Angair talk: Fossils: the hidden treasures of the Surf Coast

Anglesea Memorial Hall

This month’s Angair Talk features Anglesea Primary School principal Ross Dullard who will not be talking about his passion for education but another long-held enthusiasm: fossils.

In 2019, Ross discovered the skull of a previously unknown species of ancient whale on the beach at Jan Juc. His find was buried in the Jan Juc Formation, a rich source of fossils which was laid down about 25 million years ago in the Miocene.

Ross got permission from the Melbourne Museum to extract the fossil as it was in danger of being swept out to sea. The museum confirmed the fossil’s identity last year and named it Janjucetus dullardi, after Ross. It is the first known example of a whale belonging to a family of extinct small whales called the Mammalodontidae.