Paleogene–Neogene — Three Epochs of Australian Life

Digital paleoenvironmental reconstruction, triptych, Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibition

Scientific curator: Dr. Scott Hocknull

Created as part of the exhibition Dinosaurs Unearthed, 2023

A triptych of reconstructions tracing the recovery and diversification of Australian fauna across three epochs of the Cenozoic, designed to surround display cases of fossil and trace specimens.

Panel 1 — Paleocene (Geebung): A warm Nothofagus rainforest with waterfall and basalt rock. A Kambara crocodile lurks at the water’s edge among ferns and tree ferns, alongside a trionychid turtle, small early mammals, a madtsoiid snake, frogs, and a small passerine bird.

Panel 2 — Miocene (Riversleigh): Warm temperate rainforest over limestone karst and tufa pools. Nimbadon, an ancestral koala, and a giant dromornithid move through strangler figs and epiphytes, while Obdurodon — the ancient platypus — forages below the surface among tadpoles and water frogs.

Panel 3 — Pliocene (Chinchilla): A drier, more open eucalypt and casuarina woodland. Komodo dragons wait at the river’s edge as Euryzygoma wades in the shallows, with an extinct stork, blue-tongue skink, and native rodent completing the scene.

Each panel highlights species with living descendants, connecting Australia’s deep past to its present fauna.