By Petra Stock
Scarcely signposted, tucked behind a yacht squadron car park and accessible via an overgrown grass track lies one of Australia’s most significant urban fossil sites.
Beaumaris Bay, a quiet pocket of pebbled beach between Black Rock and Mentone, can easily be missed. But fossil hunters who slip past the red-lettered “no parking” sign are greeted by honeycomb-coloured cliffs and a rocky shoreline that holds a snapshot of life from five to six million years ago.
Katrina Gill searches for fossils at Beaumaris.Credit: Jason South
“Most cities don’t have world-class fossil sites on their doorstep,” says palaeontology professor John Long from Flinders University.
“It’s very significant because there aren’t many sites of that age in Australia that give you a very diverse view of the marine life – not just fish and sharks, but mammals, birds and invertebrates.”
Beaumaris offers urban explorers and scientists an unparalleled window into the past, a time when massive now-extinct sharks like megalodon were still roaming the oceans, as modern marine and land animals began to emerge.
The Beaumaris site has yielded 80 per cent of Australia’s penguin fossils, 75 per cent of the nation’s fossil seals and the only sea turtle fossils.
The beach is responsible for some of Australia’s best fossil finds.Credit: Jason South
It’s revealed rare and ancient sharks, whales and dugongs, and is the only Australian site to produce fossils from the pelagornithid, an extinct species of toothed bird that had a six-metre wingspan.
Long spent his childhood snorkelling and fossicking here.
“When I was eight, I had my first visit to the Beaumaris site. I actually sat on the ground, put my hand on the sand and onto a shark’s tooth. It was not a common one either; it was a tiger shark tooth, which is quite rare there.”
Scientist and former Australian of the year Professor Tim Flannery grew up nearby and says it’s a magical place.
Tim Flannery at Beaumaris in 2015.Credit: Joe Armao
“I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring in summer,” he says. “Take the bike and go down to Beaumaris beach and swim around on the long summer evenings, finding fossils and travelling through time.
Flannery found a huge megalodon tooth at Beaumaris and made other significant discoveries there, including part of the backbone from one of the southern hemisphere’s earliest seals.
Dr Erich Fitzgerald is the senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Museums Victoria Research Institute.
He says the scale and significance of the Beaumaris site first dawned on him when he had the enviable task of unboxing fossils following the museum’s relocation to the Carlton Gardens.
Shark teeth from Beaumaris held by the Melbourne Museum.Credit: Museums Victoria
Fitzgerald was awestruck by the sheer number and diversity of fossils, especially hundreds and hundreds of shark teeth, treasures now occupying multiple cabinets in the museum’s archive.
But having such a significant site so close to the city brings threats, along with opportunities.
A bone found at the beach belonging to a pelagornis, which had a six-metre wingspan.Credit: Museums Victoria
In 2016, the ongoing risk of development prompted scientists and the local community to nominate the site for listing on the National Heritage Register, but it still hasn’t happened.
Murray Orr, president of local group Bayside Earth Sciences, has been “hooked” since visiting as a teenager.
His advice for fossil hunters is to leave their spades and shovels at home – there are significant fines for digging. He suggests peering carefully among the rocks for anything that stands out.
Museums Victoria is seeking donations to deliver a formal training program to the local community, equipping them with museum and scientific best practices.
Research continues on Beaumaris fossils, revealing marine species previously unknown to science.
Fitzgerald says anyone who finds something potentially significant should take a photo, drop a GPS pin on their phone and contact the museum.
Those lucky enough to find loose fossils like lovenia (heart urchins) or common types of shark teeth can pick them up, Fitzgerald says. But he suggests, for those content to do so, just take a photo and leave it for the next person to see.
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