Volunteering at a Dinosaur dig

The annual dig at the Flat rocks site near Inverloch in Victoria has been taking place since 1994 and more than 12,000 fossil bones have been catalogued in that time.

Applications are now available for prospective new volunteers for the Dinosaur Dreaming 2009 field trip. Application forms and information are available from the Discovery Centre, Museum Victoria, phone number (03) 8341 7111 (Mon – Sun, 10am – 4:30pm) Applications close Friday 17th October and successful applicants will be invited to attend an information session on Saturday 25th October at the Discovery Centre. Applicants must be 18 years or older, have average fitness and be willing (and able) to carry up to 10kg of equipment or rock up and down 20 or more steps leading to the dig site at Inverloch. Other tasks include shovelling wet sand out of the dig site and breaking down large rocks to sugar-cubed size. Sounds laborious but it’s lots of fun.

Each year up to 60 volunteers from all over the world travel to Inverloch to take part in the annual excavations. It is an amazing experience and many volunteers return year after year to help.

The dates for Dinosaur Dreaming 2009 are 1st February to 28th February inclusive. The crew will be at the Flat Rocks site on most days, depending on the tide and the weather. Visitors to the site are welcome but are unable to participate in the excavations as trained eyes are necessary to spot the fossil bones.

A group of Dinosaur Dreaming volunteers breaking
rock at the Flat Rocks training day. November 2005