Celebrating 50 years of research on Lizard Island

This year the Australian Museum celebrates 50 years of research on Lizard Island Research Station and vital work on reef ecologies and the impacts of climate change.

LIRS Researchers working at an outdoor wet laboratory, 1970s

Research at the outer reef near Lizard Island Research Station.

Custom built aluminium dinghies are the workhorses for research at Lizard Island Research Station.

Research and IT equipment in use in the Lizard Island Research Station in the early 1980s.

Research divers preparing to enter the water at Lizard Island in 2023. Researchers from the 1970s would marvel at the dive computers and digital camera technology used today, but they would recognise the basic dive gear.

Founded in 1973, the Australian Museum's Lizard Island Research Station (LIRS) has studied reef ecologies and the impacts of climate change for fifty years. In such an isolated place, dedication to research on the reef becomes a lifestyle, and fieldwork is ongoing, through rain, hail, or shine.

This year we celebrate 50 years of the AM’s LIRS, a globally-recognised research station devoted to understanding the incredible scale and structure of the Great Barrier Reef which can be seen from space. Thousands of international marine scientists from all over the world have been trained on or conducted valuable research on Lizard Island. Around 100 research projects are annually conducted by some 400 scientists and support personnel – what a place to discover and learn! In the past half century 2,700 scientific publications have been produced from work conducted at LIRS with film crews regularly using it as a base for quality climate engagement documentaries, opening minds with arresting visuals that move us to act.

News stories

Dr Anne Hoggett AM, Co-Director of the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Stations (LIRS). Marketing image for Talbot oration 2023.

The Talbot Oration: Coral Reefs in Hot Water

Dr Anne Hoggett AM explores the plight of our coral reefs and how we can help protect their future in the Australian Museum’s Talbot Oration.

Live at the AM
31 May 2023

Find out more

Kim McKay, frank Talbor and Anne Hoggatt

From the Director: Coral reefs in hot water

By Kim McKay, Director & CEO, Australian Museum

50 years of research on Lizard Island

Founded in 1973, the Lizard Island Research Station has studied reef ecologies and the impacts of climate change for fifty years.

29 May 2023

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30 May 2023