Edward De Courcy Clarke Earth Science Museum

The Edward de Courcy Clarke Earth Science Museum is home to over 180,000 specimens. Part of the School of Earth Sciences, the museum has welcomed thousands of individuals who are driven by their interests into the fascinating world of Earth Sciences since the 1960s. The museum exhibits Earth Science materials through a variety of displays that engage members of the University of Western Australia and the wider community.

Museum Displays

The Museum Gallery contains several themed displays highlighting various elements of Earth Sciences from the scale of our solar system to microscopic rock-forming organisms.

iSandbox: An interactive sandpit that demonstrate geological phenomena that is great fun for all ages. Visitors can build mountains, create a volcano, and watch the ice ages come and go.
Eocene Garden: Discover a display of close living relatives to plant varieties known to have flourished in Australia 38-55 million years ago. Including Banksias, Fern, Cycads, Lilly-pilly, Kaffir plum, Rottnest Island Pine, and Plum Pine (Illawarra Plum). The garden also includes a large specimen of Western Australian spongolite (sponge-like rock).
Jurassic Garden: This garden is filled with several species of Cycad, Ginko Trees, Zamia Palms and Prostate Junipers from the Jurassic period. Best known as a time when early dinosaurs roamed the earth 135-190 million year ago.
Orbicular Granite Sphere: A sphere-shaped sculpture that rotates on a thin layer of water, cascading down to an ornamental pool. The sculpture is made from an uncommon orbicular granite found on Boogardie Station, near Mt Magnet in Western Australia's Mid-West.
Rock and Mineral Gallery: A diverse display of minerals from all over the world demonstrating variety in form, colour, and properties. Collections of rocks from each stage in the rock cycle – igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary – highlight earths rock-forming processes.

Young boy in red jumper, looking at fern plant in the Jurassic Garden

Museum Collections

The Museum is the repository for The University of Western Australia’s mineral, rock, fossil, and meteorite collection. The Collection began in 1913 and has grown to over 180,000 samples. Visitors that are interested in viewing our collections are invited to utilise our shared workspaces during the collection viewing times below, or by organising a loan of material to their institution.

Collection viewing times:

UWA students/staff members: weekdays 8.45am - 5pm
Non-UWA-affiliated visitors: Standard Museum gallery opening hours

Please note: All appointments must be organised prior to visit by submitting an enquiry form.

Palaeontology

The EdCC Museum houses a substantial Palaeontological Type Collection. Primarily invertebrates and palynomorphs, this collection covers some of the earliest described fossils from the Gogo Lagerstätte, Basil Balme’s palynological collection and the first dinosaur described in Western Australia – Ozraptor subotaii (currently on display at Boola Bardip).

The Curt Teichert and Arthur Wade Palaeontological collections: Samples collected by Teichert and Wade on their late 1800s-1930s field trips to Northern Western Australia are accessioned here.
The David Haig Micropalaeontology Collection: Includes material from Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, and the Perth and Carnarvon Basins.

Rocks, Minerals & Meteorites

The bulk of the collection contains rock and mineral samples from around the world used for teaching and research.

Krantz & Foote Collections: Featuring a substantial number of rocks and minerals from Economic Geology, Engineering, and Mineral sampling. These were purchased for teaching and research nearly 100 years ago, resulting in a significant international reference collection.
The Nick Rock Collection: Featuring Lamprophyre hand samples, thin sections, and analytical powders from around the globe.
Exploration and Economic Geology Collections: Featuring over 100 years of energy geoscience and mineral exploration research. We have core, thin sections, SEM mounts, analytical powders and more!
Meteorites and Tektites Collection: Featuring samples from Western Australia and around the world. (Western Australia samples are displayed with permission from the Western Australian Museum).
The Neal McNaughton Legacy Collection: Printed data, photographs, and film negatives Relating to SHRIMP work as part of this collection are managed by our Museum.

Photographs & Thesis Collections

Aerial Photographs: The museum is home to a large collection of Aerial photograph runs of Western Australia and some South West Pacific Islands captured from 1936 to 1990. Aerial photography catalogue [Excel 351KB]
Glass Lantern Slides: Photographs taken by UWA staff and students from the 1920s to present (including Kodachrome slides 1950s onwards)
The Honours, Masters and PhD theses: from UWA Geology (from 1932) and Geography (from 1967): The museum houses an archive of theses that are accessible for research purposes. The collection includes theses from UWA Geology (collected in 1932) and Geography (collected in 1967) researchers. Please note: In-person or PDF copy access to theses documents must be organised in advance by contacting our museum curator. PDF copies will require the signing of a Copyright Agreement and, a fee applies. (Honours and master’s theses: <100 pages $50, theses >100 pages: $137.50) Theses collection [Excel 179KB]