132 
MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 
two miles from Coolibah Creek. There are no public roads on 1 Clutha/ 
but there are many private tracks on the run, and one of these passes within 
a few hundred yards of the site of the discovery. The area of the paddock 
is 1,200 acres.” (Text-figure 1.) 
As the locality is within a district that has provided many fossils 
representing Lower Cretaceous marine reptiles, it was anticipated that the 
large vertebrae would be those of Kronosaurus queenslandicus, 1 the largest 
known species. To my surprise and intense interest, however, when the 
“ Clutha ” fossils were examined it was obvious that they represented a new 
giant Dinosaur, the first to be obtained from the Lower Cretaceous deposits 
of Queensland. The stratigraphical problems associated with this discovery 
are discussed later. 
AUSTROSAURUS* * McKILLOPI, genus and species new. 
Dorsal vertebrae markedly opisthocoelous ; centra with thin cortical walls, 
much enlarged at the enarthrodial articulations ; intramural region a complex 
of small cavities ; pleurocceles prominent, with external and internal divisions. 
Neural arch with deep recess between the prezvgapophysial lamina and the 
infradiapophvsial buttress. 
This tentative generic diagnosis will obviously need to be supplemented 
when more complete material is forthcoming. The proportions and some of 
the characteristics of the vertebrae, however, appear significant, and it is 
anticipated that this Australian Cretaceous Dinosaur will prove, when better 
known, as distinctive as most of the giant Sauropoda found in similar deposits 
elsewhere. 
Material. — This consists of three massive blocks, each containing 
incomplete paired vertebrae cemented together at the enarthrodial articulations 
of the centra. Owing to the extreme development of the intramural cavities, 
these vertebrae, although so massive, are very fragile. With the exception of 
the articulating surface of the "cups ” and " balls,” the peripheral walls are 
surprisingly thin. The layers of bone have now been strengthened by repeated 
soakings in shellac solution. The matrix (described elsewhere) is much more 
durable than the actual fossil, and the partial clearing of the bones necessitated 
much patient work. The specimens were evidently weathered out of the 
original formation long before their discovery, and they were found lying in 
1 Longman, H. A., Mem. Qld. Mus., VIII, Pt. 1, J924, X pt. 1, 1930, and X 
pt. 2, 1932. 
* Following numerous precedents, the prefix “ Austro ” has been used for its present 
geographical significance, and this is also in consonance with the nomenclature of many 
modern genera of Dinosaurs, distinctively named from other parts of the world. 
