6-566: Koonwarra is a town in the South Gippsland region of Victoria , Australia . At the 2016 census , Koonwarra had a population of 404. The town straddles the South Gippsland Highway . Located around 128 km southeast of Melbourne, the town was served by rail from the 1890s until 1991 with the closing of the rail line to Barry Beach. The Koonwarra fossil bed was found by accident in 1961 during roadworks to realign
12-515: A segment of the South Gippsland Highway. Dating from the early Cretaceous 115 million years ago, it is composed of mudstone sediment thought to have been laid down in a freshwater (possibly cool-climate subalpine) lake. The site is an important element of Australia's fossil record, with plants, insects (including mayflies, dragonflies, cockroaches, beetles, fleas, flies and wasps), spiders, crustaceans and fish recovered. Among them
18-633: Is one of the most popular holiday areas in Victoria. Linked to mainland South Gippsland via a bridge at San Remo , Phillip Island is also a major tourist destination, noted particularly for its surf beaches, nightly Penguin Parade and Grand Prix track. 12,000 years ago, South Gippsland formed part of a land bridge to Tasmania the remnants of which is the Furneaux Group of islands. A ferry operates from Welshpool to Lady Barron Island , part of
24-633: Is the unusual finding of a fossil horseshoe crab described as Victalimulus mcqueeni . Small segments of a leafy twig have been recovered that were thought to be one of the oldest angiosperms (flowering plants) discovered; more recent examination reports anatomy more typical of a gnetophyte , a group of plants for which there is a scant fossil record. A fossil member of the Ginkgo family, Ginkgoites australis , has also been recovered. Six well-preserved feathers have been recovered, indicating more complete remains of feathered dinosaurs might be found, however
30-582: The site has been little-excavated, extensive removal of overlying rock has to take place before further excavation. South Gippsland South Gippsland , a region of Gippsland in Victoria , Australia , is a well-watered region consisting of low, rolling hills descending to the coast in the south and the Latrobe Valley in the north. It is part of the larger Gippsland Basin bioregion . Low granite hills continue into Wilsons Promontory ,
36-499: The southernmost point of Victoria and mainland Australia. Rivers are generally very short and impossible to dam owing to the lack of potential storage sites, but groundwater of good quality is readily available. The major industries are forestry and dairy farming, and the principal towns include Cowes (on Phillip Island ), Leongatha , Korumburra , Wonthaggi and Foster . Wilsons Promontory National Park features eucalypt forests and rainforests as well as its famous beaches, and
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