[meteorite-list] 356 kg Meteorite Misplaced in Australia

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 28 18:47:34 2005
Message-ID: <200504282247.j3SMl0015933_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,15119319%255E2862,00.html

Easy comet, easy go
Milanda Rout
Herald Sun (Australia)
April 29, 2005

HOW do you lose a billion-year-old, 356kg space rock?

That is the question being put to the State Government, which has
"misplaced" a meteorite given to it for safe keeping.

The rock is one of 12 meteorites recovered from the Casey and Cardinia
shires, southeast of Melbourne, between 1854 and the early 1930s.

It was given to the Department of Primary Industries, then known as the
Victorian Mines Department, in the 1920s but has since disappeared.

The huge rock may be gathering dust somewhere but the department cannot
find any record of it since it moved storage centres in 1997.

"Yes, it is (lost)," Victorian Geoscience director Kathy Hill admitted.

"But we think it has been lost for a bit longer than we know about."

Ms Hill said there was no record of the rock in the new storage area,
and no current employee knew of its location. She blamed government and
staff changes over time.

Ms Hill said the department would talk to former employees to try to
find the elusive meteorite.

City of Casey Mayor Neil Lucas said it was amazing a 356kg space rock
could be lost.

"I think the community assumes they have professional ways to keep
monitoring collections."

Mr Lucas said he wanted the Government to search high and low.

"I think they need to keep looking. After all, it was given to them for
safe keeping," he said.

Cranbourne has a display of plastic meteorites in a park off the South
Gippsland Highway.

The only real meteorite the area has is a 23kg rock at the Casey council
offices in Narre Warren.

A 1525kg space rock from the Cranbourne collection is on display at
Melbourne Museum. The largest meteorite found in the area, at 3500kg, is
in a London museum.
Received on Thu 28 Apr 2005 06:46:58 PM PDT