Excavator bucket installation
The National Museum has started moving the large technology objects into the Landmarks gallery. One particular challenge involved moving a rock shovel bucket into the gallery. Donated by Rio Tinto, the bucket was part of an excavator used to mine iron ore at Mount Tom Price in Western Australia. Here's how the Museum moved the 15-tonne object into the gallery space.
View images of the bucket's arrival at the Museum's repository
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Photo: Rathicca Chandra.
The rock shovel bucket was carried by forklift into the loading bay. The heavy lift fork was trucked to Canberra from Melbourne especially for the National Museum of Australia.
Photo: Rathicca Chandra.
Once inside the loading bay, the bucket was lowered onto a heavy duty platform that had to be built over the service lift. The bucket itself is sitting a specially designed cradle.
Photo: Rathicca Chandra.
Wheels attached to the cradle allowed the bucket to be towed from the platform into the gallery. Here, staff members attach one of the wheels to the cradle support.
Photo: Rathicca Chandra.
Now sitting on top of the temporary platform, the bucket was then ready to be towed into the gallery.
Photo: Jason McCarthy.
A smaller forklift was then attached to the bucket cradle with two long steel poles.
Photo: Jason McCarthy.
The forklift then slowly reversed, towing the bucket off the temporary platform and into the gallery.
