Latest news with #BiloelaStateHighSchool
BBC News
14-03-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Dino footprints discovered in school entrance hall
Why did the dinosaur cross the river? To get to this Australian school, of course! OK, ignore our rubbish dinosaur joke, but check out this story! A boulder containing loads of dinosaur fossils has been sitting in the entrance hall of a school in Queensland, Australia for over 20 years. It wasn't until members of the local community brought it to the attention of Dr Anthony Romilio at the University of Queensland Dinosaur Lab, that they realised the significance of the rock. He was able to detect 66 fossilised footprints from 47 individual dinosaurs on the small slab of rock. This made it one of Australia's biggest collections of dinosaur prints found in one spot. Dr Romilio says the pattern of the footprints suggests the creatures, believed to be called Anomoepus scambus, were crossing or travelling up or down a shallow river bed. The boulder was first discovered at the Callide mine, not far from the school, in 2002. It was given to the Biloela State High School by a geologist, Wes Nichols, whose wife was a teacher there at the Banana shire mayor, Nev Ferrier, said the discovery was a reminder of how rich and unique the local landscape was."This is huge – not just for Biloela but for the whole country," he said. "Who would have thought that a simple rock sitting in the school foyer for years would turn out to be one of Australia's most important fossil finds? It just goes to show that our region is full of surprises."
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Dinosaur footprints unknowingly displayed in a high school for 20 years
A large boulder used as decoration in a rural Australian high school's foyer is actually covered in dinosaur footprints—it just took around 20 years for anyone to notice. After examining the ancient rock, paleontologists at the University of Queensland's Dinosaur Lab believe the stone features one of the country's highest concentrations of fossilized footprints. These tiny tracks were created by dozens of small, two-legged herbivores during the early Jurassic period. The team describes their findings in a study published on March 10 in the journal Historical Biology. Eastern Australia's Biloela State High School is located near the Callide Coal Mine. Workers at this largescale operation often blow up rock formations to reach their payloads. Around 20 years ago, a geologist working at the site took note of a rock formation dotted with what looked like chicken footprints—albeit chickens with three instead of the standard four or five toes. The geologist extracted the rock before the area was slated for mining, and donated it to Bioela State High School where his wife taught. For years, the boulder greeted students and faculty as a symbol of the area's geologic history. However, following local media attention on newly discovered dinosaur fossils in the area in 2021, the school decided to ask for an expert's closer inspection of the rock from the coal mine. University of Queensland paleontologist Anthony Romilio paid a visit to Biloela State High School, where he quickly realized the slab's significance. In the new study, Romilio and colleagues documented a total of 66 fossilized footprints from 47 separate dinosaurs, all within a roughly three-square-foot section of the rock. 'It's a huge number of dinosaurs, and it's the highest number found in a single slab in Australia,' Romilio told NBC News. After analyzing casts made of the footprints, the team determined they belonged to Anomoepus scambus, a plant-eating dinosaur that existed during the early Jurassic period about 200 million years ago. A. scambus was a comparatively small animal, with a leg height ranging from around 10 centimeters to just over one foot. Speaking with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Romilio explained discoveries like the one at Bioela State High School serve as a reminder of how important it is for mining operations to proceed carefully in their work. 'When you have an industry like open-pit mining the general assumption is that you won't be able to extract and preserve dinosaur footprints because the process [to mine] is quite destructive,' he said on March 11. 'That's another idea that's been shattered because we can get these amazing fossils.'
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
For 20 years, this school had no idea there was a dinosaur fossil right outside
For 20 years, students and teachers at Biloela State High School in Australia studied and worked next to a beige boulder without realizing it was a window into a lost world. In 2021, following media coverage of dinosaur remains in the area, someone thought to have an expert look at the big rock sitting in foyer of the school in Queensland, eastern Australia. The boulder was covered in what looked like chicken feet — if those chickens were big and had only three toes. That's when paleontologist Anthony Romilio came to the high school to examine the boulder and its unusual markings. 'I thought, 'Yes, it's a small boulder, so I can just lift it up.' But oh my goodness, it was so heavy so I had to rethink this,' Romilio told NBC News in a phone interview Wednesday. 'They did not know that this was an actual fossil itself,' said Romilio, a research associate at the University of Queensland's Dinosaur Lab and co-author of research published online Monday in the Historical Biology journal He went on to identify 66 fossilized footprints from 47 individual dinosaurs left during the early Jurassic period, nearly 200 million years ago. 'It's a huge number of dinosaurs, and it's the highest number found in a single slab in Australia,' he said. The school's deputy principal, David Hall, told the The Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Romilio's discoveries had been a shock, but also "a bit exciting." "It sits in a very public area in our student foyer and our kids walk past it every day, and so do we," he said. He added that the school had ended up with the boulder about 20 years ago when a geologist who was married to one of the school's teachers came across it in a nearby mine. 'That area was going to be blasted or disturbed with the mining activities, and he saved that specimen and donated it to the school,' Hall added, according to ABC. After seeing the remarkable rock at the school, Romilio decided to dig into the matter further, and drove to a nearby coal mine in Callide. There, another open-air secret confronted him. 'As I am coming into the car park, there was this massive boulder with another massive dinosaur footprint that's just staring at you,' he said. 'And just my jaw dropped," he said, and remembers thinking: "This is incredible.' The boulder at the mine contained two footprints, one that was obvious and another half broken and hidden with mud. Together with a third rock that is part of a private collection and encased in resin, researchers have been able to piece together an ancient history of the area. These records are a critical window into the Jurassic period in Australia, when 'the most common dinosaur fossils are footprints, by several orders of magnitude,' Romilio said. For now, the school boulder remains where it is, and discussions are underway for it to be relocated to a more public venue. 'It's a part of their community and really a part of their heritage,' Romilio said. This article was originally published on
NBC News
12-03-2025
- Science
- NBC News
For 20 years, this school had no idea there was a dinosaur fossil right outside
For years, students and teachers at Biloela State High School in Australia studied and worked next to a large beige boulder without realizing it was a window into a lost world. In 2021, following media coverage of dinosaur remains in the area, someone thought to have an expert look at the big rock sitting in foyer of the school in Queensland, eastern Australia. The boulder was covered in what looked like chicken feet — if those chickens were big and had only three toes. That's when paleontologist Anthony Romilio came to the high school to examine the boulder and its unusual markings. 'I thought, 'Yes, it's a small boulder, so I can just lift it up.' But oh my goodness, it was so heavy so I had to rethink this,' Romilio told NBC News in a phone interview Wednesday. 'They did not know that this was an actual fossil itself,' said Romilio, a research associate at the University of Queensland's Dinosaur Lab and co-author of research published online Monday in the Historical Biology journal He went on to identify 66 fossilized footprints from 47 individual dinosaurs left during the early Jurassic period, nearly 200 million years ago. 'It's a huge number of dinosaurs, and it's the highest number found in a single slab in Australia,' he said. 'They did not know that this was an actual fossil itself,' Romilio said. The school's deputy principal, David Hall, told the The Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Romilio's discoveries had been a shock, but also "a bit exciting." "It sits in a very public area in our student foyer and our kids walk past it every day, and so do we," he said. He added that the school had ended up with the boulder about 20 years ago when a geologist who was married to one of the school's teachers came across it in a nearby mine. 'That area was going to be blasted or disturbed with the mining activities, and he saved that specimen and donated it to the school,' Hall added, according to ABC. After seeing the remarkable rock at the school, Romilio decided to dig into the matter further, and drove to a nearby coal mine in Callide. There, another open-air secret confronted him. 'As I am coming into the car park, there was this massive boulder with another massive dinosaur footprint that's just staring at you as you,' he said. 'And just my jaw dropped," he said, and remembers thinking: "This is incredible.' The boulder at the mine contained two footprints, one that was obvious and another half broken and hidden with mud. Together with a third rock that is part of a private collection and encased in resin, researchers have been able to piece together an ancient history of the area. These records are a critical window into the Jurassic period in Australia, when 'the most common dinosaur fossils are footprints, by several orders of magnitude,' Romilio said. For now, the school boulder remains where it is, and discussions are underway for it to be relocated to a more public venue. 'It's a part of their community and really a part of their heritage,' Romilio said.
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Over 60 dinosaur footprints found on boulder that sat at Queensland school for 20 years
In a corner of Biloela State High School's main office sits an unassuming white slab, covered with fossilised dinosaur footprints. New analysis suggests the boulder, hiding in plain sight at the central Queensland school for more than 20 years, contains one of the highest concentrations of dinosaur footprints ever documented in Australia. The slab has 66 fossilised footprints from 47 individual dinosaurs, dating from the Early Jurassic around 200 million years ago, on the surface, research led by Dr Anthony Romilio of the University of Queensland Dinosaur Lab suggests. The three-toed footprints were made by Anomoepus scambus, a small plant-eating dinosaur that moved on two legs. Skeletal fossils found overseas suggest the species had long legs, short arms and a chunky body. Romilio described the boulder as significant given that no dinosaur skeletal remains from that time have yet been found in Australia. 'We don't have their bones, but we know that they were around.' Fossilised footprints found around Biloela, Callide, Carnarvon Gorge and Mount Morgan pointed to abundant Anomoepus numbers in central Queensland, Romilio said. 'Around that Early Jurassic period, they seem to be all over the place.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The slab, less than one square metre in area, contains 13 distinct trackways that make up roughly half of the 66 footprints. The footprints were likely made over days or weeks in mud covered by shallow water, as the animals possibly walked along or crossed a waterway, Romilio said. 'It would be a river type system that is depositing sediment.' The boulder was discovered at Callide Mine in 2002 and gifted to Biloela State High by senior geologist Wes Nichols, whose wife was a teacher there at the time. Its significance went overlooked for decades, until community members contacted Romilio after seeing his work on dinosaur footprints at nearby Mount Morgan. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Another fossil documented in the same study also went unnoticed for years, until Romilio chanced upon it at Callide mine, where it was being used as a car park entry delineator. 'My jaw dropped,' Romilio said, describing the two-tonne rock containing two dinosaur footprints as 'a huge delight'. To better see fossilised footprints, Romilio combined photographs of each rock into a 3D model, adjusting contrast and lighting to make their outlines clearer. Given the significance of the discovery and anticipated public interest, the boulder is set to be relocated from the school to be displayed publicly at the office of the Banana shire council. Though no Anomoepus bones have been found in Australia to date, Romilio is hopeful that public tipoffs may lead to future discoveries. 'For the vast majority of fossils in Australia, most … are not found by palaeontologists – it's other people raising their hand and asking, is this significant or not?' 'Maybe this will be another start to another adventure.' The research was published in the journal Historical Biology.
