Taking a dig at pre-history
Professor Pat Vickers-Rich and Leaellynasaura, a polar dinosaur that lived in the Otways
This Saturday, the Governor of Victoria will be given a personal tour of the Wildlife of Gondwana exhibition in Apollo Bay, escorted by the scientists who dug up the 100 million year old fossils.
Founder of the Monash Science Centre Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich, and Monash University School of Geosciences Adjunct Professor Dr Thomas Rich will be escorting Governor and Mrs Chernov around the exhibition that has smashed museum attendance records around the world.
The exhibition, put together from the excavations of Professor Vickers-Rich, Dr Rich and many others, has been seen by millions of people in Taiwan, Italy, Argentina and Singapore, and it is now on display at the Otway Dinosaurs centre in Apollo Bay.
“The exhibition includes 300 individual fossils, creating an image of the wildlife of the Great Southern Super Continent – Gondwana. It spans 3.8 billion years to the present,” Professor Vickers-Rich said.
“It’s designed in a timeline context to highlight the major changes that have occurred in the earth’s history. It also gives visitors the chance to see scientists' realisations of what these creatures looked like in the flesh.”
Along with the tour, Professor Vickers-Rich and Dr Rich will be giving public lectures that provide a rare personal insight into their journeys around the world as field scientists.
“This material relates to a long-term research project, supported for over 30 years by the National Geographic Society that Dr Rich and I have run. The project looks at polar dinosaurs, the fossils of which we have found all along the South coast of Victoria,” Professor Vickers-Rich said.
“We’re trying to assist the local community in Apollo Bay to build a permanent museum there, as the occurrence of polar dwelling dinosaurs is unique – the only other place with so much variety is the North slope of Alaska.”
Almost 106 million years ago, coastal Victoria was within the Antarctic Circle, making it one of the coldest places on earth and home to a range of unique warm-blooded dinosaurs. The discovery of polar dinosaurs helped scientists rethink and rewrite the history of dinosaurs, which had been for the most part thought of as cold-blooded.
Professor Vickers-Rich and Dr Rich will begin presenting their lectures at the Wildlife of Gondwana exhibition at 4pm, Saturday 31 March 2012.
Bookings are essential. Contact Otway Dinosaurs on +61 3 5237 1111 for seating availability and prices.
The exhibition is open from 9am-5pm every day, including the Easter holidays.