Dinosaur Cove Cretaceous 1: Attack of the Lizard King

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A fossiliferous layer spreading out onto the foreshore from Dinosaur Cove East was the first target. An enormous storage shed had been constructed to protect caravans and gear from corrosion, a platform-scaffold had been erected over the Slippery Rock entrance and redundant tunnels had been fitted out with shelving. A crazy scientist, who mistakenly released the dinosaur, must retrieve the specimen and the eggs that she has laid. They lived millions of years ago, which means they were here before people, insects, and even flowers. By the close of the 1986 dig, three times as many bones had been found as the previous year, with two-thirds of them from the new ‘Slippery Rock’ site.

The plot is a little predictable for adults, though it works well for children (mine are upper elementary school aged). Despite everyone’s apprehension, it wasn’t long before the equipment was installed and drilling into the cliff got under way. In spite of their significance, the discovery of dinosaur remains was somewhat disappointing for Tom. To walk in the footprints of these ancient Victorians, we must first rewind to the late Early Cretaceous period.There used to be lots of different types of dinosaurs, but today there are only 3 types left: the velociraptor, the pteranodon and the tyrannosaurus rex. The dinosaur taxa, Leaellynasaura amicagraphica and Timimus hermani, are named for the children of the Riches', Tim and Leaellyn.

They became extinct about 66 million years ago, but we still know a lot about them today because their fossils were very well preserved in the ground. Fortunately, Bill Loads came to the rescue, boosting air pressure with a ‘top-up’ receiver tank, located at the base of the cliff. The site had been discovered in 1980 by Monash University student, Tim Flannery, and faculty member of the University of New South Wales, Mike Archer, while out fossicking with the Rich family. It is worth noting that although these dinosaurs lived at polar latitudes, the Cretaceous climate was significantly milder than today, so temperatures within the Antarctic and Arctic Circles were vastly different from the climate at these latitudes today, because the lopsided arrangements of the continents made sea currents and monsoon winds blow across the polar areas and not around them, and so stopped cold pools from developing around the poles.One of these was the biggest bone to be recovered – a 43cm femur of Australia’s first ornithomimosaur and one of the oldest species of that group. Vandersaurean responsible for the creature and its accidental release, try in desperation to recover it and capture young Riley before the public finds out about their diabolical plans. David Pickering, former volunteer and current Collection Manager of Museum Victoria, says the jury is still out on exactly how many different species are represented in the Dinosaur Cove material and notes that the collection is still frequently studied. tunnel into the cliff, sufficient to expose the ancient stream channel, which had flowed parallel to the rock face. Dinosaurs are often seen as prehistoric creatures, but they are actually still alive in our sense of them!

Subsequent scientific analysis of the fossil material, by a range of scientists including geochemists, palaeobotanists, palaeontologists and geologists, soon revealed more unusual and exciting information.With the invaluable support of Bill Loads, manager of Victorian operations for Atlas Copco, who provided the drilling equipment, the stage was set for the commencement of a project that would provide a window into the world of polar dinosaurs. It quickly came to be known as ‘Lake Copco’, as it reached swimming pool proportions and had to be pumped out after every high tide. Who knows what will turn up next to expand our knowledge of the former inhabitants of Australia’s ancient polar landscape? As so often happens in life, a chain of random events brought Tom and Pat on a collision course with Dinosaur Cove.