COLOURS OF THE CRETACEOUS

Telling historical stories through colour. Coloursmith by Taubmans has recently been announced as Museum Victoria’s Colour Partner for 2022. Colour lives at the heart of this partnership to share creativity, inspiration and joy through colour across all Museum spaces.

In celebration of our partnership and the Triceratops Gallery at Melbourne Museum opening from March 2022, we have created a special edition collection of colours with Coloursmith – the Colours of the Cretaceous.

Dr Erich Fitzgerald, Senior Curator Vertebrae Palaeontology, shares insights about how colour plays a role in understanding the environment of the period, as it helps convey stories in a way which creates a perspective of the Triceratops surroundings and lived experience.

How important is colour to being able to bring a specific prehistoric period to life?

Colour plays a big part in how we understand any environment. The quality of light depends on how far it is from the equator, the season and if it is inland, on the coast, mountain or plain, forest or desert. The same is true for environments in the past, with the added interest of animals and plants that are no longer around today. If we travelled back to the Cretaceous, we would be amazed by dinosaurs such as Triceratops. We know some dinosaurs were camouflaged and others had glossy black feathers, but the colour of Triceratops is up for debate.

When creating museum spaces which tell stories of a time where there is minimal visual reference, where do you get your inspiration?

Museums Victoria’s palaeontologists recreate past environments based on research with fossil leaves, pollen, and fruits. The fossils provide a lot of information, but there are always gaps that must be filled in with imagination and by using our knowledge of environments today. Scientific artists work closely with palaeontologists to develop visual re-creations that are true to the science.

There is an educational aspect to museum spaces – how important is using colour within the spaces to create an immersive experience to support learning?

Colour is significant in re-creating past environments and in storytelling. Exhibition designers of the Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs exhibition at Melbourne Museum use colour as a key aspect of their work. Colours help create evocative experiences and engage visitors emotions which is an important component in learning.

How do you think the Colours of the Cretaceous support the storytelling of the specific Triceratops experience?

Because living crocodiles and birds have colour vision, scientists are almost certain that non-bird dinosaurs like Triceratops saw the world in full colour. So, when visitors to the exhibition see the Cretaceous environment in full colour they are almost certainly seeing it just as Triceratops would have, just 67 million years later!

We hope that visitors to the Triceratops exhibition will renew their appreciation of the amazing world we live in and its web of life over time. Colours of the Cretaceous is one way that they can carry that enthusiasm for dinosaurs and our living world, back home.

Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs will open at Melbourne Museum on 12 March 2022. You can visit museumsvictoria.com.au/ melbournemuseum/triceratops/ for more details.