Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

provided by

This clip tells the story of the discovery of a fossilised dinosaur claw, commonly referred to as the Cape Paterson Claw, on the south-east coast of Victoria by William Ferguson in 1903. This discovery was later to prove of great significance in the history of palaeontology. The story is narrated in voice-over and is illustrated by a re-creation of the discovery, together with historic footage of London, a dinosaur skeleton and photographs. The clip opens with a scene of the coast where the discovery was made.

Educational value points

• The clip uses documentary techniques to engage the viewer’s interest in finding out about the palaeontological mystery that 'would rewrite world history’. Skilfully combining dramatised film, historical footage, photomontage and voice-over, the clip re-creates the story of the first dinosaur find in Australia by William Hamilton Ferguson (1861–1957), a geologist.

• Ferguson’s significant discovery is re-created in the clip. In 1903 Ferguson, a field geologist, found a small fossil bone at Eagle’s Nest near Cape Paterson on Victoria’s south-eastern coast, later identified as a dinosaur claw. Since it was thought that dinosaurs were cold-blooded and could not have lived in the polar climate of Victoria during the Cretaceous Period, the significance of the discovery was discounted. It was assumed that the fossil claw must have been transported to the site.

• Revival of interest in Ferguson’s find in modern times has forced a reassessment of dinosaurs’ adaptability. In the late 1970s, palaeontologist Tim Flannery (1956–) read Ferguson’s field notes, revisited the site and found more fossil bones. Organised expeditions have since found hundreds of dinosaur bones at and near the site, establishing that dinosaurs lived in Victoria in the Cretaceous times and were therefore able to withstand intense cold.

• Little was known about Australian dinosaurs until the 1980s and 1990s, when significant dinosaur remains began to be found in several excavations. The three most important sites are in southern Victoria, at Lightning Ridge in New South Wales and in central Queensland. In 1999 the largest and most complete fossilised skeleton of a sauropod, one of the largest dinosaurs to roam the continent, was found. The fossilised tracks of the largest known dinosaur in the world are in Broome.

• It is only in recent times that the value of William Ferguson’s work has been appreciated. Largely self-educated, after leaving school at age 14 he attained the rank of assistant field geologist in the Victorian Geological Survey. Over 35 years he documented the geology of approximately 10,000 square km of previously unmapped Victoria, discovering gold, mineral deposits and many geological phenomena, as well as revealing much about the fossil record of the state.

• This clip is a part of the award-winning television documentary Terrible Lizards of Oz (2004). It won the Best Documentary Award at CSIRO’s 2004 Festival of Science Films. Ruth Berry, who wrote and directed the film, gained a Cassowary Award in 2003 for presenting World Heritage values to the international community through film and illustration.

A voice-over of the below script with images of a cliff top with terns resting and hovering, then a re-enactment of Ferguson finding a fossil. There are then a shot of London, a dinosaur skeleton, the Victorian Museum and finishing with an image of Ferguson and a map of where he found the fossil.

Narrator The quest for an answer began over a century ago along this windswept coastline in south-eastern Australia, near the town of Inverloch. In May 1903, William Hamilton Ferguson came searching for coal. As a geologist, he was trained to recognise plant and animal fossils. At the base of a sandstone cliff, he found one that was unlike any he had ever seen. He noted the location — just west of a rock formation called Eagle’s Nest and sent the curious fossil to London for analysis.

Here, palaeontologists described it as the claw of a carnivorous dinosaur. The claw was returned to Australia where it was archived in the Victorian Museum. It was Australia’s first dinosaur bone, on it’s own a minor curiosity, but together with Ferguson’s journal and his meticulously drawn map, this claw would one day help palaeontologists rewrite world history.