Lark Quarry, 113 km south west of Winton in central Queensland, consists of
around 3,300 footprints, made by around 150 individual animals. They
were left by many small ornithopods and theropods, with some medium-sized
ornithopods and at least one very large theropod (Tyrannosauropus
sp). The small theropods have been estimated at 13-22 cm tall at the hip.
The ornithopods ranged from 12 cm up to 70 cm at the hip. The large theropod
has been estimated at around 2.6 metres at the hip - about the size of an
average tyrannosaur.
The site was meticulously prepared by Drs Tony Thulborn and Mary Wade (with volunteers), and now lies beneath a weather proofing structure and visitor centre that was built around the site.
It has been suggested that the large theropod caused a stampede amongst the other species of dinosaur, although I doubt whether all of the footprints can be shown with any certainty to be contemporaneous (some of the small prints overlie those of the large theropod). They could have been made over a period of several hours. The trackways date to the Cenomanian, around 95 million years ago.
The tracks include:
Wintonopus latomorum ("Foot from Winton"). Ornithopod tracks ranging from 3 to 27 cm (averaging 7-8 cm) in length (see image below).
Tyrannosauropus sp ("Tyrannt reptile foot"). Large theropod tracks up to 75 cm in length (mean length 52 cm).
Skartopus australis ("nimble foot"). Small theropod tracks 2.9 to 5.7 cm in length (see image below)
Footprints dating to the Middle Jurassic (~180 MYA)
are known from several coal mines in south eastern Queensland.
Changpeipus bartholomaii tracks are known from
coal deposits at the Westvale Colliery,
evidently from a large theropod. Tracks of similar form were originally found in China.
Footprints from another Queensland coal mine, the Balgowan Colliery in the Darling Downs region, were also made by a large Jurassic theropod. With tracks measuring up to 71cm (2.3 feet) long, they were probably made by an animal around 10-11m (32-36 feet) in length, making it an animal of near-tyrannosaur proportions, and one of the largest Jurassic theropods known anywhere in the world (on a par with the largest known Allosaurus specimens).
At Mt Morgan, northern Queensland, both foot and hand prints of a theropod have been discovered, dated to around 170 MYA. The hand print shows five fingers, which was a primitive condition among theropod dinosaurs. The largest tracks are about 30cm long, indicating a theropod about 5m in length.
Early Jurassic (~200 MYA) ornithopod prints are known from Carnarvon Gorge, 95 km south of Rolleston, in the Carnarvon National Park. Anomoepus gracillimus tracks vary in length from 6.4 to 7.2 cm and are the oldest ornithopod tracks so far found in Australia. Other Anomoepus tracks are known from the Early Jurassic of the United States, southern Africa, and France. These would have been small herbivores not much more that a metre in length.
The earliest evidence for dinosaurs in Australia comes in the form of theropod tracks from the Blackstone Formation of the Ipswich Coal Measures near Dinmore, in Queensland, dating to the Late Triassic (around 210-220 MYA). The smaller tracks have been assigned to the ichnogenus Grallator. These prints are no longer than about 7 cm (2.7 inches). Another, much larger, form of theropod print comes from the same coal formation. These Eubrontes tracks measure up to 46 cm (18 inches) long, with a stride length of around 2 meters (six feet). Sometimes Eubrontes tracks are considered a size variant of Grallator; that is, they are from similar animals that differ only in size.
Thulborn, R.A. 1994 Ornithopod dinosaur tracks from
the Lower Jurassic of Queensland. Alcheringa
18:247-258
Thulborn, R.A. 1998 Australia's earliest theropods: footprint
evidence in the Ipswich coal measures (Upper Triassic) of Queensland.
Gaia 15:301-311 (Click for PDF file)
Thulborn, R.A. and M.Wade 1979 Dinosaur stampede in
the Cretaceous of Queensland. Lethaia 12: 275-279
Thulborn, R.A. and M.Wade 1984 Dinosaur trackways
in the Winton Formation (mid-Cretaceous) of Queensland.
Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 21:413-518.