Titanosaur sauropod nest.
"I felt there was something that we needed to attract more tourism, something that would be everlasting if possible," she said.
"The opportunity to provide something unique for the museum and to visitors alike would give me great joy, especially our generation of children and for future generations to come."
Modern art in an ancient landscape
The 2.5-metre piece featuring a nest with baby dinosaurs and their eggs was crafted using giant 3D printers in New South Wales.
It was then cast in bronze and glass-reinforced concrete to withstand the arid condition of outback Queensland.
Designer Steven Rosewell said he collected information from palaeontologists around the world to create it, but there was also a touch of artistic licence.
"We have one embryo [of a sauropod] that we could sort of form the basic skull shape from but that was about it," he said.
"The rest of it has just been winging it."
The installation of the sculpture coincides with the second anniversary of the discovery of Australia's largest dinosaur, 'Cooper', west of Eromanga.
An adult Titanosaur would have measured 30 metres long and weighed over 60 tonnes.
"They must have been tough little things that grew very quickly," Mr Rosewell said.
"The sculpture has a perfect example of how big the footprint would have been and there's a little baby sitting inside the toe — how the parents didn't step on them?"
In the 23 years since Mr Rosewell first bought a 3D printer, he said the technology had revolutionised his sculpture and film prop manufacturing business.
"Sitting with clay is very time consuming so being able to sculpt it all on the computer is much easier," he said.
"Instead of carving polystyrene back and then coating with fibreglass, we now just 3D print and put durable coatings on it.
"Maybe in 500 years it will still be here. Who knows, there might be skyscrapers in Eromanga by then."
Dino tourism boost
The Eromanga Natural History Museum has seen a dramatic increase in visits over the past three years, which the Queensland Tourism Association said was in part due to COVID-related tourism.
But they said the cost-of-living crisis has seen a slow start to the paleo tourism industry season this year.
The museum's operations manager, Corey Richards, said he was hopeful the sculpture would help encourage more travellers.
"Our hope is that people will be able to make a genuine connection and understand these giants start their journey just like we do as small infants," he said.
Ms Kodela said she was yet to see the finished product in its new home, but intended to visit the sculpture in the next few weeks.
"I feel very blessed to have met the staff at Eromanga who are more or less like a family," she said.
"They make me feel as if I'm at home."
