Ancient Outback - Tourism Queensland

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Ancient Outback

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NOCCUNDRA
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Q U E E N S L A N D
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118
Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback
85
58 131
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DIAMANTINA
NATIONAL
PARK
109
148
112
R i v e r
164
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LARK
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WINTON
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108
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LAKE BINDEGOLLY EULO
NATIONAL PARK
163
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119
CURRAWINYA
NATIONAL
PARK
HUNGERFORD
BARRINGUN
79
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210
54
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MARABOON
KA KA
MUNDI
NATIONAL
PARK
MT MOFFATT
NATIONAL PARK
109
DIRRANBANDI
66
PROSERPINE
CAPELLA
52
EMERALD
67
76
SPRINGSURE
210
ROLLESTON
CARNARVON
GORGE
NATIONAL
PARK
106
281
71
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65 ROMA
88
BLACKWATER
192
INJUNE
91
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MACKAY
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203
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Ancient Outback
From the weather-worn crags of sun-drenched escarpments
to the treasures buried beneath the dry bed of a long lost
inland sea, Queensland’s Outback tells of a land before time.
Rich in its diversity, the traces of Gondwana and 144 million
years of evolution are clearly visible to the keen explorer.
Scratch the surface and the bones of dinosaurs readily reveal
the secrets of one such ancient epoch. Rock wall markings
carry the stories of ancestral connections to the earth’s oldest
surviving culture. And on a star-lit night it is simply mindblowing
to look up and know this vast land is only one small
part of the great glimmering cosmos above.
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Aboriginal Heritage
Powerful images portray land of The Dreaming....................040
Cosmology
Heaven’s above - What’s that star?......................................042
Dinosaurs
Earth gives up its long lost giants.........................................044
Dinosaurs of Richmond
Marine reptiles surface after 100 million years.......................046
Lark Quarry
Dinosaur panic thunders down through the ages.................048
OCKHAMPTON
96
GLADSTONE
BILOELA
BANANA
MIRIAM VALE
TAROOM
THEODORE
MONTO
EIDSVOLD
GIN GIN
GAYNDAH
MUNDUBBERA
BUNDABERG
CHILDERS
MARYBOROUGH
GYMPIE
MILES
CHINCHILLA
KINGAROY
NAMBOUR
127
129
113
MOONIE
DALBY
84
OAKEY
PITTSWORTH
TOOWOOMBA 122
IPSWICH
BRISBANE
97
MILMERRAN
WARWICK
TWEED HEADS
INGLEWOOD
OONDIWINDI
123
TEXAS
TENTERFIELD
LISMORE
BALLINA
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback 039
GRAFTON

15
Powerful images portray
land of The Dreaming
Quirky fact :
The skeletal frames of gunyahs (stick shelters)
can still be found in Queensland’s Outback.
Curriculum Information
Year
Learning and Assessment (Time, Continuity and Change/Culture and Identity)
6 Aboriginal Culture - An Ancient Civilisation
7 Combining Cultures - Defines Australia
Description
Australia’s Aboriginal heritage is one of the oldest in the world. Aboriginal people have occupied Australia
from around 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. Prior to European arrival Aborigines lived in tribes and clans, their
Country or territorial boundaries marked by geographical features of the area such as rivers and mountains.
While sharing much in common, the land influenced each group’s distinct culture and heritage and gave rise to
an extraordinary diversity among groups across the continent. For example, there were between 200 and 250
spoken languages with more than 700 recorded dialects.
Aboriginal people attribute their survival to living ‘as part of the land’ rather than ‘on the land’. This deep
connection with the environment enabled them to observe and adapt to changing conditions. During the last
60,000 years Australian Aborigines survived a major ice age and several other periods of climate change.
All groups hunted and gathered their food, using tools fashioned from rocks, trees and plants. There was no
written Aboriginal language. Traditions and histories were passed from one generation to the next through story
telling, art and dance. Aborigines expressed art in many ways: through their dance and by painting their bodies
to depict characters of The Dreaming, animals and events; through rock paintings, stencils and drawings; and
as adornment to their instruments, tools and shields. They used ochre, a rock that is heavily enriched with iron
oxide, to make paint. The ochre was ground into a powder and mixed with binding agents such as saliva, blood
or animal fat. It was applied either by blowing it as a fine spray from the mouth, using a sharp or flattened end
of a stick, or the fingers and hands. Another form of rock art involved engraving surfaces by pecking, grinding
and abrading. Aboriginal art is often geometric. Circles, lines and dots were and still are commonly used along
with figurative illustrations such as human and animal shapes, boomerangs and other tools, and animal tracks.
Rock carving, Barcaldine
Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond
040
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback

History - Barcaldine
First residents: Iningai, Wadjabangai, Iiba, Iningas, Jagalingu, Jirandali,
Mootaburra, Pitjara, and Kuungkari peoples
European exploration: Thomas Mitchell, 1846
European settlement: 1863
Town gazetted: 1886
History highlights:
n Site of the Great Shearers’ Strike, 1891
n Birth place of the Australian Labor Party, 1891
n Home of the Australian Workers Heritage Centre
Classroom Activities
n Find out about the Traditional Owners of land where you live/where
your school and community is located
n Invite an Aboriginal Elder from your community to speak to the class
about their history
n Discover what significant Aboriginal sites are located in your
community or close by
External Activities
Visit Baloon Cave Aboriginal Cultural Trail at Carnarvon Gorge. This
1km return (45 minutes) is a short walk to a small sandstone overhang
featuring stencilled Aboriginal rock art. Signs along the trail introduce
aspects of traditional use of the area’s resources. The Karingbal and
Bidjara people welcome visitors to Carnarvon Gorge - ‘Carnarvon Gorge
is our country. The spirit of our people is at home here. We welcome you
to this place’.
Best Experience
Most historical Aboriginal sites are in protected areas with restricted
access.
Artesian Country Tours (departing from Barcaldine) offers guided tours
to one of Australia’s oldest Dreamtime carving sites, lava blowholes,
gorges, caves and desert springs.
PO Box 232, Barcaldine QLD 4725
Cost: Fees apply
Hours: By appointment
Contact: Tom Lockie
Phone: (07) 4651 2211
Email: tom@artesiancountrytours.com.au
Website: www.artesiancountrytours.com.au
Additional Resources
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Island Studies
www.aiatsis.gov.au
Australian Archaeological Association Inc.
www.australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au
References
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Cultural Heritage Map of Queensland
Department of Natural Resources and Water
www.nrw.qld.gov.au/cultural_heritage/
Australian Government Department of the
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
Culture and Recreation Portal
www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/
indigenous/
Research School of Physical Sciences and
Engineering, Australian National University
The Last Ice Age in Australia
http://cos.anu.edu.au/Resources/Posters/
iceage.pdf
Aboriginal Art Online
www.aboriginalartonline.com/index.php
Queensland Environmental Protection
Agency - Parks and Forests
www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/
Further Information
Wanpa-rda Matilda
Outback Education Centre
PO Box 26, Barcaldine QLD 4725
Phone: (07) 4651 2530
Email: the.principal@wanpardaeec.eq.edu.au
www.wanpardaeec.eq.edu.au
EPA Carnarvon Gorge (information centre)
Carnarvon National Park,
Via Rolleston QLD 4702
Phone: (07) 4984 4505
Open 8.00am - 5.00pm seven days a week
www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.
cgi?parkid=49
Mt Isa
Longreach
Townsville
Rockhampton
Charleville
Brisbane
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback 041

16
Heavens above - what’s that star?
Quirky fact :
Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park
is actually a meteorite crater!
Curriculum Information
Year
Learning and Assessment (Earth and Beyond)
6 Gravitational Attraction - Planets of our Solar System in fixed orbits
7 Changing Planets - Geological Evidence
Description
Stars are burning balls of gas that convert hydrogen to helium through nuclear explosions. Our sun is a star.
Stars form in nebulae - interstellar clouds of dust, hydrogen gas and plasma. Nebulae are star-forming regions
where gas, dust and other materials ‘clump’ together to form larger masses, which eventually become big
enough to form stars. Nebula is the first stage of a star’s cycle.
There are different types of nebulae, they include:
n Diffuse nebulae - are extended and contain no clear boundaries.
n Emission nebulae - contain ionised gas (mostly ionised hydrogen) that produces spectral line emission.
n Reflection nebulae - do not produce visible light but reflect light from nearby stars.
n Dark nebulae - seen as dark clouds in front of more distant stars or in front of emission nebulae.
n Planetary nebulae - form from the gaseous shells ejected from low-mass stars when they transform into
white dwarfs.
n Supernova remnants - form from ‘shells’ of gas when a star collapses in on itself.
There are also different types of stars:
n Open or galactic star clusters - a group of a few to a few thousand stars formed from the same giant
molecular cloud, and loosely gravitationally bound together.
n Globular star clusters - a spherical collection of tens of thousands of stars that orbits a galactic core as a
satellite. These clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, giving them spherical shapes.
n Single stars - like our sun are in a minority. Most stars are
doubles, triples or quadruples but to the human eye they
appear as one star.
n Binary star systems - are two stars that have a relationship
with one another, orbiting around a central point of gravity.
About 70 per cent of stars have a companion star.
n Double stars - are two stars that appear together in the
sky but it is a ‘chance’ alignment. The stars may be many
billions of kilometres apart.
Stars are also different colours depending on their
temperature. While all stars are extremely hot at the core,
their surface temperatures vary. Blue stars are extremely hot
(12,000º - 40,000º Celsius), yellow stars like our sun are in
the mid range (6,000º-12,000º Celsius) and red stars are the
coolest (1,000º - 5,000º Celsius).
Cosmos Centre - stargazing
042
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback

History - Charleville
First residents: Kunja, Wadjalang, Pitjara and Maranganji peoples
European exploration: Edmund Kennedy,1847
European settlement: 1860s
Town gazetted: 1868
History highlights:
n Home to Cobb & Co.’s largest and longest running coach-making
factory, 1890
n First regular Qantas flights began from Charleville, 1922
n Queensland’s first Steiger Vortex Rainmaking Gun introduced in 1902
Classroom Activities
n Create the solar system in your classroom
n Find out quirky facts about planets in our solar system and how they
got their names
n Watch the Star Spangled Universe DVD
External Activities
Charleville, in Queensland’s Outback, is the ideal place on the planet to
observe the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way. The Cosmos Centre and
Observatory offers nightly guided tours of the night sky using powerful
Meade telescopes. By day an interactive display area contains movie
presentations and interactive displays, plus a sun filter to enable visitors
to view the sun through the telescopes.
Best Experience
Cosmos Centre and Observatory, Charleville
Qantas Drive (off the Matilda Highway), Charleville QLD 4470
Cost: Entry fee applies
Hours: High Season (April - October) 1.00pm to 10.00pm
Low Season (November - March) 1.00pm to 9.00pm
Phone: (07) 4654 7771
Email: cosmos@murweh.qld.gov.au
Website: www.cosmoscentre.com
Additional Resources
South East Queensland Astronomical
Society Inc
www.seqas.org/Documents/Begin.pdf
Education Queensland
New basics Project - Pi in the Sky
www.education.qld.gov.au/corporate/
newbasics/html/richtasks/year9/resourcesrt7.
html
Queensland Museum
Inquiry Centre
PO Box 3300, South Brisbane BC QLD 4101
Phone: (07) 3840 7555
Email: inquirycentre@qm.qld.gov.au
Source: Earth and Space Program
Australian Astronomy
www.astronomy.org.au
NASA
www.nasa.gov
References
Students for the Exploration and
Development of Space (SEDS)
www.seds.org/MESSIER/more/mw.html
www.seds.org/
Sci-Tech Encyclopedia
www.answers.com/topic/star-cluster
Further Information
Cosmos Centre and Observatory
Qantas Drive, Charleville QLD 4470
Phone: (07) 4654 7771
Email: cosmos@murweh.qld.gov.au
www.cosmoscentre.com
Other Points of Interest
n Save the Bilby Fund, Charleville
n Land Management and Mulga Forest tours - Thurlby Station, Charleville
n Myendetta Station, House of 100 Doors, Charleville
Mt Isa
Longreach
Townsville
Rockhampton
Charleville
Brisbane
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback 043

17
Earth gives up its long lost giants
Quirky fact :
Muttaburrasaurus teeth were all replaced at the same time so the upper
and lower jaws fitted together evenly. When its mouth was closed,
the teeth came together like a pair of shears.
Curriculum Information
Year
Learning and Assessment (Earth and Beyond)
6 Laying down of History - Fossil Remains
7 Investigating Ancient Australia - Palaeontologists at Work
Description
The discovery of dinosaur remains dates back to 1865 when James Sutherland unearthed an ichthyosaurus on the
Flinders River. The pieces of vertebrae were sent to the Museum of Victoria where their discovery was briefly noted
in 1867. While waiting on the museum’s findings, Sutherland continued to uncover a more complete specimen,
including a skull and many more vertebrae. Again, these were sent to Melbourne for further study. Despite a second
paper in 1869 describing the new material, it was not until 1984 that Dr Mary Wade of the Queensland Museum
published the finding of two skulls present in the material. Other palaeontology discoveries in the area include:
n 1888 - other ichthyosaur material described as Ichthyosaurus Marathonensis was found at Marathon
Station, east of Richmond.
n 1899 - a scrap of a large reptile jawbone was identified by the Queensland Museum as the giant plesiosaur
Kronosaurus.
n Some 40 kms outside Hughenden a pterosaur skull and jaw fragment were found.
n 1962 - a Muttaburrasaurus was collected from many fragments in a cattle yard on the Thomson River near
Muttaburra. Many pieces had been souvenired by locals, but a public appeal soon saw these handed in to
the museum. Throughout the 80s there were several other Muttaburrasaurus finds around Hughenden, the
most recent being in 1987 when Dr Mary Wade discovered a second Muttaburrasaurus skull.
n 1989 - One of the world’s best examples of an ankylosaur was found by Ian and Rob Ievers on Marathon
Station at Minmi Crossing East of Richmond. The Minmi find is more than 90 per cent complete.
n 1989 - The most complete skeleton of a Cretaceous pliosaur was also discovered on Marathon Station.
Sauropods
Sauropods are very large plant-eating dinosaurs with long necks and tails. Since 1932, the fossil bones of
several individual sauropods have been found in the Flinders region of Queensland. They probably belonged to
Austrosaurus. The remains of an Austrosaurus Mckillopi were discovered by the McKillop family on Clutha Station
west of Richmond, in 1932, and were dated to be 100 million years old. Half of a cervical (neck) vertebra from
another sauropod was found near Hughenden. It is similar to the vertebra of Brachiosaurus, a huge sauropod with
long forelegs found in Africa and North America. The Queensland animal is known as the ‘Hughenden sauropod’.
The size of the bones found suggests an animal 20 - 22 metres long and perhaps weighing up to 50 tonnes. It
used its long neck to reach the lower branches of the trees.
Muttaburrasaurus
Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni roamed the Australian landscape approximately 100 million years ago during the
Cretaceous Period. This dinosaur is thought to have been quite common and four specimens have been found
in central and northern Queensland. Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni was first discovered in 1963 by grazier Doug
Langdon, whose property was in the Channel Country of the Thomson River just outside the town of Muttaburra.
A museum team collected five tonnes of rock material from the site and transported it to Brisbane. It took many
years of painstaking work to piece together the bones and the study of the animal is still not complete. The team
has no real idea of the environment in which Muttaburrasaurus lived because all four specimens from Queensland
have been found in an area that was once covered by a vast inland sea.
044
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback

History - Hughenden
First residents: Dalleburra and Jirandali, Kutjala peoples
European exploration:
Lt Stokes, 1841
European settlement: 1862
Town gazetted: 1866
History highlights:
n First entire Muttaburrasauras dinosaur found in Australia, 1987
n First Bracelet horse race ever run in Australia, 1886
ClASSROOM ACTIVITIES
n Create a paper-mâché dinosaur from the very earliest period when its
bones were found
n You are a Palaeontologist writing a letter to the local paper explaining
the importance of the local fossils and the need for the return of the
bones which the locals have souvenired
n Produce a postcard which depicts the dinosaur fossils of the local area
Best Experience
Flinders Discovery Centre, Hughenden
37 Gray Street, Hughenden QLD 4821
Cost: Entry Fee applies
Hours: Open daily from 9.00am to 5.00pm (December and January
9.00am to 1.00pm) Closed some Public Holidays
Phone: (07) 4741 1021
Email: info@flinders.qld.gov.au
Website: ww.hughenden.com
Other Points of Interest
n Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond
n Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways, Winton
n Riversleigh Fossil Fields, Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park
Additional Resources
Queensland Museum
Phone: (07) 3840 7555
Email: inquirycentre@qm.qld.gov.au
www.qm.qld.gov.au/features/dinosaurs/
South Australia Museum
Fact sheet on Muttaburrasaurus
www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/orig/pdf/dinosaurs.
pdf
ABC
www.abc.net.au/dinosaurs/meet_the_dinos
ABC - The Age of Reptiles
www.abc.net.au/science/ozfossil/ageofreptiles/
eromanga/kronosaurus.htm
Australian Museum
Research Library enquiries:
Phone: (02) 9320 6152
Scientific enquiries:
Phone: (02) 9320 6202
www.lostkingdoms.com/facts/index.
cfm#cretaceous
Australian Dinosaur Story
Australian Government Department of the
Environment and Heritage
Email: heritage@environment.gov.au
www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/
national/dinosaur-stampede/lark-quarry/larkquarry.html
References
Flinders Discovery Centre
www.flinders.qld.gov.au
Queensland Museum
www.qm.qld.gov.au/features/dinosaurs/
queensland/giants.asp
Further Information
Flinders Discovery Centre
37 Gray Street
Hughenden QLD 4821
Phone: (07) 4741 1021
Email: info@flinders.qld.gov.au
www.hughenden.com
Mt Isa
Longreach
Townsville
Rockhampton
Charleville
Brisbane
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback 045

18
Marine reptiles surface
after 100 million years
Quirky fact :
The skull of a Kronosaurus can be
up to 2.4 metres long!
Curriculum Information
Year
Learning and Assessment (Earth and Beyond)
6 Queensland’s Past - Geological Evidence
7 100 Million Years of History - Identifying Fossils
Description
The Kronosaurus Queenslandicus was a giant pliosaur - one of the largest marine reptiles ever known that lived
in the vast inland sea that covered western Queensland between 110 and 100 million years ago.
A ferocious hunter, the Kronosaurus is named after Kronos, the Greek god of time, who was so terrible that he
ate his children. Kronosaurus is known from many specimens. It was between eight and 13 metres long, and
had teeth were up to 25 centimetres long - the size of bananas. It roamed open oceans and the inland sea
hunting ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, turtles and large fish, and was the most fierce and largest sea creature of
its time. Kronosaurus has a skull up to 2.4 metres long. Kronosaurus swam through the water using its large
flippers. It was not a particularly fast swimmer due to the size of its tail and body and it also had to surface
regularly as it was an air-breathing marine reptile.
To date, research has been unable to identify how the Kronosaurus reproduced. Most likely, they would have
borne live young at sea, because the incredible size of the animal would have made it difficult to lay eggs on the
shore. The ichthyosaur, another type of marine reptile alive at the time, had live births instead of laying eggs, so
it is possible that Kronosaurus also made this adaptation to life in the ocean. Pliosaurs have no close relatives
alive today.
The first Kronosaurus Queenslandicus was discovered in 1889 by A. Crombie and was noted in 1924.
However, the best specimen to date was discovered at Army Down Station, north of Richmond, in the 1930s
and the area is also the location of the largest pliosaur fossil finds.
Richmond pliosaur
In 1990, whilst mustering cattle on their property,
Marathon Station, near Richmond in northwestern
Queensland, graziers Rob and Ian Ievers
discovered a whole and intact skeleton. This find
was identified by the Queensland Museum as
being a 100 million year old marine reptile, and
later named the Richmond pliosaur.
The skeleton (not a dinosaur) is one of the best,
most complete skeletons of its type in the world.
The animal is as yet un-named, but scientists
are currently working to fully understand and
describe it. It belongs to the pliosauroid group,
and was likely a member of the polycotylid
family, a specialised pliosuaroid from the Early
Cretaceous Period. At nearly 5m long, it had a
relatively short neck, powerful set of flippers and
a tail. It lived in the inland sea in Queensland 100
million years ago.
Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond
046
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback

History - Richmond
First residents: Oonoomurra, Mitjamba, Wanam and Jirandali peoples
European exploration: William Landsborough, 1862
European settlement: 1862
Town gazetted: 1882
History highlights:
n A service town to gold miners working the Woolgar Gold Field, 1880
n Discovery of the first Kronosaurus Queenslandicus,1924
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
n Using all the key elements of the text create a crossword puzzle to be
used by a class group
n Create a clay model which looks like a fossil from this period
n Develop a pictorial time line to represent this period
Best Experience
Kronosaurus Korner
91-93 Goldring Street, Richmond QLD 4822
Cost: Entry fee applies. Self-paced and self-guided tours are
available
Hours: Open daily from 8.30am to 4.45pm
Phone: (07) 4741 3429
Email: enquiries@kronosauruskorner.com.au
Website: www.kronosauruskorner.com.au
Other Points of Interest
n Flinders Discovery Centre, Hughenden
n Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways, Winton
n Riversleigh Fossil Fields, Boodjamullla (Lawn Hill) National Park
n Australian Age of Dinosaurs, Winton
Additional Resources
Australian Museum
Research Library enquiries:
Phone: (02) 9320 6152
Scientific enquiries:
Phone: (02) 9320 6202
www.lostkingdoms.com/facts/index.
cfm#cretaceous
Queensland Museum
Phone: (07) 3840 7555
Email: inquirycentre@qm.qld.gov.au
www.qm.qld.gov.au/features/dinosaurs/
Earth Science Australia
www.earthsci.org/index.html
ABC - The Age of Reptiles
www.abc.net.au/science/ozfossil/ageofreptiles/
eromanga/kronosaurus.htm
References
Queensland Museum
www.qm.qld.gov.au/features/dinosaurs/
queensland/giants.asp
Australian Museum
www.lostkingdoms.com/facts/index.
cfm#cretaceous
Richmond Shire Council
www.richmond.qld.gov.au
ABC - The Age of Reptiles
www.abc.net.au/science/ozfossil/ageofreptiles/
eromanga/kronosaurus.htm
Further Information
Kronosaurus Korner & Visitor
Information Centre
91-93 Goldring Street, Richmond QLD 4822
Phone: (07) 4741 3429
Email: enquiries@kronosauruskorner.com.au
www.kronosauruskorner.com.au
Richmond Shire Council
50 Goldring Street
PO Box 18, Richmond QLD 4822
Phone: (07) 4741 3277
Email: enquiries@richmond.qld.gov.au
www.richmond.qld.gov.au
Mt Isa
Longreach
Townsville
Rockhampton
Charleville
Brisbane
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback 047

19
Dinosaur panic thunders down
through the ages
Quirky fact :
All up the tracks of 150 individual dinosaur
were mapped at Lark Quarry!
Curriculum Information
Year
Learning and Assessment (Earth and Beyond)
6 Fossilised Footprints - Ancient History
7 Primeval Landscape - A Place to Explore
Description
Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways is the site of perfectly preserved fossilised footprints of a dinosaur stampede.
The 3000 footprints, commonly known as the ‘Trackways’, are thought to have occurred 95 million years ago
during the mid Cretaceous Period. At that time Lark Quarry was part of a great river plain, with sandy channels,
swamps and lakes brimming with freshwater mussels, lungfish and crocodiles. Rainfall was over one metre per
year, so the surrounding lowland forest was lush and green.
Local station manager Glen Seymour first discovered the Dinosaur Trackways in the 1960s. He thought they
were fossilised bird tracks, and showed them to local enthusiast Peter Knowles. What they were looking at
was, and still is today, the world’s only recorded evidence of a dinosaur stampede.
On the day the drama unfolded, herds of small two-legged dinosaurs came to drink at the lake. There were at
least 150 dinosaurs of two different kinds - carnivorous coelurosaurs about the size of chickens, and slightly
larger plant-eating ornithopods, some of them as large as emus. A huge meat-eating theropod, smaller than
a Tyrannosaurus, approached the lake. It slowed, saw the other dinosaurs gathered at the water’s edge and
began to stalk, then turned and charged. The stampeding herd of smaller dinosaurs left a chaotic mass of
footprints in the mud as they ran to escape.
The site where the dinosaur footprints were found was once a streambed leading into a lake. The water level had
dropped, exposing mudflats. When the dinosaurs stampeded, they left footprints in the half dried and still plastic
mud. Sun, wind and rain would normally destroy tracks like this. But just a few days after the footprints were
made, it began to rain and the lake rose gently, covering the tracks with sandy sediments before the mud had
dried enough to crack. The next flood buried them below a metre of sand and a metre of mud. Over time, more
sediment was laid down and as millions of years passed the sediment layers were compressed to form rock.
Lark Quarry
Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways - Walkway
048
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback

History - Winton
First residents: Koa, Malintji and Maiawali people
European exploration: Ludwig Leichhardt, 1848
European settlement: 1866
Town gazetted: 1879
History Highlights:
n Opals discovered at Opalton in 1888 - the oldest opal mining venture
in Australia
n Site of Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways, the world’s only evidence of a
dinosaur stampede
n Home of the 20-30 tonne sauropod Elliot, discovered in 1999. It was
until recently known as Australia’s largest dinosaur skeleton
Classroom Activities
n Explore the social, environmental and economic impact of Lark Quarry
on the local area and its surrounds
n Investigate and identify an action plan that would ensure Lark Quarry
Dinosaur Trackways remain intact
n After researching the subject, generate a class debate on the
importance or otherwise of the Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways
Best Experience
Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways, via Winton
Lark Quarry Conservation Park, Jundah Road, via Winton QLD 4735
Cost: Entry fee applies
Hours: Fully guided tours are available and Lark Quarry Dinosaur
Trackways is open most days of the year
Phone: 1300 665 115 or (07) 4657 1466
Email: vic@matildacentre.com.au
Website: www.dinosaurtrackways.com.au
Other Points of Interest
n Flinders Discovery Centre, Hughenden
n Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond
n Riversleigh Fossil Fields at Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park
n Australian Age of Dinosaurs, Winton
Additional Resources
Australian Age of Dinosaurs
PO Box 408, Winton QLD 4735
Phone: (07) 4657 0414
Email:info@australianageofdinosaurs.com
www.australianageofdinosaurs.com
University of Queensland
Palaeontology Department
Steve Salisbury’s Vertebrate Palaeontology &
Biomechanics Lab
www.uq.edu.au/dinosaurs
Queensland Museum
Phone: (07) 3840 7555
Email: inquirycentre@qm.qld.gov.au
www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au
South Australia Museum
www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/pdf/dinosaurs
Questacon
www.questacon.edu.au/html/terrorsaurus
ABC
www.abc.net.au/dinosaurs/meet_the_dinos
Dinosaur database
www.arts-letters.com/dino2/ency
Dinosaur encyclopedia
www.isgs.uiuc.edu/dinos/de_4
www.search4dinosaurs.com/pictures
Australian Dinosaur Story
Australian Government Department of the
Environment and Heritage
Email: heritage@environment.gov.au
www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/
national/dinosaur-stampede/lark-quarry/larkquarry.html
Australian Museum
Research Library enquiries:
Phone: (02) 9320 6152
Scientific enquiries:
Phone: (02) 9320 6202
www.lostkingdoms.com/facts/index.
cfm#cretaceous
Earth Science Australia
www.earthsci.org
References
Encyclopedia of dinosaurs San Diego:
Academic Press,1997
Lark Quarry Conservation Park
www.dinosaurtrackways.com.au
Further Information
Tourism Development Officer
Winton Shire Council
PO Box 288, Winton QLD 4735
Phone: 1300 665 115 or (07) 4657 1188
Email: vic@matildacentre.com.au
Mt Isa
Longreach
Townsville
Rockhampton
Charleville
Brisbane
Queensland’s Outback Education Handbook | Ancient Outback 049

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