Tuesday, April 19, 2011

PREHISTORIC MARSUPIAL - TRACES AT CANBERRA


Apparently Black Mountain in Canberra was once home to giant Wombats. I found this series of newspaper clippings reporting the discovery of a 9 inch long prehistoric Diprotodon tooth. These ancient marsupials were the size of an elephant.

The tooth was unearthed  whilst excavating for the Commonwealth Entomological Building in 1929 at the base of Black Mountain. Diprotodons are thought to have become extinct around 50,000 years ago and several theories for their demise include climate change, human hunting and native land management practices. All the major newspapers published a small report on the find...

The Mercury - 27 August 1929

National Library of Australia


The Argus - 27 August 1929


National Library of Australia


The Register News-Pictorial - 27 August 1929


National Library of Australia


The Sydney Morning Herald - 27 August 1929


National Library of Australia


The West Australian - 27 August 1929


National Library of Australia

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4 comments:

  1. KeithApril 19, 2011 at 9:45 AM

    Oh wouldn't it be great if these were still here! We would of course require stronger fences!!! But it would be worth it.
    Great post, thank you.
    Keith.
    http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. David R. ReidApril 19, 2011 at 9:48 AM

    I'm surprised the boffins arent still researching. I wonder what they would find if they had a good look around.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 1, 2011 at 10:16 PM

    Any idea of the tooth's whereabouts since then?

    ReplyDelete
  4. David R. ReidMay 2, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    Unfortunately no. If any other readers have an idea of the tooth's location please comment here.

    ReplyDelete

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