Palaeontology Week

Palaeontology Week 2012 — Saturday 24 March to Sunday 1 April

Australia's leading Fossil Festival takes place in the last week of March each year and you are invited to join us for the 2012 event. Travel 'in the Footsteps of Time' back over 550 million years ago to the earliest known form of animal life found on the planet – the Ediacaran fossils of the Flinders Ranges. Discover our very own 'age of dinosaurs' and South Australia's unique fossil record. Meet palaeontologists from around Australia and overseas – experts in their fields. Visit dig sites, see behind-the-scenes, pull up a chair and hear stories of field trips and research.

"Palaeontology is one of the most fundamental sciences – it is the science of life. It allows us to understand the origins, evolution and adaptation of all living things. It provides the data to refine our timescale for the age of the earth. South Australia is one of the best places in the world when it comes to palaeontology. The state has not only some of the oldest and youngest fossils, but fossils from the geological periods in between. This is why palaeontology is one of the core collection and research areas of the South Australian Museum and also the reason why many of the world's top palaeontologists come here to work and study."
— Professor Suzanne Miller, Director South Australian Museum

South Australia boasts one of the most diverse fossil records anywhere in the world. As a result, the South Australian Museum enjoys wide renown for its fossil collections and research projects.

We will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Palaeontology Week in 2012 with an exceptional program onsite at the South Australian Museum, and in key fossil regions around the State. We are delighted to be welcoming back so many guests who have joined us over the past ten years, including four very special international guests.

This will be one of the most significant gathering of highly respected, and internationally renowned palaeontologists ever seen in Australia.

2012 Guests

International

Dr Philip Currie: Professor and Canada Research Chair in Dinosaur Palaeobiology, Tier 1, University of Alberta, Canada

Dr John Long: Vice President, Research and Collections, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California

Dr Diego Garcia-Bellido Capdevilla: Department of Palaeontology the Institutio de Geoloogica
Economica, Facultad de Ciencias Geologicas, University of Madrid, Spain

National

Dr Scott Hocknull: Senior Curator in Geosciences, Queensland Museum
Dr Erich Fitzgerald: Vertebrate Palaeontology, Museum Victoria and Research Assistant, Smithsonian Institution
Dr John Paterson: Convenor and Senior Lecturer, Earth Sciences, University of New England
Dr Anne Musser: Palaeontologist, Jenolan Caves, Australian Museum
Dr Adam Yates: Museum of Central Australia, Alice Springs
Dr Elizabeth Smith: Research Associate, Australian Museum
Andrew Plant: Illustrator and author

There will be many other national and South Australian-based palaeontologists and guest experts in the Earth Sciences field.

Program Highlights

2012 program highlights will be available from January 2012. Daily programs and brochure download will be available from mid-February 2012.

Palaeo Twilight

Learn about career pathways in Earth Sciences and Palaeontology. Best suited for 12-16 year olds for tertiary study and career options advice. Date and times TBC.

Sprigg Lecture

EVENT DETAILS
When:	Tuesday 27 March 2012 5:30pm for 6pm start
Where:	Pacific Cultures Gallery
Cost:	Free Bookings essential on 08 8207 7090

A special 10th anniversary Palaeo Forum will feature all of our international guests, talking about their expeditions, discoveries, research and careers as palaeontologists.

Sprigg lectures are best suited for people 12 years and over. An interpreter service will be available for deaf and hearing impaired visitors.

Faces of Palaeontology

Palaeontology Week provides an exceptional opportunity to talk informally with palaeontologists, PhD students and recent graduates. Learn what inspired them to study palaeontology and hear about their field trips and discoveries.

Win a Palaeontological Dig Trip

Win a chance to be a palaeontologist!

Watch this space: we will have competitions before and during the 2012 Palaeontology Week offering some amazing prizes, including joining a palaeo field trip and visiting the fossil regions of South Australia.

Fossil Hunters

A fascinating collection of personalised stories from palaeontologists sharing with you their discoveries and journeys in the fossil world.

The special 10th anniversary third edition of Fossil Hunters will be released to coincide with 2012 Palaeontology Week, with the opportunity to meet many of the contributors during the week. The book will be available for purchase from the Museum Shop.

Palaeontology Education

Collect • Research • Discover

Face to Face with Palaeontology is a program of daily workshops from Monday 26 to Friday 30 March 2011, providing access to not just palaeontology, but also geology, mineralogy, climate change research and contemporary earth sciences. Sessions are available for Reception to Year 12 and early bookings are essential.

Numbers are limited for both live audience and online access so please book early.

For further information and to book a place, please call 08 8207 7429.

"Palaeontology is the science of life – it takes us to ancient worlds and the first appearance of plants and animals through to life of the modern world. It is a journey of evolution, of survival and extinction. Palaeontology Week gives us the opportunity to explore South Australia's fossil heritage and the museum's world-class fossil collections, meeting the palaeontologists who unravel these mysteries of time."
— Dr Suzanne Miller, Director, South Australian Museum

Follow South Australia's Fossil Trail

Visit the museum's Fossil Gallery and discover for yourself the amazing stories of the state's ancient landscape and fossil regions.

For more information on South Australia's fossil regions and fossil record or to plan your own fossil discovery trail around the State, you may wish to visit the following websites:

Dinosaurs Around Australia

You can find out about traces of dinosaurs around Australia by visiting the followig websites:

We also extend a very warm welcome in 2012 to two very special "dinosaur hunters", Dr Philip Currie from Canada, and Dr Scott Hocknull from Queensland.

2012 Palaeontology Week Sponsors

Key Sponsors

Flinders University is delighted to be a sponsor of the SA Museum's Palaeontology Week. As well as offering the State's only specialist tertiary-level teaching in vertebrate palaeontology, Flinders has a proud 30-year record as principal research institution at the World Heritage Fossil Site at the Naracoorte Caves. The remarkable 500,000 year sequence of fossilised animal remains at the site provides invaluable insights into the geological, evolutionary and climatic history of Australia. As participants in continuing discoveries and investigations of fossil sites in the Mount Lofty and Flinders Ranges and the Lake Eyre basin, palaeontologists at Flinders University are making a major contribution to understanding the causes behind the extinction of Australia's giant marsupial mega fauna and the associated processes of climate change.

Heathgate Resources is proud of its ongoing support of the South Australian Museum and in particular for the major sponsorship of Palaeontology Week. Formed in 1990, the company has operations located in the northern Flinders Ranges and Adelaide and plays a significant role in South Australia's resource development industry.

Support Sponsors

Department for Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy

Santos

Beach Energy

Department of Education & Child Development

Thanks to

Cheap as Chips, Coober Pedy Retail Business and Tourism Association, Desert Cave Hotel, Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, Naracoorte Caves, Flinders Ranges & Outback SA Tourism, Rawnsley Park Station, Wilpena Pound Resort, Prairie Hotel, Burra Visitor Centre, Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, Sealink Travel Group.

South Australian Museum - North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000