Australian Museum Palaeontology Collection
Palaeontology is the study of fossils. Fossils are the remains or traces of prehistoric living things. Fossils are preserved in substances such as sediments, coal, tar, oil, amber or volcanic ash, or frozen in ice or naturally mummified.
Fossil Collection
© Australian Museum
Only a very small number of all the animals or plants that ever lived on the Earth are preserved as fossils. An even smaller number are found. Most have been destroyed by erosion or lie too deeply buried to be discovered.
However, fossils are found in quite large numbers, which indicates that an enormous number of plants and animals have lived on the Earth since life evolved more than 3500 million years ago.
The Australian Museum palaeontology collection contains some of the Museum's greatest treasures. One of the most spectacular is 'Eric' the opalised pliosaur from Coober Pedy. The collection also contains some of Australia's oldest mammal fossils, collected from the opal fields of Lightning Ridge in northern New South Wales.
About the collection
The fossil collections consist of specimens of fossil invertebrates, vertebrates and plants, most of which are Australian. There is also a wide selection of material from outside Australia.
Palaeontology collecting at the Australian Museum began in the 1800's and continues today. Occasionally, a spectacular display specimen or significant collection is acquired by the Museum through donation or purchase, but generally Museum palaeontologists gather specimens for their research out in the field.
The goal of Australian Museum palaeontologists is to increase knowledge of ancient animals and plants by collecting and studying their fossilised remains. New discoveries often cause existing specimens to be reassessed, which enhances our understanding of the evolution of life on Earth.
Robert Jones
, Palaeontology
Last Updated:
Tags fossils,
14 comments
Hello Claudia,
I was really happy to read your comment, you sound just like me. Palaeontology really is amazing. Are you a vert, invert or plant person? Or maybe all of the above? :)
Currently the thing our department needs the most is databasing. It sounds boring, but you do get to play with fossils as you do it. Also there is a feeling of satisfaction knowing that you are helping our collection become more accessible to other researchers. So if you did volunteer that would probably be the thing you would be working on, but you never know.
I suggest that you contact Yong Yi (our collection manager) via email using the contact form under his profile. You can use the link I posted in my below message, or search for his name with the search box top right of the page.
I will tell him he should be expecting an email from you.
Hi Lovgaroug.
It's great to hear that you are interested in volunteering, and I am happy to see that you are doing your PhD in palaeontology, the world needs more palaeontologists! :)
Please use this link australianmuseum.net.au/staff/yong-yi-zhen/#staff-contact-form to email our Acting Collection Manager; Dr Zhen. If you tell him more about yourself there, then he can advise you about volunteering possibilities.
@noisyoyster. Hi Noisy, I would love for that to happen too. The idea of being able to do a simple search to find specimen in the AM collection is what drove me to start volunteering at the museum last year. However, the collection is so large and old (well, all fossils are old, but you get my drift) that we are still working on getting the collection digitised.
@CW62442. Hi CW, I noticed your comment was all the way back in Janurary, so I'm not sure if this has been resolved yet. If it hasn't, you can email me through the website or reply here and I'll look into it for you.
