The client

Eromanga Natural History Museum (ENHM). A small town of just 119 people and the furthest town in Australia from the ocean located in the Shire of Quilpie, Southwest Queensland, Eromanga has big things to offer with some of the world’s largest dinosaur displays available to see.

The challenge:

The sheer remoteness of the Museum location meant the team at Monocera had to start from the ground up. The museum needed a complete makeover when it came to the design and roll-out for their communications throughout the infrastructure. With no 3G or 4G signal and a less-than-optimal power output on location, the capabilities of the museum were severely limited for both staff and visitors.

Our unicorn solution:

Like every Monocera client, the solution ENHM needed was anything but cookie-cutter. In 2016, the first of many stages to get the museum online and connected both internally and externally began, and it wasn’t the typical engagement you would expect from an IT company. The project relied heavily upon Monocera’s specialised expertise throughout the entire process from pre-construction to roll-out in order to reach the desired outcomes. Due to the remote location, it was critical that anyone working on the project had the skills and aptitude to adapt effectively under vastly unpredictable conditions. A prime example of this was the start of the onsite roll-out after a 12-hour drive for the Monocera team that was met by a building with no power. While it meant a delay for the project, it was a reminder of the size and scope of the project and the importance of having the pre-construction design intricately crafted to ensure a straight-forward roll-out.

The result:

Eromanga Natural History Museum now experiences fast internet for the first time in history. Alongside this, the museum is more connected internally than it ever has been with phone systems, intercom, and connectivity between buildings making the lives of employees and visitors relatively seamless when it comes to staying in touch. The end result has well and truly set ENHM up for the future with the completion of stage 1 laying the groundwork for even more exciting advancements to come. Most recently, the addition of a shiny new SD-WAN appliance that will allow the team at Monocera to demonstrate branded speed tests before and after installation of this kit. It will aggregate multiple internet connections and terminate them into the Monocera network in the data centre while also facilitating instant failover in the event that one of those connections does fail.