No Stone Unturned

Club Rooms: Youth Centre Grounds, Opening Times: Editor & Publisher: 129 Mulgrave Rd. Cairns, Queens- News and views of the Monday: 7:00pm-9:30pm Wednes- Jeanne Mora land. PO Box 389, Westcourt day: 8:30-4:00pm (7:00pm-9:30pm Cairns Mineral & Lapidary Queensland 4870 tuition) Saturday: 10:ooam-4:00pm Phone: 07 4033 0028 Club Inc

is for…..OCTOBER and OPALS (October’s birthstone and Australia’s famous gemstone)

The opal fields are in the area of a long-gone, shallow, inland sea which varied in size over the eons, at one time splitting the land mass of Australia into several large islands before finally drying up altogether. In the process of drying up the salts formed, in plac- es, the wonderful gemstones, opals, in a process that is still not well understood. There are still remnants of this sea visible today, including the great inland salt lakes, the largest of which are Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Frome. The shallow waters of the Gulf of Carpenteria were part of the sea and the invisible Great Artesian Basin lies under the area where waves once lapped. This sea was populated by a plethora of marine species large and small, including pliosaurs, mosasaurs, plesio- saurs, and ichthyosaurs all of which were closer related to reptiles to the better known land-dwelling dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period. Although Australia seems to have less dinosaur fossils than many other countries, (because a fair amount of the continent was under water), from time to time, some stunning fossilized marine creatures are found and painstakingly reconstructed by museum personnel. Two such finds are Chillagoe’s, “ Dave” and Coober Pedy’s , “Eric”. Meet them both in this issue.

CHILLAGOE CELEBRATES “DAVE” The people of Chillagoe have erected a statue of “Dave”, the plesiosaur., of the type called an elasmosaurid. Dave (or his fossilized bones) was encased in sandstone near the bottom of a creek bed about 60 km from Chillagoe. The find, dubbed the “find of the decade”, comprised 80% of the plesiosaur’s skele- ton (see illustration below). The creature had four flippers and resembled a seal with a very long neck (see illustration left). This information was found on the websites: http://www.qld.gov.au.

More about Dave on page 8.

October 2009 Issue How Safe are Your Work Practices? 1

OFFICE BEARERS INSTRUCTION CLASSES CLUB PATRON HON DESLEY BOYLE MP Dates will be advertised on notice board.. President Bill Reece Ph 4054 2498 Cabbing $30:00 (includes material) Vice President Allan Rose Ph 4039 3880 Secretary Jeanne Mora Ph 4033 0028 Jewellery $80:00 (includes material) Treasurer Anne Barham Faceting $60:00 (includes material) Assistant Secretary David Croft Casting $5:00 per flask Assistant Treasurer Jan Saal (You must purchase all materials for casting. Please see Bill Hall to order OTHER PERSONNEL commercial waxes, which take up to three weeks to arrive. Investment Purchasers Betty Reece, Bill Hall, Spec- powder, wax & silver are all available for purchase at the counter. imen Curators David Croft, Laurel Voigt WORKROOM FEES (payable at counter before sessions) Cabochon Instructors Kevin Voigt, Chrissy Wilson Silver Instructors Jenni Hedges, Sylvia Rose, Monday Night : $4:00 Jan Saal, Bill Hall. Wednesday: Full day: $8:00 Faceting Advisor Jim Lidstone, Noel Hedges, Joe Ferk, Trevor Hannam Half Day: $4:00 Carving Advisors Jean Morrow Saturday : Full day: $6:00 Machinery Curators David Croft, Jim Lidstone Half Day: $4:00 (Meeting Satur- Specimen Testers David Croft, Trevor Hannam days, no work is to be done while meeting is in progress) QLACCA Delegate Bill Reece CUTTING FEES Youth Centre Delegate Bill Reece 30c / inch² (members) Librarians Betty Reece, Jean Morrow Events Coordinators Noel Hedges, Allan Rose 50c / inch² (non-members) Honorary Auditor Vic Cummings The positions of Field Officers and carving advisors are yet to be A very warm welcome to our new members: filled Chelse Crockford, Scott Jacobi, Oliver Brinkman Please give these people all the help you can!

MEETINGS General Meetings are held at 1:00pm on the first Saturday of each month. (unless otherwise advised) Management Committee Meet- October Birthdays: ings held at 10:30am last Saturday of the month (unless advised otherwise) Jeanne Mora, Peter Moore, Kevin Voigt, Kyle Blackshaw, CLUB HOURS Anne Barham, Debbie Davie, Leon Dornonville, Lynda Hensher, Dennis Kable, Renee Melville, Jake Melville, Jennifer Shephard, James Spencer. Monday Nights: 7:00pm to 9:30pm Wednesday; 8:30am to 4:00pm Wednesday Night: 7:00pm to 9:30pm (Classes) President Bill & wife Betty are holidaying, so there is no Saturday: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm President’s report on page 3. We hope they have an Club closed on long weekends and public holidays. enjoyable time. MEMBERSHIP FEES (due January 1st)

Family: New $54:00 / year Family: Renewal $34:00 / year Well I didn’t Know That!

Single Member: New $27:00 / year One of the most fascinating things about lapidary, is that you can Single Member: Renewal $17:00 / year always learn something new about the hobby. Almost every time I talk to a member, I pick up a snippet of information that I’ve never (Members are those over 12 years of age. Children under the age of 12 are heard before (or heard and forgotten). I’ll bet you have too! Lets start welcome on field trips and in the main Clubroom under their parents’ supervi- passing these tips on to all members. Please let me know of any you sion. (They must not enter the workrooms.) hear for future publications. Editor

The Editor wishes to advise that articles or advertisements for Trash or Treasure? inclusion in “No Stone Unturned” should be handed to the editor or emailed. All articles must be signed and will be pub- lished at the Editor’s discretion. The Editor reserves the right Advertise any lapidary gear you don’t want in “No Stone to emend all copy used. Contributions should be submitted 2 Unturned”. Someone may be needing what you can no longer weeks before the monthly meeting. use. Ads are free for members. Opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the Club or the Editor. The Publisher is not responsible for any consequence of inaccuracy or omission. The Publisher excludes all warranties able by law to be excluded.

October 2009 Issue How Safe are Your Work Practices? 2 COMMON FACETING GEMSTONES & THEIR PROPERTIES Corundum: Aluminium Oxide

Chemical Formula: AL2O3 • Colour: Mostly Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink, Colourless, Purple and Bi colours Red - Deep Red to a dark Pink with a Hue of Violet • Transparency: Crystal Clear to Translucent • Hardness: 9 • Streak: White • Cleavage: None • Fracture: Conchoidal type fracture, Splintery • Crystal Structure: Hexagonal (Trigonal) • Specific Gravity: 3.17 to 3.23 • Refractive Index: 1.766 to 1.774 • Dispersion: 0.008 • Pleochroism: Definitely Dichroic - Darker colours usually show stronger dichroism. Natural blue: distinct (dark blue to greenish-blue); Natural green: weak (more or less yellow); Natural orange: strong (orange to yellow-brown or colourless); Natural purple: distinct (purple to pinkish); Natural ruby: strong (deep red to yellowish-red); Natural yellow: weak (yellow to light-yellow). • Birefringence: Double Refractive - Weak to Medium (.018) • Spectrum Absorbs Red Yellow and Green bands • Lustre: Vitreous Heating of Sapphire will burn out the silk within the stone and is standard practice. CUTTING This mineral cuts extremely well but polishes differently on different facets. Orange peel is a problem with sapphires and will require pre-polishing with 3000 Diamond grit. At times sapphires will suffer from planes of hardness where cutting one facet will be extremely fast and yet another will take forever to cut. Pleochroism is mostly strong and should be orientated to give the best colour (strongest). Use a fast speed only for cutting (approximate 1000 to 1500rpm). Polishing can prove a problem with some facets due to orange peel so it is best to use 50,000 Diamond grit on a Tin/ Lead Lap that is medium to dry. Use Olive Oil as the base lubricant and spread over the lap. Wipe over the lap with a tissue and then dab polish powder around the lap and spread with a finger. Should this combination prove to ineffec- tive try adding a small amount of vinegar on the lap. Use a slow to medium speed for polishing (100 to 500rpm) The gem has an unusual high lustre and therefore can be cut as a mixed oval but is best suited to standard type bril- liant cuts. Cutting as a rectangle cut does improve the colour but can do the gem an injustice because off its Pleoch- roism. Crown Angles Pavilion Angles Main: 38° Main: 42° Girdle: 43° Girdle: 43 or 44° select your poison Star: 23° BIG TREV

October 2009 Issue How Safe are Your Work Practices? 3

Pictured left, Happenings from new club around the Club member intricacies of basic silver- smithing. Lovely to see most of our wanderers return to the club. Last Wednesday was like a family reunion, with everyone Thanks to Bill’s there, everyone talking at once and much catching up efforts in apply- done. ing for commu- nity grants, the The club has the camera that goes with the new micro- club now has a scope and plans are underway to revamp the small kit to assist microscope room so that photos can be sent to the members with computer for editing and printing with the new printer. As the identifica- soon as this is all complete, challenge yourself to learn tion of gem the ins and outs of this setup. Computers with their stones. The capabilities are definitely here to stay and they extend our instruments in knowledge by a massive extent. These days computers this kit, along are so much more “user-friendly”” (this is jargon for “easy with the microscope will ultimately be housed in the old to use”) that you’ll be surprised just how easy they can be silver room. to learn about. The Canterbury Gem Club, NZ, are currently deciding It’s great to know that we are able to photograph and print on a field trip to the Agate Creek Gem Fields in 2010. some of the wonderful views seen with the microscope, of Should they decide to come, it would be a nice gesture minute and delicate formations. These photographs will if some of our members tagged along to “show them allow you to view your favourite micro-specimens as often the ropes” as in the best places to look. as you like. Members are reminded that it is a requirement that How will all this benefit the club? I see it as a way to anyone working with any machinery in the club rooms capture the attention of the younger generation. Anything are required to wear covered foot-ware. to do with computers seems to fire their imagination and the views under the microscope cannot fail to inspire The club has once more benefitted from the handiwork them. Join up the grandkids, bring them into the club. of some of our members. Many thanks go to Jim Lid- These are tomorrow’s members, and the future sharers of stone, who created a very useful set of large lockable all things lapidary. drawers for storing smaller instruments and technical items need to be kept secure. Who would have thought There has been a big push by educators to make stu- that an old shop display unit could be turned into a dents more aware of Earth Sciences (Geology, ecology very respectable piece of furniture. Thanks also to Bill etc.) in the last few years. (It may surprise you just how Hall who has constructed two cleverly designed doors much they know!) By encouraging their participation in that fit over our silver stock (and lock up) for security. this technology, through the club, should ensure the Thanks too to John Evans for recycling some mesh survival of lapidary. into soldering stands for the silver workers. LETS GET THE KIDS INVOLVED IN THIS GREAT Talk about a small world! The Ridleys “bumped into” a HOBBY! couple from Edmonton way out back north of Coober Don’t tell anyone but….a certain club member is really Pedy. Driving the Great Ocean Road, and visiting such getting absent minded. It seems she turned up for a doc- places as “The Painted Desert”, Lake Eyre (which had tor’s appointment a bit too early (a week to be exact!) some water in it), Oodnadatta, Beltana and Uluru, Ne- Well they do say that once you retire, you lose track of ville & Robyn had a great trip and Neville has treated time! members to several “show and tell” sessions with his laptop and photos, some of which are used in this pub- Sharing a slice of inland NSW and South Australia , dur- lication to illustrate the article on Beltana. The stark ing the recent dust storms, certainly puts a new slant on landscapes have an unusual and unique beauty that tourism. “Come and visit NSW / south Australia before it make you wonder how people survived there. Bill & comes to Queensland by air.” Kath Hall have also been “on the wallaby” and together with the Ridleys, rescued a couple of ladies who had “big” car problems away out west.

October 2009 Issue How Safe are Your Work Practices? 4

Treasures material. You have no doubt heard of the famous mines, such as Deer Creek, Slaughter Mountain, and others. Keith Hill, one of our Life These agates form in basalt and other volcanics, (sic) Members, continues to from a unique process wherein agate is layered in vughs visit the club almost eve- from a hydrothermal solution, one micro-thin layer at a ry Wednesday, bringing time. Some of these layers diffract light back in a rainbow with him several of his pattern, creating brilliant bubbles and sheets of red, collectables. Recent green, yellow, and the elusive blue. It's best to work this ones were, (pictured left) agate with a diamond wheel to first expose the fire layer, a beaker carved from then switch to a Dremel or a Foredom tool with a good alabaster and a pendant sintered diamond bit to patiently wear away, to right on made from Arizona fire top of the fire layer. Tumble them with crushed fire agate agate. (of course don't smash up the good stuff!) to finish them” Alabaster Most specimens have red, green, and yellow fire. For centuries, alabaster Aluminium has been carved by artisans into a wide range of orna- In the last September of “No Stone Unturned”, there was ments, including globes, earrings, vases, cups, bowls, a brief item about aluminium, which mentioned just how chandeliers, and trinket boxes. The material is fine- useful the material is, especially when alloyed with other grained and soft (2 on Moh’s hardness scale) and it is metallic elements to increase it’s hardness. normally snow white, with a silky or glassy sheen. It is readily carved and may also be dyed. (Beautiful ladies of Many of you will recall that some years ago, anodized yore were often described as having skin as white and aluminium utensils were very popular, in the home. smooth as alabaster.) Articles included, lamps (desk & table), tumblers, bowls, saucepans etc. Most antiperspirants also contain alumin- This beautiful material is a form of gypsum, but while ium. Then a link was discovered between ingestion of gypsum has attached molecules of water and forms in aluminium and Alzheimer's Disease and since then monoclinic crystals, alabaster has no crystalline form and these uses for aluminium have been discouraged. appears in amorphous masses. The best specimens have coloured bands running across their surfaces. Alabaster forms through evaporation and occurs in cavi- The picture above is one of the wonderful old dry-stone ties within a wide range of rocks which have been moved from their original location and redeposited elsewhere (sedimentary rocks). It’s also found in clay beds and volcanic deposits as well as around active hot springs. It’s occurrence is wide-spread, but commercially exploitable quantities are less common. Alabaster also fluoresces a delicate blue under an ultraviolet light. Arizona Fire Agate The coloured bands within an agate may be a combination of a multitude of different colours, depending on which minerals are dissolved in the liquids which seep into a nodule, as it forms, to solidify and cre- ate the distinctive colour bands within the nodule. The property which gives the fire agate it’s distinctive iridescence, caused by diffraction of light by the material’s layered structure. Keith’s agate (above) glows buildings remaining in the copper-mining ghost town, a wonderful crimson colour. These agates also appear to Beltana. Beltana Station and nearby Puttapa Station have a bubbling surface which may be clearly seen in were the setting for several notable Australian films this sample. including “Rabbit Proof Fence”, “Gallipoli”, “Thousand Skies”, “and “Stealth”. Tim Fisher has this to say about these beautiful agates on his website: (photo: Neville Ridley)

“The fire agates from Arizona are a truly one-of-a-kind

October 2009 Issue How Safe are Your Work Practices? 5

Other copper mines in the area began working and the Beltana A semi ghost mining town. town became the railhead for copper ore, sheep and wool. Beltana’s best time was between 1875 and the Robyn & Neville Ridley spent some time at this South 1920s. During these years mining activity was at its Australian ghost town and the nearby Beltana Pastoral height. In it’s heyday, Beltana supported a population of Station. They were very impressed by this remnant of old 500 people and boasted a brewery, two hotels, post Australia and took many photographs of the area. and telegraph office, school, police station, railway sta- tion and maintenance, doctor, courthouse, church, hos- pital, baker, butcher, blacksmith, cricket team, race meetings, carriage maker, mining exchange, several shops, and many sporting teams.

Beltana lies 240 m above sea level between the often dry Warrioota and Sliding Rock creeks near Mount Deception. Due to the flatness of the country, the town’s proximity to the creeks and the area’s usually unpredict- able weather; heavy rainfall has often led to flooding while drought has caused the area to be unstocked for long periods (1903-09) Saltbush, bluebush and other acacias are native plants that, with the reduction in stocking over the last decades of the 20th century, are beginning to return to the town area. River red gums line the creeks and there is a near- by yellow-footed rock-wallaby population. Throughout Australia are the remnants of many mining towns, sometimes just a chimney, sometimes a wall, sometimes just rusting machinery. The mining industry depended very heavily on supply and demand. When a certain mineral was in demand and the market price was high, quite large townships sprang up as miners moved into mining areas. This led to towns being established to provide supplies for miners, in some of the most hostile terrain on the continent. One such town was Beltana.

The name Beltana was originally that of a pastoral holding taken up by some enterprising pioneers at a spot where there was permanent water. This water supply had always been important to the local indigenous people. Beltana Station (incorporating Putapa Station) covers nearly 1/2 a million acres and is a fully working sheep and cattle sta- tion. Beltana station was first surveyed in 1854. Sir Thom- as Elder and Robert Barr Smith both owned Beltana sta- tion and through this association the Beltana Pastoral company was founded. Beltana was a part of this compa- ny up until 1983. Sir Thomas Elder imported camels some Some of Neville’s pictures: Top left, the gateway to Beltana of the first in S.A and Beltana station became one of the station: Above, skeletons are clear evidence of the hostile envi- most successful breeding depots in Australia. ronment and below; camels which are decendants of those that were brought into the area by Afghans for transport in the early days. Expeditions were started from Beltana in the early days. One of the most successful was Ernest Giles’ 1875 expe- dition to W.A and back. Other explorers who used the sta- tion as a starting point included Edward John Eyre, John McDouall Stuart, Peter Warburton in 1873, Ross in 1874, Lewis in 1874-75, and Lawrence Wells in 1883

When Charles Todd won the contract to build the overland telegraph line, Beltana, the township began to evolve. In 1873 the town was surveyed and proclaimed as the site of a repeater station for the overland telegraph line. This was followed by the beginning of copper mining in the area, construction of the Australian Overland Telegraph and the Ghan railroad and began to decline in 1941 with the be- ginning of coal mining at Leigh Creek. The fortune of the town was sealed by the 1983 realignment of the main road away from the town.

October 2009 Issue How Safe are Your Work Practices? 6

• Then the Department of Transport demanded a bond AROUND THE CAMPFIRE be posted for the future costs of moving power lines, and other over-head obstructions, to clear the pas- The following incidents were sage for the ark to move to the sea. I told them that reported in local newspapers in the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear the Far North in September. nothing of it. • Getting timber was another problem. There’s a ban on Incident 1. Apparently the rabbits around the Atherton cutting local trees in order to save the endangered Tableland are evolving into Super Bunnies. An Atherton spotted owl. I tried to tell the environmentalists that I resident reported that he caught a pair of feral rabbits needed the timber to save the owls - but, no go! attacking and killing a king brown snake. He also said • So I started to gather up the animals, and an Animal that he’d found a number of dead snakes around the Rights Group sued me. They insisted that I was con- property, so it’s obviously not the first time Super Bun- fining wild animals against their will. They argued that the accommodation was too restrictive, and it was nies have struck. Here’s hoping they don’t evolve into cruel and inhumane to put so many animals into such human hunters anytime soon. a confined space. • I’m still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Incident 2. In Atherton, a 1.5 kangaroo, perhaps not cop- rights Commission on how many minorities I’m ing too well with climate change, recently paid a visit to a supposed to hire for my building crew and the Unions local psychologist. She says he didn’t have a referral or say that I can’t hire my sons but must employ only an appointment, and he just blundered around her rooms Union members with Ark– building experience. before bounding off again. Perhaps he was just checking • And on top of all that, the government has frozen my what counselling was available before making his final assets, claiming I’m trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species. So forgive me Lord, but it choice. will take me at least ten years to build this Ark!”

• Incident 3. Radar police near Mission Beach were en- Suddenly the sky cleared, the sun began to shine, and couraged to “move along” by a male Cassowary that a rainbow stretched across the heavens. wasn’t too happy about them setting up their gear in his Noah looked up in wonder and asked, “You mean territory. The report says that the same bird, stood you’re not going to destroy the world?” unmoving in the middle of the road, forcing a motorist “No”, said the Lord, “ to stop and then came up to the car window and The Government’s Beaten me to it!” “eyeballed” her until she backed off.

What are the locals feeding their wildlife to make them so Some musings from Jean Morrow:- wild? (Thanks to Joe & Marie for the following) When I was in my younger days, I weighed a few pounds less, NOAH I needn’t hold my tummy in to wear a belted dress. In the year 2009, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in Australia , and said: But now that I am older, I’ve set my body free, “Once again, the earth has become wicked and over- There’s comfort of elastic where once my waist would populated, and I see the end of it all flash before me. be. Build another Ark and save two of every living thing and a few good humans.” Inventor of those high heeled shoes my feet have not He gave Noah the blueprints saying,” You have six forgiven, months to build the Ark before I start the unending rain I have to wear size nine now, but used to wear size for forty days and forty nights.” seven. Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard…. but no Ark! And how about those pantyhose—they’re sized by “Noah”, he roared, “I’m about to start the rain! Where is weight you see, the Ark?” So how come when I put them on the crotch is at my “Forgive me Lord,” begged Noah, “but things have been knees? difficult. • I had to apply for a building permit. I need to wear these glasses as the prints are getting smaller, • I’ve been arguing with the inspector about the need for And it wasn’t very long ago that I was taller. a sprinkler system. • Then the EPA ruled that I couldn’t build the Ark until Though my hair has turned to grey and my skin no they’d conducted an environmental impact study on longer fits, your proposed flood. On the inside I’m the same old me, just the outside’s • Then my neighbours claimed that I’ve violated the local changed a bit. zoning laws by building an Ark in my yard and exceed ing the height limitations. We had to go to an Appeals (We know what you mean, Jean) Board for a decision.

October 2009 Issue How Safe are Your Work Practices? 7

HOW;S THIS? MORE ABOUT DAVE. We are proud to present the first photo taken with the Although Dave measured just 5m in length, elasmosaurs new equipment. This minute spider was preserved for- could grow up to 14m long, weigh in at up to two tonnes. ever in a lump of Baltic amber many millions of years The ate fish and squid. ago. Invisible to the naked eye, the image was Dave lived about 100m years ago, when most of north magnified 60 times by the microscope, captured with and central Queensland was covered by the Apian Sea, a the camera, sent to the computer where it was edited, shallow sea which bordered Chillagoe. (This area now making it lighter, sharper and brighter, just so you can forms The Great Artesian Basin.) see what spiders looked like back then. Thanks to Victor for the loan of his wonderful amber specimen, so we can see a window into the past. Eric Revisited.

Another extraordinary fossil find was Eric. Piecing togeth- er the excavated fossilized bones of dinosaurs, is a painstaking business. This was especially true of Eric. (From "The Fossils Collector", May 1993) "Eric", The Opalized Dinosaur

Nicknamed "Eric", the early Cretaceous fossil plesiosaur was discovered in mid-1987 by an opal miner at Coober Pedy, South Australia. In 1988, the remains were brought to Sydney by an opal dealer who enlisted the assistance of the Paleontology staff of the Australian Mu- seum as consultants.

The specimen was later purchased privately for possible display in a city development, although the difficult task of cleaning and reconstructing the shattered skeleton speci- men was entrusted to the museum. It took 450 hours of MUTTABURRASAURUS painstaking work to remove the rock from the numerous bone fragments and to reassemble them. All of the origi- Muttaburrasaurus was first found on Rosebury Downs nal bone in the plesiosaur's skeleton had been complete- ly replaced with opal, mostly of a poor quality white varie- station beside the Thompson river near the town of ty; a type of preservation unique in Australia. Muttaburra in Queensland, Australia, in 1963. It was discovered by a local grazier, Mr D.Langdon of Mutta- The results were spectacular, most of the skeleton (85- burra. The fossil remains had been scattered about by 90%) was recovered and successfully rebuilt. The fragile the feet of cattle for years and some of the locals had skull came out in four separate blocks of rock. Inside the taken pieces home with them. Once the importance of plesiosaur's rib-cage lay piles of smooth, round pebbles the find was known the locals were asked to return the of gastroliths (stomach stone). Mixed in with them were a dozen tiny fish vertebrae, also opalized, the remains of material they had souvenired, and most was recovered. the animal’s last supper. Preliminary studies reveal this It was a herbivore similar to Iguanodon that spent most plesiosaur, a fast swimming marine predator with numer- ous sharp teeth, to be related to a form known as Pey- of its time on all fours, but could raise up onto its hind erous, found in South Africa over 60 million years ago in legs to feed or to run fast from predators. It had an unu- rocks of approximately the same age. However, the Aus- sual wide, low skull with a hollow chamber on top of its tralian animal probably represents a new species. snout. Through contributions of over $300,000 from all around Australia, the Australia Museum has been able to pur- chase "Eric", guaranteeing continued public display in Australia.

Opal mining methods, which involve the use of heavy duty machinery, preclude future discoveries such as Eric. One wonders just how many valuable fossils may have vanished forever in the unique opal fields of Australia.

October 2009 Issue How Safe are Your Work Practices? 8