Wednesday 13th of December saw the Age of Fishes Board hold the 2017 AGM during which Dr Alex Ritchie was awarded a Life Membership of the AOFM presented by Ms Sharon D’Elboux (Chair)
Dr Alex Ritchie is a Palaeontologist,
Senior Fellow at the Australian Museum of Natural History and the ‘Father’ of
the Canowindra fossils.
In January 1993, after a 20 year
search, an exploratory dig by Dr Alex rediscovered the source of the 1955
fossil fish slab and with local community support and earth moving equipment (provided by Cabonne
Shire Council), he supervised the 10-day major excavation of this world-class
fossil fish site.
The find exceeded all expectations with
some 70-80 tonnes of rock slabs, containing around 4,000 fish specimens
recovered from the Canowindra site. Thousands of complete fish specimens still
remain buried at the original site, awaiting excavation.
These could well include other animals
new to science and possibly even the skeletal remains of some of the earliest
known amphibians, our distant ancestors – a world class thrilling prospect not
just for Australia but the international science community to anticipate!
