By: Michael Fox

Day 7 25 Aug 2022 Muttaburra to Winton 1,948km covered.

Leaving Muttaburra you pass a number of interesting sculptures some created as part of the 2014 Sculpture Festival.

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Rhythm of Life by Milynda Rogers and winner of the 2014 Sculpture Festival features two Brolgas in what looks like a courting dance.

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Spring is in the Air by Brodie Knickel and Beau Gray really captures the red bottlebrush flower.

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The Cessna by Rupert Ballinger is appropriately at the entry to the Muttaburra airport.

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We passed a pair of Brolgas Grus rubicunda beside the road. Beautiful birds that mate for life.

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The land we were driving through we mainly very flat except for mesas that periodically stood out on the horizon. The Jump Up is 75 metres above the surrounding land and the location of the excellent Australian Age of Dinosaurs attraction.

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The striking architecture blends well with the landscape. The site includes three separate facilities Fossil Preparation Laboratory, Collection Room, Dinosaur Canyon and the Cretaceous Café.

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I took a tour that started with the Fossil Preparation Laboratory where we learned about the process of careful onsite “wrapping” the of bones in plaster of Paris and aluminium foil.

The bones are stored until preparation. I talked with one of the volunteers doing exacting work cleaning specimens with a tool like a dentist drill. He and his wife come out for a couple o weeks once or twice a year to work on these bones.

One thing that really stunned me was the fossilised Conifer limb that just about stretched the width of the huge shed. 95 million years ago the inland sea has retreated and Winton district was the fringe of a costal wetland. Huge conifers dominate with lush vegetation of cycads, ginkgos and ferns.

The Dinosaur Canyon includes a bronze sculpture of the right femur of a Diamatinasaurus matildae. About the length of an elephant femur but much thicker.

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The Dinosaur Stampede National Monument is located at Lark Quarry Conservation Park, 110km south west of Winton.

A similar site with sauropod tracks dating back some 95 million years was found at Snake Creek on Karoola Station, northwest of Winton. The tracksite was at risk of erosion from water so the whole site was excavated and moved in its entirety to a purpose-built facility at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs.

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Outside there is a walkway among the tree tops of Dinosaur Canyon with surprises in the form of small bronze sculptures of dinosaurs walking across adjacent rocks.

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While I was on the tour Ann explored the amazing native vegetation on site. As well as the Ptilotus exaltatus Pink Mulla Mulla we found beside the road there is also the creamy coloured Ptilotus polystachyus Longtails, Prince of Wales Feathers.

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Grevillea wickhamii Holly-leaved Grevillea is a popular landscaping plant.

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Winton is also very proud of its association with Banjo Patterson’s Waltzing Matilda.

Sheep sculptures in the main street are complemented by an excellent series of sculptures telling the Waltzing Matilda story.

The swagman is reaching for the jumbuck (sheep) then the squatter rides down followed by troopers, finally the swaggie jumps in the billabong saying “You’ll never catch me alive”