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official name for the tracksite—is in central Queensland, about 110 km (68 mi)
southwest of Winton, the nearest town of any size in that part of Queensland. The
tracksite is protected from the elements of the Australian Outback by a beautiful,
spacious, and environmentally friendly building constructed over and around the
tracks in 2002. During my first visit in 2007, I wondered how comfortable I might
bespendinganighttherealonewiththedinosaurtracks.Thisunusualthoughtcame
tomeuponrealizing that Ihadbeenaccidentally locked in,justafter thelast tourof
the day had departed.
Before talking about that embarrassing episode, though, let's go back to justi-
fyingwhythesedinosaurtracksdeservesuchrenownandreverence,includingtheir
ownbuildingintheproverbial“middle ofnowhere”andNational Heritage statusin
Australia. I remember first learning about Lark Quarry as a geology graduate stu-
dent, soon after beginning my studies in ichnology while at the University of Ge-
orgia in the mid-1980s. Imagine how thrilling it was for a nascent ichnologist in
GeorgiatoreadaboutasitethatheldmorethanthreethousandCretaceous dinosaur
tracks in faraway Queensland, Australia. I likewise dreamed of the ichnologically
induced ecstasy that surely would result from a pilgrimage to see it in person. This
aspiration became real for the first time in 2007 (that's when I was locked in) and
was fulfilled twice more, once in 2010 with my wife Ruth (who successfully kept
us from getting trapped) and in 2011 when I brought a group of university students
there as part of a study-abroad program I taught in Queensland that year.
How was such a remarkable dinosaur tracksite discovered? As is still typical
for fossil finds in many parts of the world, it was spotted by a sharp-eyed amateur,
cattle station manager Glen Seymour, who lived and worked in the area. When Mr.
Seymour first saw the tracks in 1962, only a few were visible on a rock surface
sticking out of a hillside. I imagine the resemblance of these three-toed tracks to
those of emu or brush-turkey tracks caught his eye, his perceptions honed by much
time outdoors and looking at the ground. Indeed, he later said he considered them
to be fossil bird tracks and was flabbergasted when Peter Knowles, a local photo-
