Meeting Muttaburrasaurus

The landscape of western Queensland is dramatic. After a good wet season, Mitchell grass grows thickly on the vast plains. Elsewhere the land is stony and dotted with clumps of hardy spinifex. But if you’d travelled this way 95 million years ago, the scenery would have been very different. In the Mid-Cretaceous period forests of conifers, lush ferns and flowering plants covered the land, watered by rivers and streams which flowed into a huge inland sea. And it was inhabited by dinosaurs! 

In August 2022, we followed the Dinosaur Trail through western Queensland, on a route from Winton to Richmond, Hughenden and Muttaburra, all locations where dinosaur fossils have been discovered. Put your Australian Dinosaur Trail Pass in your pocket and join us on a journey back in time to the land of the dinosaurs. 

Muttaburra

There are dinosaurs on every street corner in Muttaburra.

The most famous prehistoric resident of Muttaburra, however, has his own special exhibition at the Muttaburrasaurus Interpretation Centre.

In 1963, the skeleton of a previously unknown dinosaur was found by Doug Langdon on a property near Muttaburra. Later, when the skeleton was excavated by palaeontologist Dr Alan Bartholomai, it was named Muttaburrasaurus langdoni.

Muttaburrasaurus lived in this part of northern Queensland between 112 and 103 million years ago. He was primarily a herbivore although the shape of his jaw and teeth suggest he may have also been a meat eater. 

The interpretation centre bearing his name features displays describing the discovery of the first skeleton, replicas of the fossilised bones and a timeline of the earth’s palaeontological history. 

While the fossilised remains of four more of these unique dinosaurs have since been discovered in other parts of northern Australia, the most famous will always be the one found near Muttaburra.

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