THE
DINOSAUR
TRAIL
| WORDS: LINDA LEE RATHBUN
| IMAGES: STEVEN DAVID MILLER
NATURAL WANDERS
AUSTRALIA’S PREHISTORY COMES
ALIVE IN OUTBACK QUEENSLAND.
It’s a long way from Katherine,
NT, to Richmond, Qld: 1700km
along the Stuart, Barkly and
Flinders highways. One would
have to stretch the truth to
say it is anything but a long,
boring drive… though the
scenery either side of Mount
Isa, Qld, is very dramatic.
By the time you get to
the Isa, you will be in a white-
line daze. Yet here is where
you can begin a giant step
back in time to the age of
Australia’s mega fauna.
DINO DIORAMAS
The Riversleigh Fossil Centre
at Outback at Isa is an
interpretive and research
centre exhibiting and studying
a sample of the fossils
extracted from the rich fields
of the Riversleigh World
Heritage Site in Boodjamulla
(Lawn Hill) National Park.
Casts of fossils are on display
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gorv.com.au
along with dioramas that
reconstruct some of the giant
marsupials and reptiles that
romped around Australia’s
Top End 30 million years
ago. Anyone who has had
the good fortune to visit
Boodjamulla may have done
the interpretive walk at D-site;
the Fossil Centre brings what
you saw to life.
If 30 million year old fossils
don’t rock your world, then
make your way east to
Richmond. Book a site at the
Lakeview Caravan Park and
wander over to Kronosaurus
Korner; just look for the
giant Kronosaurus
queenslandicus
floating around in front
of the information centre.
This fascinating museum is
worth the entry fee, especially
if you take advantage of the
self-guided audio narration.
Most of the fossils here were
marine reptiles basking in
the inland Eromanga Sea
100-115 million years ago.
Dinosaur fever surged in the
area in the late 1980s when
an intact pliosaur, known as
the Richmond pliosaur, was
found on a nearby station by
the owner. This was followed
by the discovery of a near-
complete Kunbarrasaurus
ieversi on the same property.
Dinosaur fever can be
contagious; if you catch it
you are in luck because the
museum also offers a
number of free dig