Dinosaur tracks
Dinosaur trackway on the Dampier Peninsula. Up to 21 species of dinosaurs have been recorded on the Dampier Peninsula © Kandy Curran
Finding a footprint or track (the term used by scientists) made by a dinosaur 130 million years ago is a special experience, and there’s no better place to search than on the foreshore of the Dampier Peninsula’s DINOSAUR COAST in the West Kimberley in WA. In fact, the Dinosaur Coast is the only place in Australia where Sauropod tracks can be seen.
Have a watch of an award winning short film produced in 2018 called The Dinosaur Coast »
Since 2011 scientists have identified thousands of dinosaur tracks and numerous discrete tracksites in the Broome Sandstone rock on the beaches from Roebuck Bay 80 km north towards Cape Leveque at the tip of the Dampier Peninsula.
Tracks range in size from small (20 cm) to very large (>1.5m). Over 20 different types of tracks exist. In March 2017 the scientists’ research findings were published in the prestigious Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology which revealed that the diversity and number of tracks are unparalleled in Australia and globally. Most of Australia’s dinosaur fossils come from the eastern side of the continent, and are between 115 and 90 million years old. Research in the Kimberley has also revealed that tracks in the 127 to 140 million-year-old Broome Sandstone are considerably older.
Dr Steve Salisbury with a team of scientists recorded thousands of dinosaur tracks and numerous discrete tracksites from Roebuck Bay north to the tip of the Dampier Peninsula. © Kandy Curran
In recognition of the outstanding heritage values of the dinosaur tracks, the intertidal zone along the Dampier Peninsula from Roebuck Bay to Cape Leveque (excluding the area from Dampier Creek to Entrance Point) was included the West Kimberley National Heritage List on August 31 2011. Click here to see the area covered by the listing.
These tracks have always been known to the Aboriginal custodians of the land, with the dinosaur tracks in the 130-million-year-old sandstone part of the cultural heritage of the people of the Dampier Peninsula and greater West Kimberley.
The tracks are integral to a ‘song cycle’ that extends along the coast from Bunginygun (Swan Point, Cape Leveque) to Wabana (Cape Bossut, near La Grange) then inland to the southeast over a total distance of approximately 450 kilometres, tracing the journey of a Dreamtime creator being known as Marala or ‘Emu Man’.
Dr Salisbury has used advanced technologies to record the dinosaur trackways on the coast of the Dampier Peninsula. © Kandy Curran
As Dr. Steve Salisbury, a palaeontologist at the University of Queensland who has been working with the Aboriginal custodians documenting and identifying the tracks, says:
These trackways are of international significance. The glimpse of a 130-million-year-old world that they provide is awe inspiring. But it is the linking of these track sites into the songline and associated indigenous culture that adds a whole other dimension to their significance.
Publications
Articles published by scientists provide more detailed information about the amazing diversity of prints and trackways on the Dinosaur Coast and the research methods used to study this unique heritage.
In March 2107 scientists from the University of Queensland and collaborating researchers published two articles about the Dinosaur Coast. Click on the title to download the article.
Published on 25.3.17 as the 2016 Memoir Of The Society Of Vertebrate Paleontology titled The dinosaurian ichnofauna of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Walmadany area (James Price Point), Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia. Authors Salisbury, S.W., Romilio, A., Herne, M.C., Tucker, R.T. and Nair, J.P.
This information is from the Dinosaur Coast Management Group.
To learn more about the dinosaur tracks on Roebuck Bay and the Dampier Peninsula, go to the Dinosaur Coast Management Group website »