Three new dinosaurs discovered in Qld | National News | Breaking National News in Australia

3rd July 2009

THREE new species of Australian dinosaur have been discovered in a prehistoric billabong in western Queensland.

Premier Anna Bligh announced the discovery in the central western town of Winton on Friday as she opened the first stage of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History.

The dinosaurs have been nicknamed after characters created by poet Banjo Paterson, who is said to have written Waltzing Matilda in Winton in 1885.

Banjo (carnivorous theropod), Matilda and Clancy (giant plant-eating sauropods) were found in a vast geological deposit near Winton that dates from 98 million years ago.

The first new sauropods to be named in Australia in more than 75 years were unearthed during state government-funded joint Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum and Queensland Museum digs.

The meat-eating Australovenator wintonensis (Banjo) has been coined Australia's answer to the velociraptor made famous in the Jurassic Park movies.

The two plant-eating, four-legged sauropod species are new types of titanosaurs - the largest animals ever to walk the earth.

"These discoveries are a major breakthrough in the scientific understanding of prehistoric life in Australia," Ms Bligh said.

"The potential for educational tourism through their permanent display at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History in Winton is enormous."

The museum will eventually house the world's largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils when it is completed in 2015.

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