Museums Victoria is calling on the public to help track down an unknown number of historically and scientifically significant objects, after its storage facility in Melbourne’s inner north flooded on Saturday.
A burst water main flooded the basement of the institution’s Merri-bek facility, washing an unknown number of fossils, rocks and other archeological specimens down the street.
Local Coburg residents and shop owners joined emergency workers in a scramble to salvage objects from the water before they were washed down the drains. One of those locals was Melbourne ABC Radio breakfast host Sammy J, who said he came across the flooded street on his way to a gig on Saturday night.
“[The water] was gushing out of these double doors … it was like a scene from Titanic,” he told Sydney ABC’s Drive radio host Richard Glover on Monday.
“Then I saw what looked like a dinosaur bone floating down the street … I grabbed it, I picked it up, and it had a Museums Victoria label attached to it. So I thought, OK, this is possibly of some significance. And then I started to notice all these other jars and bottles floating away from me towards the drain. So I started chasing them and putting them in a bag. I looked like a Christmas edition of Mr Bean or something.”
Museums Victoria’s chief executive, Lynley Crosswell, said the large object Sammy J recovered was not an actual dinosaur bone but a cast of one.
All of the washed away objects had “little or no financial value” but were of historical and scientific significance, she said.
The storage facility was quickly secured and as of Tuesday afternoon, its emergency response team was still undertaking a thorough assessment of what had been lost, and what caused the water main to burst.
“But until we can reconcile with our records, we won’t know what’s missing,” Crosswell said.
“I’m afraid this is going to be a long, painstaking process.
“If members of the public find any Museums Victoria-labelled containers, we would be grateful if they could be returned to Melbourne Museum.”
