Respect to our Elders

“We would like to acknowledge the

Boon wurrung people, the Traditional
Custodians of the Land on which we meet
today.

We would also like to pay our respect to

Elders past, present & future”

BB middens dating ≈ 2000 – 3000 years

 Ophiomorpha beaumarisensis
a trace fossil – burrow of a thalassinidean lobster in
Beaumaris sandstone
Late Neogene ~5 million years old
 Mud lobster 5-6 M yrs ago
Thalassina anomala -sub-fossil from Darwin
-probably looked like this
 Beaumaris Bay nominated for
National Heritage listing
-scientific significance

• Palaeontological -5-6 million yo

• Geological
• Artistic
• Indigenous & cultural values
5-6 million year old fossils/cliffs
Why is it significant?

• both marine & terrestrial mammal fossils

– Excellent preservation is internationally rare

• the only internationally significant urban

fossil site in Australia
 Beaumaris Bay Fossil Site
-registered Aust Heritage Database 1999 No:18053
Richest & most diverse fossils – international signif.
• Pelagornithids - extinct bird with pseudoteeth
• Shark teeth, bones of seals, penguins, primitive
dolphins, dugongs & whales
• Jaw bones of Diprotodontid marsupials
• Molluscs, snails, slugs, bivalves (clams, mussels,
etc.), cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopuses, etc.))
• Brachiopods (hard valve shells)
• Echinoderms (eg star fish, sea urchins)
• Crustraceans (eg crays, crabs, barnacles, shrimps)
• Corals
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-
bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail&place_id=018053
PPB was much larger extending to Caulfield
[↑ temp’s 3 degrees]; large rivers flowed into Bay
bringing bones & trees to settle in soft mud →
stone.......fossils
Heart urchins (spatangoids)
Lovenia woodsii
~ 5 million years old
 Megalodon!
Largest shark ever
~15 metres long
Tyrannosaurus rex tooth, the extinct
sperm whale tooth & contemporary
sperm whale tooth Photo: Ben Healley
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victor
ia/giant-beaumaris-tooth-reveals-monster-
whale-stalked-our-seas/news-
story/d61991da22dc111a1bc3b0e6ce9538e
a
Lower jaw of a fossilised sperm whale found
at Beaumaris
Erich Fitzgerald, Museum Victoria
Sea turtle fossils at Beaumaris filled a
66-million-year-gap in the history of
Australian reptiles
 Diprotodons
1.6 million-10,000 years ago
1 of largest marsupial; herbivore- a giant wombat
1.5 m long; 80cm tall
-time of extinction?
-co-existed with aborigines ≈ 25,000 yrs ago ?hunting / fires
 Midden deposits & artefacts
>20 registered in Bayside 600 - >2,000yo
nomadic – seasonal; traded food, possum cloak, ♀

• BB middens dating ≈ 2000 – 3000 years

• Beaumaris cliff sites uncovered 2 distinct
layers of occupation.
• Top layer contains shell midden & artefacts
• Lower unit contains only stone artefacts &
no shell.
– Stone artefacts different from those found in 1st
layer, significance?
 Australian Impressionism
The Heidelberg School
late 19th century
- 1880’s [>130 yrs ago]
• Tom Roberts
• Frederick McCubbon
• Arthur Streeton
• Walter Withers
• Charles Condor
• Clarice Beckett..... etc
 Tom ROBERTS 1856 – 1931
Slumbering sea, Mentone 1887 NGV
Tom ROBERTS 1856 - 1931
The sunny south c. 1887 NGV
 Arthur Streeton
Beaumaris Bay 1906
Arthur STREETON 1867 - 1943
Fossil Bay 1925
Streeton letter, later remembered the cottage on the
cliffs above Beaumaris that the artists rented ≈ 1925
[>100 yrs ago]
"In spite of the heat, the vile hammocks we
slept in; the pest of flies and the puce-
covered walls, we had a great time
here…On Sundays we took a billy and
chops and tomatoes down to a beautiful
little bay which was full of fossils, where we
camped for the day. We returned home
during the evening through groves of
exquisite tea-trees [sic]. The sea serene, the
cliffs of Sandringham flushed with the
afterglow."
Frederick McCUBBIN 1855-1917
Moyes Bay, Beaumaris 1887
Clarice BECKETT 1887 - 1935
Mentone Cliffs (Beaumaris
Seascape) 1931
Modern day artists eg Margaret
Gurney 2015