Ken Boddie

1 year ago · 6 min. reading time · ~100 ·

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Ravenous Raptor Chases Cretaceous Chook-sized Critters.

Ravenous Raptor Chases Cretaceous Chook-sized Critters.

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At last I was off to dinosaur country, that part of outback Queensland renowned in recent decades for its uniquely Australian, Cretaceous aged, fossilised dinosaur bones. It is also famous for being the only place, worldwide, where a dinosaur stampede has been recorded, but more on that later.

After researching several peer reviewed papers, a visit to the dinosaur exhibit in the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, and the acquisition of a handful of softback books on Queensland's famous fossil and dinosaur phenomena, I finally found myself at Roma Street Station, Brisbane, where I boarded the ‘Spirit of the Outback‘ train on route to the small outback town of Winton, via Longreach. 

I purposely chose the 25 hour train option, rather than flying, in order to experience the countryside transitioning from the relatively lush coastal plains, across the Great Dividing Range to the rolling downs and arid plains of the Queensland Outback. In fact my chosen final destination, the area around Winton, also features a dispersion of flat topped mesas, locally referred as ‘Jump-ups’.  One of the more dramatic Jump-up features, known as either the Three Sisters (Mary, Maude and Kate) or the Dragon's Back, is shown below, featuring uncharacteristically green plains grasses and clumps of lush green, but sharp (personally attested), spiky spinifex.  The lushness was consequential to the recent flooding rains which are rarely experienced at this time of year in the Outback (another symptom of climate change). 

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The train proved to be relatively comfortable, although my single sleeper cabin was rather compact, yet adequate. The three meals and snacks consumed during each of my journeys, both up country and on the way back home, were delicious and varied, and the lounge car proved to be a haven for mingling with fellow travellers. Many of my new-found companions were keen to see the various museums and attractions afforded by Longreach (eg Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, Qantas Founders Museum, Longreach School of Distance Education, Thomson River cruise and show) some of which I've covered in a separate blog (https://au.bebee.com/producer/the-champions-of-the-outback-bBf7uS3gyde0)">https://au.bebee.com/producer/the-champions-of-the-outback-bBf7uS3gyde0).">https://au.bebee.com/producer/the-champions-of-the-outback-bBf7uS3gyde0). Many passengers were also keen to travel, like myself, the additional 177km by road to Winton and into opal/ironstone and dinosaur/fossil country. 

Perhaps the most scenic parts of the train journey were afforded during the crossing of the Drummond Range, when the train traversed a series of switchbacks. Unfortunately, the reflection from the sun and the condensation and haze formed on the double glazing of the carriage windows, restricted photo opportunities somewhat.

Although many parts of Central West Queensland have proven to release fossilised bones of dinosaurs, most have been encountered in the Winton area.  Initial finds have often been made by sheep and cattle station owners, literally stumbling across them ‘rising’ from the surface of the soil. As it happens there is an abundance of ‘black soil’ in this area, which swells and expands when wet, and shrinks and cracks significantly when dry, resulting in an ongoing circulating motion. It is this rotational movement within the reactive black soil that brings the occasional fossil bone (or bone fragment) to or near the surface, although the fossils have originated predominantly within the underlying claystones and mudstone of the Winton [Geological] Formation. 

Subsequently word spread to the ‘heavy guns’ (namely the palaeontologists and other learned experts) who were invariably either brought in, or else had chance encounters with the locals when researching the area and heard on the local grapevine (doubtless the odd outback pub or two) of possible fossilised bone finds.  This often followed initial deliberations and delays of some several years, until the first few proven ‘strikes’ were documented and the credibility of dinosaur finds established in the area.

Here it should be recognised that these initial exploratory experts were reportedly looking for large fossil mammal discoveries and that, prior to the 1960s and 1970s, it was considered unlikely that dinosaurs would be found in the general area.

I had predominantly come to Winton, however, to visit one of its main attractions, namely a ‘stampede’ of some estimated 150 or more dinosaurs, as evident by more than 3000 of their footprints and tracks.  So, welcome to the Dinosaur Stampede National Monument at Lark Quarry, located some 110km south-west of Winton.

Main entrance to the Lark Quarry Dinosaur Stampede Monument building.  

The trackways are now housed within a protective, architecturally designed building. There has historically been some damage incurred (by water erosion, by wallaroos scuffing with their claws, urinating and defecating, and by fire) since the early days of discovery of some initial footprints in 1963 and uncovering of the trackways in 1976.  Fortunately, funds were eventually raised and the main protective housing structure was completed, much as we see it today, in mid-2002. 

Lark Quarry Trackway, with more than 3000 footprints exposed across th claystone floor.  Note the remaining overlying sandstone blocks, which were originally present across most of the trackway. - pT

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The footprints were initially found as a series of sandstone infilled moulds within claystone, which was a former drainage channel in what was then sticky wet clay.  Back approximately 95 million years ago, in the late Cretaceous Era, when the footprints were made, this area was not the arid region we see today but lush green forested vegetation, with flowing streams and lakes. The unearthing of the trackways is all the more remarkable since only a few outlying fossilised footprints were initially found, being representative of what was initially thought to be chicken-like beasts, rather than dinosaurs. Furthermore, an overlying 0.3m to 0.6m of sandstone (featured in the centre and rear of the above photo) had to be manually removed by “crowbars, picks and chisels”, over an area the size of a tennis court, in order to reveal the footprints and trackways as seen above.

Due to the extensive collaboration work performed by Tony Thulborn (then of the University of Queensland) and Mary Wade (of the Queensland Museum) and reference to a large worldwide database of dinosaur footprint shapes, widths and lengths, and their stride, in relation to their size and hence speed of movement, the following was concluded:

  • A set of large footprints (in a single trackway) were made by a large carnivorous theropod (like a Tyrannosauropus, and typical of the dinosaur named Banjo in my title photo of this blog).  These footprints are located to the right of the above photo and show the large theropod as travelling slowly to the south-west, ie going away from the camera (see also the spotlighted locations in my photos below and the red circled three-toed footprint in my photo below that). It is thought likely that this large carnivorous theropod was travelling towards a lake formation located to the right, beyond the current trackway building, when it turned and headed to the right towards a large number of much smaller dinosaurs.
Spotlights shine on most of the large theropod footprint set. - eT
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Red circle contains the three-toed print of the large theropod.
  • Multiple sets of footprints and trackways of much smaller theropods (insect eaters) and ornithopods (plant eaters) heading to the north-east, towards the camera.  It is calculated that these smaller dinosaurs (typically ranging in size between a chicken and a small emu) were travelling very fast and that they were possibly frightened off by the large carnivorous theropod (see also photo below).
Footprints of the small chicken-sized theropod footprints, and the small emu-sized ornithopods, tracking quickly to the north-east, away from the camera.

The photos below were taken at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, also located outside (but much closer to) Winton, on a ‘Jump-up’ mesa formation. These show a couple of ‘mock-ups’ of the dinosaur stampede at Lark Quarry, with a typical Tyrannosaurus-like theropod chasing the small chicken-sized theropods and small emu-sized ornithopods.

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Small theropods in flight
Small emu-sized ornithopods in flight
Reconstruction of the large carnivorous Tyrannosaurus-like theropod, known as Banjo, at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, near Winton

Here it is important to acknowledge that the footprints and trackways housed within the interior of the Lark Quarry protective building comprise the “densest accumulations of dinosaur footprints anywhere in the world,” and that they are “the only known record of stampeding dinosaurs on the planet.” Accordingly I feel privileged indeed to have visited this remote Nation Heritage listed facility (which is in the company of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge) and to experience the remnants of what has been reportedly stated by Mary Wade to represent …  

“A minute: a hundred million years ago.” 

Bibliography

Thulborn, RA and Wade, M, 1984, “Dinosaur trackways in the Winton formation (mid-Cretaceous) of Queensland”, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 21(2), pp 413-517.

Thulborn, Tony, Sept 2016, “Behaviour of Dinosaurian Track-Makers in the Winton Formation (Cretaceous, Albian-Cenomanian) at Lark Quarry, Western Queensland, Australia: Running or Swimming?” Ichnos, An International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces, Vol 0, No 0, pp 1-18.

“Winton dinosaur trackways, Fact Sheet”, 2011, Queensland Museum.

Poropat, S, 2017, “Dinosaur Stampede”, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton, Queensland.

Cook, A, 2018, “Geology of Outback Queensland”, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton, Queensland.

Elliott, G, 2021, “The Wonderful World of Australian Fossils”, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton, Queensland.

Acknowledgements

The trip described in this post, and in my separate Champions of the Outback post (https://au.bebee.com/producer/the-champions-of-the-outback-bBf7uS3gyde0) was made possible thanks to Outback Aussie Tours (OAT). In particular, I wish to thank our tour guide duo, Mick and Di Clark, for their knowledge, humour and organisational skills. You both made the trip a memorable one. As for the OAT owner, Alan ‘Smithy’ Smith, who joined us on the latter part of the trip, and shared his unique and extensive knowledge of the way of life, history, flora and fauna of the Longreach and Winton areas, ‘Smithy’, you’re a legend!

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When not researching the weird or the wonderful, the comical or the cultured, the sinful or the serious, I chase my creative side, the results of which can be seen as selected photographs of my travels on my website at:

https://ken-boddie.squarespace.com 

The author of the above, Ken Boddie, besides being a sometime poet and occasional writer, is an enthusiastic photographer, rarely leisure-travelling without his Canon, and loves to interact with other like-minded people with diverse interests.

Ken's three day work week (part time commitment) as a consulting engineer allows him to follow his photography interests, and to plan trips to an ever increasing list of countries and places of scenic beauty and cultural diversity.

Travel
Comments

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #34

Stay tuned, guys and gals, for The Call of the Outback, coming to a beBee blogging platform near you soon.

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #33

Paul Walters

1 year ago #32

Thanks you old fossil 

Ian Weinberg

1 year ago #31

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #30

All hale and hearty at this end, @Ian Weinberg , touch wood!  😂🤣😂 Nothing like a few fossils to fight off the flu … or clear off the COVID. I trust that my favourite brain mechanic is also keeping well?

Ian Weinberg

1 year ago #29

Always welcome a celebration of old fossils. Thanks for the enlightenment yet again ol' mate. Hope you and yours have emerged again unscathed into the light following the 2 year Nasty.

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #28

Lada 🏡 Prkic

1 year ago #27

Lada 🏡 Prkic

1 year ago #26

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #25

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #24

#25 BTW, @Lada 🏡 Prkic , here’s a photo of my recreation of ‘Banjo’ (aka Australovenator) that I have in the title photo to my post. I bought it originally as a puzzle for my 5 year old grandson but decided it was too difficult for him to assemble. I found it pretty difficult myself … even more so than assembling Ikea flatpack furniture. 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #23

Lada 🏡 Prkic

1 year ago #22

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #21

Lada 🏡 Prkic

1 year ago #20

I accidentally deleted my comment while scrolling on my mobile. I am writing again.

Don Kerr already said what I wanted to say. Australia is indeed a fascinating continent, @Ken Boddie. A question came to my mind about how dinos arrived in Australia millions of years ago. I searched for additional information and found that Australia was joined to Antarctica in the Cretaceous era. South America and Antarctica were also connected, and dinosaurs from South America migrated to Australia across Antarctica. After Antarctica moved away from the other southern continents, Australian dinos evolved as unique species.

Thanks for another thoughtful article that made me want to read more about geology. :)

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #19

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #18

🐝 Fatima G. Williams

1 year ago #17

What an awesome place. I love dinosaurs. I have watched every movie there ever was and this would be like a fan moment for me as I am adding Queensland after Perth on my list of must see. Thank you @Ken Boddie  for never failing to add so much laughter and awe in your writing about your travels. I have alot to catch up on but you know me so One day at a time :) 

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #16

don kerr

1 year ago #15

So my favourite Aussie ventures into @Paul Walters  travelogue territory and does so with great skill. You live on a fascinating continent Ken. Thanks for sharing some of its stories.

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #14

John Rylance

1 year ago #13

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #12

John Rylance

1 year ago #11

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #10

John Rylance

1 year ago #9

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #8

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #7

John Rylance

1 year ago #6

This interesting piece is best summed up by this quote by Steven Miller “Dinosaurs may be extinct from the face of this planet, but they are alive and well in our imagination”

Long may they continue to be so.

Pascal Derrien

1 year ago #5

Funnily enough there was a short report on a dinosaur theme park this morning on Irish TV but not as sharp as you are showing on  now 25h train thats some dedication :-)

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #4

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #3

Ken Boddie

1 year ago #2

Jerry Fletcher

1 year ago #1

Ken, Sounds like a marvelous trip. I, too, am fascinated by these creatures. Here in Oregon they have been found as well and as one of the locals said, “ Them is big'uns.” And so it goes.

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