Desalinated Dinosaurs?

The Victorian State Government's plans to build a water desalination plant near Wonthaggi hit an unexpected obstacle when it was revealed that a significant deposit of prehistoric fossils was located in the plant's proposed construction site.

The fossils, dating back 115 million years, had been discovered by palaeontologists at the Powlett River site in Kilcunda, Victoria, in 1994. However, their exact location had been kept a secret, until researchers realised that the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) may not have been aware of the fossil site's existence. Dr. Thomas Rich, curator of vertebrate paleontology at Melbourne Museum (who is profiled on page 58 of Prehistoric Australia), wrote to the DSE to alert them of the site's presence.

Remains of ornithopods and plesiosaurs, along with polar lungfish, are amongst the fossils to have been uncovered at the site.

The Victorian State Government is yet to decide whether it will conduct an environmental effects study to gauge the potential impact that the proposed desalination plant will have on the fossil site. However, Water Minister Tim Holding has been reported in the media as saying that the plant's inflow and outflow pipes would be laid well below the surface of the excavation site.

You can listen to an online recording of an ABC World Today interview with Dr Tom Rich, Water Minister Tim Holding and the Victorian state opposition water spokeswoman, Louise Asher, which was aired on Tuesday 27 November 2007.

Image of polar lungfish courtesy of Australian Dinosaur Story, Australian Heritage Directory.

HMS Fly - The 'prehistoric' ship

Eagle-eyed readers of Prehistoric Australia will no doubt recall that we made mention of the British vessel, HMS Fly, and its role in uncovering some of Australia's earliest prehistoric fossils. (And if you can't recall this offhand, then turn to page 24. Yes, that's it, the second paragraph. Got it? Good! Then we may proceed...)

So, what was a British naval vessel doing so far from home, digging up dinosaur bones on the other side of the world? Actually, finding fossils was the last thing on the Fly's "to do" list. It was actually surveying much of the coast of north-eastern Australia, as well as New Guinea, during 1842-46. As part of its mission to accurately map new trade & shipping routes in the region, the Fly carried out surveys of the Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait, as well as Whitsunday Island and the Capricorn Islands.

HMS Fly was captained by Francis Price Blackwood. Amongst its crew was the geologist Joseph Beete Jukes and the naturalist John MacGilivray. An illustrated account of the voyage and its discoveries, titled Sketches in Australia and the adjacent islands, was published in 1849 by the expedition's draftsman, Harden S. Melville.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what the 'HMS' in HMS Fly stands for, it means 'Her Majesty's Ship' - so named, because Queen Victoria was Britain's monarch at the time. (If a king had been enthroned, HMS would represent 'His Majesty's Ship'). And, on a related note, Australia's modern naval vessels bear the prefix 'HMAS', which stands for 'Her Majesty's Australian Ship'.

Check out the Kids' Reading Guide

Prehistoric Australia has been chosen as one of the 160 books featured in the 2007-2008 Kids' Reading Guide, which has just been published by the Australian Booksellers' Association.

The Kids' Reading Guide, which is available from participating bookstores from 1 November 2007, also offers readers the chance to win 10 of the fabulous titles featured in the latest edition.

So, don't just sit there reading this blog - get to your nearest bookstore and demand your free copy, today!

Tune in for Queensland Dinosaurs

Tune into ABC television at 8.00pm (AEST) on Thursday 1 November 2007 for the latest episode of Catalyst, which features a special report on the dinosaur fossil excavations being conducted by the University of Queensland.

The state of Queensland has provided palaeontologists with a rich source of prehistoric fossils, dating back to the pioneering discoveries of Heber Albert Longman of the 1920s, through to the Winton Dinosaur Project which has been undertaken by the University of Queensland since 2001.

This episode of Catalyst promises to be a timely update on the University of Queensland's more recent fossil discoveries. What weird and wonderful beasties have they found? Tune in tonight to find out!

Dinosaur Tracks Uncovered in Victoria

Palaeontologists from America and Australia have uncovered three separate sets of dinosaur tracks at a site near the town of Inverloch in Victoria, Australia - making them the first of their kind to be discovered in Victoria.

Reporting the findings at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Austin, Texas on 19 October 2007, Dr. Anthony Martin, senior researcher at Emroy University (USA), said that the tracks were approximately 14 inches long and were most likely made by large carnivorous dinosaurs during the Cretaceous Period - 115 million years ago!

Dr. Martin discovered two of the tracks during a visit to the Inverloch site in February 2006, with the third track located by Monash University undergraduate volunteer, Tyler Lamb, in February 2007.

Dr. Martin collaborated with noted Australian palaeontologists Dr. Thomas Rich (Museum of Victoria), Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich (Monash University) and Lesley Kool (Monash University) in classifying the tracks. (Image reproduced from Science Daily)

Dinosaurs Storm Melbourne!

Well, actually, no, they didn't. In fact, the closest we came to witnessing a 'dino stampede' was seeing Doug & Kevin (pictured at left) smuggling copies of their book, Prehistoric Australia (which does contain heaps of dinosaurs!), into the Armageddon Multimedia Expo held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th October 2007.

But there was wrestling. And Lasertag. And pizza-eating contents. And an all-in pillow-fight brawl. All this, and more comic books, figurines, console games, trading cards and sci-fi paraphernalia than you could poke a phaser (set to stun, of course!) at.

Armageddon began in New Zealand, where it has become a massive event, attracting thousands of visitors each year. This was the first time in almost a decade that the event organisers have returned to Melbourne to stage the expo.

Personally, we were looking forward to meeting Adam West and Julie Newmar, who played Batman and Catwoman in the original 1960s version of the Batman TV show. But sadly, that was not to be, as Adam West couldn't attend because his house burnt down. (Kev was especially bummed out by this - he had his copy of West's memoir, Back to the Batcave, all ready for West to autograph.)

Younger readers who have absolutely no idea what the hell we are talking about may know Adam West as the voice actor for the character, Mayor Adam West, who appears in the potty-mouthed (but extremely funny) TV cartoon show, The Family Guy.

The great thing about events like Armageddon is that some people really do make an effort to put on their "Sunday best". Consider, if you will, the following attendees:

Or this intriguing visitor:

Honestly, if you've never been to a comic book/pop culture convention before, then you owe it to yourself to attend just one in your life. Trust us, the costumed punters are as every bit as entertaining as the 'celebrity guests'! For more photos from the Armageddon Expo, click here.

New Dinosaur Species Discovered

If you thought we knew all there was to know about prehistoric dinosaurs and their world, then think again.

Paleontologists from Brazil and Argentina have just uncovered fossils of a new, previously undiscovered species of dinosaur in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

Measuring between 32-34 metres, and dating back 88 million years ago to the Cretaceous period, the dinosaur is said to be a member of the Titanosaur family, and belongs to the Lognkosauria genus.

It has been named Futalognkosaurus dukei, which was partly derived from a native Mapuche tribal word meaning "giant chief of dinosaurs", while the word 'dukei' was assigned in recognition of Duke Energy Argentina, which helped finance the excavation site at Lake Barreales, which lies 90 kilometres north of Neuquen, Argentina.

Further details about this amazing discovery can be read here. To see photos from the excavation site, and a reconstruction of the dinosaur itself, click here.