Australian Age of Dinosaurs

The Australian Age of Dinosaurs began in 1999 when a grazier found bones on his property, and it has grown into a museum and working laboratory on top of a mesa outside Winton, holding what is described as the largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils in the country. Visitors see the preparation laboratory, where volunteers clean bones from local digs, and the collection room with specimens including Australovenator and the sauropods nicknamed Banjo, Matilda and Cooper, the last among the largest dinosaurs found anywhere. Dinosaur Canyon outside has bronze reconstructions along a clifftop walk with wide views over the plains, and the March of the Titanosaurs building displays a long trackway slab.

History

In 1999 David Elliott, mustering sheep on his property Belmont near Winton, found a fossil bone that proved to be part of the femur of a Cretaceous sauropod of 95 million years ago, then Australia's largest dinosaur, and after more finds in digs with the Queensland Museum he and Judy Elliott called a public meeting in Winton on 17 August 2002 to found a museum. The non-profit began work that October, and in March 2005 Elliott found another site on Belmont, where a dig that September recovered one of Australia's most complete sauropod skeletons (Wikipedia, Australian Age of Dinosaurs).

The main sights

• The preparation laboratory - volunteers cleaning fossils from local digs.
• The collection room - Australovenator and sauropod material including Cooper.
• The March of the Titanosaurs - a long preserved sauropod trackway under cover.
• Dinosaur Canyon - clifftop walk with reconstructions and plains views.

When to go

April to September; summer heat on the exposed mesa is severe. Tours run on a timed ticket system through the day and should be booked in the peak dry season. Sunset from the jump-up is a draw in its own right.

Before you go

Access is by timed guided tours only, and seeing everything takes several ticketed components which add up. The site is exposed with little shade. It is remote, twenty-five kilometres from Winton, which is itself far from anywhere.

Nearby

Winton lies northwest; Lark Quarry's trackways are further southwest.

Key facts