Experience Centre

Brisbane Model Train Show 2022
2022-04-30 09:00 - 2022-05-01 16:00 (Australia/Brisbane) | Exhibition Building 601 Gregory Terrace, 601 Gregory Terrace, Brisbane, Queensland, 4006, Australia
Cross River Rail is excited to be joining the Brisbane Model Train Show this year to showcase the future of travel in South East Queensland. Explore the past and future of Cross River Rail in an immersive VR experience and check out the educational and interactive educational activities on display at the stand.

Build a Balloon Racer
2022-05-01 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-06-04 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-06-25 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-07-01 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-07-05 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-07-08 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-07-17 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-08-13 11:00 - 13:00 | Experience Centre, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
Build your very own balloon powered racers and see how quickly you can complete the course. We’ll provide some general tips on creating your very own race car, then use air pressure to complete our course as quickly as possible.
Recommended for ages 5+, adult supervision encouraged.
This is a drop in session, please feel free to just turn up during this time.

Saturday 25 June 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Friday 1 July 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Tuesday 5 July 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Wednesday 6 July 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Friday 8 July 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Sunday 17 July 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Saturday 13 August 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Saturday 10 September 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm

National Archaeology Week Program 2022
2022-05-15 09:00 - 2022-05-21 16:00 | Experience Centre, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
The Cross River Rail archaeology digs are recognized as the largest excavation in Brisbane’s recent history with finds contributing significantly to defining Brisbane’s historical narrative, and wider understanding of international trade and settlement.
2022 marks the 20th annual celebration of National Archaeology Week and to celebrate Cross River Rail is again partnering with Queensland Museum, to develop a full program of activities headquartered at the Cross River Rail Experience Centre.
Held in the third week of May, this nationwide program of events and activities includes public lectures, seminars, exhibitions, demonstration excavations, displays, and other events designed to engage with the general public.
Find out more about the events by clicking on the links below:

Sunday 15 May, 11am – 1pm: Clay Pot Excavation
Monday 16 May, 9am – 10am: Specialist Teacher Development Session – Archaeology
Tuesday 17 May, 6pm – 6:30pm: After Dark Online
Wednesday 18 May, 1pm – 3pm: Meet the Artefacts
Wednesday 18 May, 6pm – 7pm: Paleoarchaeology with Dr Andrew Rozefeld
Thursday 19 May, 6pm – 7pm: Archaeology for Kids with Dr Kelsey Lowe
Friday 20 May, 11am – 1pm: Meet the Artefacts
Saturday 21 May, 11am – 1pm: Clay Pot Excavation

Specialist Teacher Development Session – Archaeology
2022-05-16 09:00 - 10:00 | Experience Centre, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
Cross River Rail’s Specialist Teacher Development Session – Archaeology is a professional development opportunity for teachers aligned with junior (Year 7-9) HASS ACARA descriptors. This one-hour session is designed to assist Australian History teachers with the transition to the Year 7 Deep Time Australia unit, which draws heavily on archaeology.
This session will be presented by Everick Foundation’s Principal Archaeologist, Dr Serena Love and History teacher, Ben Steyne. These presenters are highly experienced in the disciplines of archaeology and education, each have a passion for the past and are eager to assist teachers to convey the complexity of Australia’s history.
Whilst the presentation will be anchored by First Nations migration into Australia, it will also explore modern waves of migration into Australia, using the archaeological remains recovered during the recent archaeological excavations of Cross River Rail. The sessions include access to additional readings relevant to the topics discussed, in addition to lesson plans ready to be used in classrooms.
If interested, you can register to attend here.

After Dark Online: Archaeology
2022-05-17 18:00 - 18:40 | Online, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
Cross River Rail’s After Dark Online is a monthly education and discovery series based around real-life learnings relating to Queensland’s largest infrastructure project.
With a new theme and topic each month, the After Dark Online education series will feature Subject Matter Experts talking about the topic and how it aligns with the project.
This May we will be celebrating National Archaeology Week by covering the topic of Archaeology and hearing from two guest speakers, Everick Foundation’s Principal Research Archaeologist, Dr Serena Love and University of Queensland’s School of Social Science PhD Candidate, Marc Cheesman. They will be discussing the role archaeology plays in Australia and what we are uncovering about our past, as well as its relevance to big projects like Cross River Rail.
Perfect for all ages, this education series explores Cross River Rail’s archaeology program and its collection of historical finds as part of station excavation, and how this plays a critical role in the education program and learning more about Brisbane’s history.

Download a calendar reminder for this event
Go to the broadcast page (there will be no content until the day of the livestream)
Sign up to our newsletter to learn about future events

Meet the Artefacts
2022-05-18 13:00 - 15:00, 2022-05-20 11:00 - 13:00 | Experience Centre, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
Do you want to know more about the finds from the Cross River Rail project?
Join us as we explore these finds in greater detail and provide casts of real artefacts that visitors can hold and interact with, as they hear the stories of these items from the past.
We also welcome special guest, Queensland Museum’s Archaeology Curator Nicholas Hadnutt as he talks through an introduction to Archaeology, what he does as a Curator, the Archaeology processes and why the Cross River Rail finds are so important. Nicholas will also be available to answer any questions participants may have.
Recommended for all ages.
MEET NICHOLAS HADNUTT
Nick is the Archaeology curator in Queensland Museum’s Cultures and Histories Program, responsible for researching, curating and sharing the Museum’s archaeology collections. Nick joined the Museum as a volunteer and enjoyed a number of Museum roles before joining the Archaeology program as a Curator in 2015. Since this appointment, Nick has significantly increased the size of the historical archaeology collections with strategic acquisitions of assemblages associated with Queensland’s convict past, boom and busts and life in Brisbane during the 19th century.
Nick’s research specialisation is historical archaeology and his interests include the changing role of museums since their inception, 19th and 20th century material culture and how it reflects Queensland’s changing cultural landscape and the application of digital technology to cultural heritage recording and interpretation. Nick is currently working across multiple large-scale projects including recording lived Indigenous experiences under the Native Mounted Police, Brisbane’s history as revealed through the Cross River Rail project and 3D scanning and recording of museum artefacts. In addition, Nick has recently spent multiple field seasons excavating and analysing finds from Ravenswood, a central Queensland gold mining town, in order to better understand the choices people made when living in a frontier town in the late 19th century.

Palaeontology with Dr Andrew Rozefelds
2022-05-18 18:00 - 19:00 | Online, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
Palaeontology is the study of ancient life, whether it’s prehistoric plants, dinosaurs, fungi, or any other animal from the ancient past!
To celebration National Archaeology Week we have invited Queensland Museum’s Head of Geosciences and Principal Curator in Paleobotany, Dr Andrew Rozefelds to present on studying the origins, evolution and history of the modern Australian flora and what this means for big projects like Cross River Rail.
Join Dr Andrew during this educational webinar to get a more in-depth knowledge on Palaeontology as he explains more about this fascinating field and helps us understand how organisms have changed over time and the exciting finds we have found during the Cross River Rail excavations, like Jurassic Bark which you can find out more details on our Facebook page.
On the day, you can visit our Archaeology and History page to view the webinar.
MEET DR ANDREW ROZEFELD
Principal Curator Geosciences, Queensland Museum & Adjunct Associate Professor, Central Queensland University
Andrew Rozefelds is the Principal Curator Geosciences Program in the Queensland Museum and Adjunct Associate Professor, Central Queensland University. Queensland has been the centre of some amazing fossil discoveries in recent years. It seems, every few months, another amazing fossil is discovered and the team of staff, honoraries and volunteers at the Museum are often at the cutting edge of these discoveries.
Andrew’s research interests are varied but a central focus has been on the history and evolution of Australia’s rainforests through the study of both living and fossil plants. Andrew has written over 90 peer-reviewed and popular articles. He has described over 14 new species of living plants and a similar number of fossil plants.
Why study the fossil plant record? The North Queensland rainforests have plants whose lineages can be traced back to when dinosaurs were running around Western Queensland. Many of the plants evolved in Australia so the fossil record provides a unique insight into the history and evolution of the modern Australian flora. The fossil plant record has changed dramatically, over time, in response to changing climates, so study of the fossil record can also help us to predict and understand the likely environmental impacts of climate change in the future.
His recent research has resulted in the description of a new fossil sea scorpion (eurypterid) from Queensland, which also happens to be the last one known from anywhere in the world. With colleagues from universities in Australia and a researcher at Kew Gardens, UK he has also competed research describing a fossil Pandanus fruit from Queensland which is the oldest evidence of this group of plants.
On the day, you can access the livestream on our YouTube channel.

Introduction to Archaeology for Kids with Dr Kelsey Lowe
2022-05-19 18:00 - 19:00 | Online, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
Archaeology is the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artefacts and other physical remains.
To celebration National Archaeology Week, we have invited The University of Queensland’s School of Social Science Senior Research Fellow, Dr Kelsey Lowe to present an Introduction to Archaeology aimed at our up-and-coming future archaeologists.
Join Dr Kelsey as she focuses on explaining a range of definitions including what archaeology incorporates, the scientific disciplines of the field and the importance of context. She will review some of the key archaeological timelines in Australian pre-history, and some of the theoretical framing of the discipline within the Australian context.
On the day, you can visit our Archaeology and History page to view the webinar.
MEET DR KELSEY LOWE
Dr Kelsey Lowe is a Senior Research Fellow on the University of Queensland’s Research Support Package (RSP) Anthropocene Project.
Her research interests involve integrating interdisciplinary methods with particular emphasis on archaeological geophysics, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and geoarchaeology in archaeological research.
Her recent work explores the potential use and comparability of soil magnetic susceptibility with other techniques like soil chemistry and geochronology, to understand the nature and persistence of Pleistocene human occupation in Australia.
Outside Australia, Dr Kelsey has been involved in several international projects in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Indonesia, North and South America, Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia.
On the day, you can access the livestream on our YouTube channel.

Make Your Own Train
2022-05-29 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-06-18 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-06-30 12:00 - 15:00, 2022-07-10 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-08-07 11:00 - 13:00 | Experience Centre, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
Follow and and learn how to make a simple circuit using a DC motor, some AA batteries and a switch.
Visitors will have the chance to build their very own train. Design the body of the train, then attach axels, and finally a motor. How fast can you go? Are there improvements you can make? You won’t know until you try.
This is a drop-in session, no bookings are required. Recommended for ages 7+, adult supervision recommended.

Sunday 24 April 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Saturday 30 April 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Sunday 29 May 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Saturday 18 June 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Thursday 30 June 2022 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Monday 4 July 2022 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Sunday 10 July 2022 11:00am – 1:00pm
Sunday 7 August 11:00am – 1:00pm

After Dark Online | Sustainability
2022-06-06 18:00 - 18:20 | Online, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
Cross River Rail’s After Dark Online is a monthly education and discovery series based around real-life learnings relating to Queensland’s largest infrastructure project.
With a new theme and topic each month, the After Dark Online education series will feature Subject Matter Experts talking about the topic and how it aligns with the project.
This June we will be celebrating World Environment Day on the 5th of June by covering the topic of Sustainability and hearing from two guest speakers, CPB’s Sustainability Manager, Glenn Hedges, and Cross River Rail’s Environmental and Approvals Coordinator, Andrew Skele. They will be discussing environmental management on major projects and real-life learnings and examples from the Cross River Rail project.
Perfect for all ages, this education series explores Cross River Rail’s commitment to sustainability and details how this plays a critical role in the education program by inspiring and generating innovative, best practice design on construction and project management.

Download a calendar reminder for this event
Go to the broadcast page (there will be no content until the day of the livestream)
Sign up to our newsletter to learn about future events

Micromelons Workshop
2022-06-29 10:00 - 12:00, 2022-06-29 13:00 - 15:00 | Experience Centre, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
Cross River Rail has teamed up with Micromelon Robotics to develop a fun robotics workshop for beginners! You will be challenged to program your own robot using simple coding tools to move around without bumping into any obstructions. Come along and test out your skills, no prior experience necessary.
Recommended for ages 8+

Robotics Coding Workshop
2022-07-02 10:00 - 11:30, 2022-07-02 12:30 - 14:00, 2022-07-09 10:00 - 11:30, 2022-07-09 12:30 - 14:00 | Experience Centre, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
Cross River Rail has teamed up with Micromelon Robotics to develop a fun robotics workshop for beginners! You will be challenged to program your own robot using simple coding tools to move around without bumping into any obstructions. Come along and test out your skills, no prior experience necessary.
Recommended for ages 8+ and adult supervision encouraged.
Book in for a session using the links below:

Saturday 17 September 10:00am – 12:00pm
Saturday 24 September 10:00am – 12:00pm
Saturday 1 October 10:00am – 12:00pm

After Dark Online | Cultural Heritage
2022-07-04 18:00 - 18:20 | Online, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
Cross River Rail’s After Dark Online is a monthly education and discovery series based around real-life learnings relating to Queensland’s largest infrastructure project.
With a new theme and topic each month, the After Dark Online education series will feature Subject Matter Experts talking about the topic and how it aligns with the project.
In July we cover the topic of cultural heritage hearing from guest speaker, Cross River Rail Environmental and Approvals Executive Director, Peter Silvester discussing the project’s approach to cultural heritage management at our sites, and our Reconciliation Action Plan.
Perfect for high school students, university students and teachers this education series explores how projects manages heritage and engaging traditional owners, which is an important application in managing any project.

Download a calendar reminder for this event
Go to the broadcast page (there will be no content until the day of the livestream)
Sign up to our newsletter to learn about future events

Cross River Rail Innovation Challenge
2022-07-21 15:30 - 16:30 | Experience Centre, 1/151 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
The Cross River Rail Innovation Challenge will provide students and teachers with the opportunity to learn more about programming, robotics and automation while giving teachers the perfect opportunity to showcase a real-world example of where engineers and scientists utilise their foundational STEM and innovation skills on a meaningful and impactful project.
Teachers will be invited to participate in a kick-off Professional Development session to introduce the program as well as being provided 10 weeks of content leading up to the final event. This will give teachers the tools and links to show how integrating programming, robotics and automation into the current Australian Curriculum can be managed.
For students, the program will provide participants with an inspiring project and place to study. The workshop challenge will enable students to connect their learning to real-life examples of how sensors, automation, programming, and robotics are being used by the largest machines tunnelling right below them.
Through the program, schools register their interest or will be invited to participate in a series of challenges using the Micromelon Robot Simulator, culminating in a final event at the Cross River Rail Experience Centre where each school group demonstrates their problem-solving skills.
The dates of the program are below:

Session 1, 21 July: Onboarding Professional Development Session at the Experience Centre
Session 2, 25 July: Weekly content delivery commencement
Session 3, 22 August: Virtual Q&A session #1
Session 4, 10 October: Virtual Q&A session #2
Session 5, 31 October: Solution Demonstration Day at the Experience Centre

Click here to register to attend the program.
