Opalised fossils hide in private collections. These palaeontologists rescue them 🦴🌈 | ABC Australia
One in a billion bones becomes a fossil — even fewer turn into precious opal. That's what makes Lightning Ridge, located in the north-west of New South Wales, such a special place.
Here, rainbow bones, shells, teeth and plant are unearthed by the regions opal miners. And here lies the challenge. Should the fossil be broken up for its coloured stone and sold as jewellery or should the specimen be preserved for scientific study?
Two local palaeontologists Dr Elizabeth Smith and Jenni Brammall have collectively spent over 50 years convincing opal miners, as well as buyers and sellers, of the significance of what they're finding.
With the threat of losing fossils to private collections, as well as delicately navigating a multitude of personalities inside the town, we follow Liz and Jenni on their fight to save the opalised fossils and have them placed in a national collection permanently.
00:00 | Rainbow Bones intro
02:48 | Opalised shark teeth fall into the hands of an opal and fossil buyer
04:38 | Meet palaeontologist Dr Elizabeth Smith
05:28 | What did Lightning Ridge look like when dinosaurs walked?
06:11 | How does opal form?
06:59 | How are opalised fossils formed?
08:11 | Everyday life for palaeontologists living in Lightning Ridge
09:47 | When Elizabeth Smith first arrived in Lightning Ridge
12:19 | Lightning Ridge in the 1990s
12:56 | The Australian Museum arrives In Lightning Ridge
13:41 | Meet opal photographer Robert Smith
16:24 | Palaeontologist Jenni Brammall sets out to identify a potential shark tooth
17:51 | How Jenni Brammall became a palaeontologist
18:41 | The fossils of Riversleigh
20:04 | When Jenni first arrived In Lightning Ridge
21:10 | Understanding the miners of Lightning Ridge
22:48 | The story behind Fostoria dhimbangunmal, an opalised dinosaur
23:54 | Growing up as an opal miner in Lightning Ridge
24:57 | Discovering a dinosaur in Lightning Ridge
26:17 | How the myth that the army will seize your fossils began
27:50 | Opal miner Butch McFadden explains the benefits of donating fossils
31:20 | Opalised sharks teeth
32:09 | Inside the Australian Opal Centre
32:54 | The opalised shark tooth lost forever, found again
24:01 | Environmental activism and fossil conservation
35:12 | The fight to save Lightning Ridge fossils from the black market trade
36:34 | Opal mining family decides to hand over fossils to Australian Opal Centre
37:14 | Looking back on the discovery of Fostoria dhimbangunmal
39:00 | Jenni and Liz are called to identify opalised fossils
40:56 | What happens when Lightning Ridge doesn’t have two full-time palaeontologists?
43:10 | The importance of keeping fossils on country
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