Kangaroo Island fossils inspire new stamp series

Prehistoric fossils from Kangaroo Island have been reimagined as colourful sea creatures for a new stamp series. Dr Peter Trusler used the latest research on the 512m-year-old fossils to create detailed illustrations, which Australia Post has released as Creatures of the Palaeozoic.

The Palaeozoic era was part of the Cambrian “explosion”, a burst of evolution during which most major animal groups – including those with primitive backbones – first appeared in the fossil record. The shale deposit at Emu Bay housed the ancestors of today’s snails and sea-urchins, and crustaceans like crabs and prawns.

It is the only place in the southern hemisphere where delicate, non-mineralised external skeletons and some internal soft tissues are found. The deposit was discovered in the 1950s by South Australian scientist Reg Sprigg, who was instrumental in creating the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the fossil-rich Flinders Ranges, at the request of Douglas Mawson.

Australia, Kangaroo Island

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