Eureka! 126-million-year-old fossil find for student, Sentinel-Times, 23 May 2023

YEAR 8 student Hayden Power from the San Remo Campus of Bass Coast College recently discovered a 126-million-year-old fossil embedded in rock found at a beach in San Remo.

Year 8 students, led by local palaeontologist Mike Cleeland recently visited geologically significant areas of coastline as a part of their science studies.

The students were looking at evidence of volcanic activity and rock types when the discovery was made.

Mike had encouraged students to look for signs of fossils in nearby rocks as this area is known to harbor many fossils.

Hayden noticed that the rock he had overturned resembled the description of fossilised bone Mike had given, rushing the rock to Mike to have his inkling confirmed.

The fossil has been identified by palaeontologists in the Department of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Museums Victoria as a vertebra, most likely from Koolasuchus cleelandi.

Koolasuchus was first discovered in Bass Coast by Mike Cleeland in 1990 and Koolasuchus cleelandi was named the Victoria’s State Fossil Emblem in 2022.

“I was surprised that I actually found a dinosaur bone, it’s really exciting because it’s so rare,” Hayden said.

Bass Coast College has a long-running history of exciting fossil finds, it is almost eight years to this day that WSC/BCC students made another significant find, with two students breaking open a rock found at Inverloch to discover a 115 million-year-old claw from an Ornithopod.