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Hey everyone! A few weekends ago I did my second-ever fossil hunting trip at the well known site of Beaumaris Bay in Melbourne. I was hoping to find a shark tooth, and we did bump into a fellow hunter who had found a couple perfect specimens, but they remained elusive - a good reason to go back! We also saw a fair number of families fossil hunting, and it was nice to see lots of people getting into the hobby at such a lovely environment! I myself found too many echinoids to keep [2], specifically specimens of the heart urchin Lovenia woodsii (not to be confused with its cousin, Lovenia forbesii, which is nearly identical to my untrained eye). I saved a few nice specimens, as well as what I hope is a piece of marine mammal bone [3], and some rock with a bit of an unusual pattern in it ([4+5] - I'm suspicious as to whether it's a fossil or not, so I'd love an opinion!) Overall it was a lovely trip, and I'm having a great time getting into this hobby!

Just came back from Beaumaris Fossil beach and I have a load of fossils, I’d appreciate getting them identified I know that a few are sea urchins, and the shell but I’m just not sure about the other pieces Note: unfortunately I forgot to add a ruler/item for scale

As the year comes to a close i decided to do a bit more collecting at one of my favourite Australian sites: Beaumaris near Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Once again i travelled down and stayed at a motel near the beach for three days (27/12/18 through to 29/12/18). This trip is a sequel to the previous two trips i have made here which are also posted on the forum: Jan 2016 trip: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/61248-fossil-hunting-holiday-in-victoria-australia-dec-2015-jan-2016/ Feb 2017 trip: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/71996-fossil-hunting-holiday-at-beaumaris-australia-feb-2017/ Beaumaris is a significant site with both marine and terrestrial fossils from the latest Miocene aged Beaumaris Sandstone Formation (5 - 6 million years old), which crops out in distinctly red-coloured coastal cliffs and also in offshore rocky reefs. An impressive diversity of both vertebrate and invertebrate fauna occurs here, and the Melbourne Museum has put together a neat PDF of the fossil diversity for those unfamiliar with the site (https://www.bcs.asn.au/fossils_of_beaumaris_2015-02.pdf). My plan was to collect every single low tide across these three days, and sleep during every high tide. Yes, this meant going out collecting in the middle of the night too! My main interest was to collect shark teeth, however they can be tough to find here and are certainly not as common as at many other sites internationally that the people on this forum would be more familiar with. This often seems to be the case with Australian vertebrate fossils. It does however make it quite rewarding when you do eventually find them! The first day of searching (27/12/18) proved to be rather disappointing. I finally got to try snorkelling for fossils, which is a popular method here for finding things exposed along the seabed, but alas after about 3 hours in the water i had not found any bones or teeth. I was unable to locate the nodule bed where most of the vertebrate fossils originate from, which i think played a part in my lack of success. The seabed was also quite sanded over and it was hard to see much. I was definitely out of my element here, but it was also a lot of fun to get close to some of the local marine life, including stingrays! I decided to return to land collecting after not doing very well in the water and when i did so my luck changed greatly. The next two days and nights of land collecting (28/12/18 and 29/12/18) proved to be much more successful and i even got to meet two TFF members on the beach (coincidentally)! @Echinoid and @Tympanic bulla were also out looking, and we had a nice chat before they headed off to continue snorkelling. I then spent most of my remaining time on the beach flipping rocks and examining the pebbles up close, ultimately finishing the trip with a total of five shark teeth which i was very happy with! Carcharodon hastalis tooth as found. 24mm long. Large Carcharodon hastalis upper anterior tooth, as found at 2 am (with a head-torch) on 29/12/18. Measures 56 mm long. I had long been waiting for a tooth of this size! Carcharodon hastalis posterior tooth as found. 15 mm long. Another Carcharodon hastalis posterior as found. 13 mm long. And a small fragment of cetacean bone. Worn pieces like this are the most common vertebrate fossils at Beaumaris. Pictures continued in the next post

Well my first fossil hunt at this beach…. While dragging toddler twins around for 7.5 hours the hawk isn’t too bad but I may have tossed back an inner ear drum from a dolphin as I’m a dummy and doubted myself. item 1 : image 1-2 coral??? item 2 : images 3-4 I would love to say egg wishful!!!! item 3 : image 5-6 vertebrate??? item 4 : images 7-9 no clue item 5 : images 10-11 wishful crustacean?? item 6 : images 12 oyster items 7 : mixed tube like some very smooth items 8 : bivalve items 9 : lovenia I just want to say if there’s anyone who would like to go out with me that would be amazing …. Fossil hunting seems to be a little lonely hobby.

Hey everyone, i've just yesterday returned from another four day fossil trip to Beaumaris: a coastal suburb in Melbourne, Australia with fossiliferous exposures of the Beaumaris Sandstone Formation. The fossils are about 5.5 million years old (latest Miocene) and comprise an extremely diverse range of both marine and terrestrial animals. A great overview of the Beaumaris fossil fauna is provided by this PDF, for those unfamiliar with the site: https://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/beaumaris_fossil_book_museum_victoria.pdf In short, everything from sharks, rays and bony fish to whales, dolphins, seals, birds, echinoids, gastropods, corals, bivalves and others can all be found. It's almost like you need a checklist when collecting here, to mark off the faunal groups that you find one by one. Which makes the collecting rather exciting as you never know what might turn up! Loose fossils can be kept, but the cliffs and foreshore are protected so no excavating or digging of anything in situ is allowed. But this is fine as most fossils are loose on the beach or adjacent shallow seafloor. Lots of people that collect here do so by snorkelling the shallow waters just offshore, and i also brought my wetsuit, snorkel and fins on this trip to search underwater which was very fun. As well as fossils, the waters are rich in modern marine life and it's fascinating to see them up close. The snorkelling and beach collecting proved very successful! The location: Marine mammal bones (whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals): A selection of indeterminate bone chunks. Small pieces of bone are fairly common finds. A small mammal vertebra (caudal?), probably from a dolphin or porpoise. Shown in front and side views. Bony fish: Right and left fish lower jaws, probably from the same species, but found separately so they're not associated. What luck though to have both matching sides! Although the left jaw is from a smaller individual. Crushing toothplate from Diodon formosus. Continued in the next post... (sharks, rays, invertebrates)

Hello everyone! This is a small fossil I found months ago in the Beaumaris Formation, Victoria, Australia. I've looked through the Fossils of Beaumaris PDF but cannot find anything similar. The measurements are as follows: - 2.5 cm L - 2.4 cm W - 1.2 cm D I have attached some images below which will hopefully be of help!

Hey everyone! I was wondering if you could please help me identify these items and whether they are worth keeping! I found these three today at Beaumaris. The first one (pictures 1 + 2) appears to be some odd, fortuitous weathering of sandstone? In the second (picture 2) it seems that there may be some possible gastropod remains in there? The third item - the baguette! (pictures 3 + 4) It caught my interest due to the ridges on the top and flat base. I assume it's likely an sandstone concretion? It feels like rock on the outside and isn't as heavy as ironstone. Thanks in advance for any help!

Hello everyone! I went for my first fossicking adventure at Beaumaris, Victoria late last week. I was hoping you guys could please help me ID a shark tooth (Image 1) and some other items that I cannot identify (Images 2+3). The dark, cylindrical items in Images 2+3 are hollow inside, which you can see in Image 3. All were found underwater in Beaumaris, Victoria just off the jetty.

G'day everyone! I just returned from a trip to Beaumaris today and found something wierd. At first I thought It was a crab as crab fossils were found from this locality: https://beaumarisfossils.org/crabs-burrows/ but I am not too sure. The fossil comes from the Beaumaris Sandstone Formation, late Miocene to early Pliocene. Thanks, Dan Crab fossils found at Beaumaris

This specimen was found from beaumaris beach, victoria. Is it a fossil bone fragment? More pictures to come. It will only let me post one for some reason :/

Im going to Victoria on Friday for a week and visiting various locations including: Wangaratta Bendigo Ballarat Warnambool Apollo bay pt phillip bay (beaumaris) So my question is are there any good fossil sites around these areas that i could find some ancient treasures in? Thanks.

Hi All, I'm new to the forum and have always been interested in fossils. My 6 year old daughter keeps asking about fossils and going fossil hunting in Beaumaris, a suburb of Melbourne. I'd love to do some hunting with her and wondering if anyone with experience goes down to Beaumaris to show us what to look for. Thanks so much. Asaf and Lexi

Hi, we were having a bit of a hunt down at Beaumaris, not sure if this is anything? but it does look like some kind of bony frament.. thoughts please?

Here are a few micros from the Miocene of Beaumaris in Victoria, Australia. Sorry about the horrible pics as per usual... All of these were found in matrix that was inside a bivalve, some interesting stuff can also be found inside larger gastropods and brachiopods. I'll post more eventually. #1. Teeeeeeny little foram. Should probably also mention that the ruler is in millimetres. #2. Bryozoans ......

G'day everyone! Today I was able to go down to Beaumaris and have a hunt. I found some nice fossils but one find stood out. As I was about to leave the site I found this small jaw amongst the shingle. I am not sure what animal it is from but I am thinking fish. It could be mammal but terrestrial mammal material is very rare to find at this site. Thanks, Daniel

G'day all, Today I decided to go down for a hunt at Beaumaris with my dad and make good use of the low tide. For those who don't know, the fossils from Beaumaris come from the Beaumaris Sandstone Formation, aged 6.5-4.5 million years ago (late Miocene to early Pliocene) and around 30 minutes from Melbourne. To find the fossils we searched through the shingle on the beach that had been washed up from a phosphatic nodule bed which can only be partially accessed at low tide and is where most of the vertebrate material derives from. Fossils from this site include: Shark and ray teeth, fish jaws and teeth, ceteacen bones and teeth, bird bones, seal bones, terrestrial mammal bones, rare turtle shell, corals, bivalves, gastropods, nautiloids, crustaceans, brachiopods and echinoids. Despite the water being very cold (And falling into the water on my way out of the site) We found many good fossils today, many of them firsts. The Site Tusk Shells (Laevidentalium) Sea Urchins (Lovenia Woodsi) Port Jackson Shark teeth (Heterodontus cainozoicus) Toadfish crushing tooth plates (Diodon) Shark tooth (Shortfin Mako?) Assorted bone fragments (Most likely Cetacean)

Oldest pygmy whale fossil identified 60 years after being collected from Beaumaris, Victoria. The ear bone is believed to be 6 million years old and is one of only six pygmy right whale fossils in the world. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-11/pygmy-right-whale-fossil-found-in-museums-victoria-collection/9978612

Hello everyone. Recently I went down to a fossil site in Beaumaris Australia and came home with some nice pieces of cetacean bone. As I was about to head home I found quite a large piece sticking out of the sand. When I took it home I tried cleaning it with hot water and a sponge, removing some of the junk off of it but not all of it. How should I go about removing the white algae/plant junk on it? The fossil is very sturdy. Thanks, Daniel

G'day all! I have just returned from a three day collecting trip to Beaumaris, a coastal suburb of Melbourne in Australia. This report acts as a pictorial overview of the trip and provides an insight into what collecting at this beach location is like. A similar trip was undertaken by@digit late last year (http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/70070-quick-trip-to-beaumaris-cliffs-australia/). I too had previously spent two days at this location in early 2016, during my first Victorian fossil hunting trip. Pictures of the finds from that trip can be found in this thread: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/61248-fossil-hunting-holiday-in-victoria-australia-dec-2015-jan-2016/ I decided to return to Beaumaris for a second time as i haven't been collecting for quite some time and i wanted to find more vertebrate material from this location, as i knew the potential that the site possesses and didn't manage to do it enough justice on my first trip here. All of these finds were collected on the shore across the three days that i spent here from the 14th through to the 16th of February. I spent most of that time rummaging on hands and knees in the beach shingle near the Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron. As mentioned my main goal was to collect vertebrate material and i was especially interested in finding shark teeth. The fossils come from the Beaumaris Sandstone formation and are between 5 and 6 million years old (latest Miocene or earliest Pliocene). Most of the vertebrate material is derived from a phosphatic nodule bed at the base of this formation, just above the unit contact with the underlying Gellibrand Marl. This nodule bed outcrops only at the very base of the cliffs and on the shore platform which is normally covered by the sea except at low tide. Because i was collecting loose material from the beach shingle a lot of the bones and teeth are heavily worn and fragmentary, but they are still very cool! Beaumaris is highly significant as it is one of the only places in Australia where you get fossils of both marine and terrestrial animals from this period of time, capturing a snapshot of almost the entire ecosystem from fish, birds and mammals to corals, gastropods, echinoids and many others. It is also one of the only places where you can collect vertebrate fossils so close to a major Australian city (only about 30 minutes drive from the centre of Melbourne). The Location: Fossil bones in-situ and in my hand (these are most likely from whales): Many more pictures still to come!

G'day, Just went on a 4 day long trip to Melbourne to go to Beaumaris and while we were there we bought/traded a few things from a dealer. For the first few days we were there we snorkelled at Beaumaris and found a few alright things... These two Cosmopolitodus (Carcharodon) hastalis teeth were encrusted in 'stuff' when we first found them. Nothing much compared to what you find in the U.S but they are pretty good for Australian teeth!: Posted multiple times again :/

Hi everyone, first time fossil hunting and first time posting.. we went down to Beaumaris wit the kids today, and amongst some other cool finds, we found this fragment. It looks bony where there is a cross section (not obvious in the photo, but on the pedestal part that sticks out).. we aren't sure what it is.. any help?

Hi everyone, I have found many specimens of ferruginised fossils from the Beaumaris Sandstone in Victoria. They were formed in the upper Miocene. Could someone please explain what they are made of and how they are formed? Thanks Echinoid

Hey guys, I need to pick your collective brains on this tiny fragment I picked up from Beaumaris the other day. Although clearly sea washed, it shows some detailed feathering down the profile. I'm getting a fishy vibe of this but would appreciate any thoughts. & if anyone is wondering how I got the shots with a a phone, I borrowed the idea of taping a jewellers lens to my phone. Thanks to whoever it was that suggested this on the forum, pure genius.