Prehistoric Bayside

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Prehistoric Bayside

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Prehistoric Bayside is a palaeontology exhibition located in Beaumaris (Aus). Book tickets in bio for the next OPEN DAY: 27/6/26

It displays collections of some of the most important palaeontological discoveries ever made.

22/08/2026

A pod of Livyatan fight for a whale carcass from a gigantic Megalodon shark, 5 million years ago in

This incredible artwork was created by for Prehistoric Bayside last year!

Want to come and see it and more than 1000 fossils from Bayside? Sunday the 30th August at the Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron, there are two special times - 11am-2pm, and 2pm-5pm. Curator and palaeontologist Ben Francischelli will be giving a special talk on the Killer S***m whales, from their evolution, functional morphology and their extinction.

Dont want to miss out? Check it out here: https://linktr.ee/a_fools_experiment

15/08/2026

People have been bugging me - "Ben, i really want to see more of Prehistoric Bayside!"... Your wish is my command!

1) The tickets for the next open day have just been released! Sunday the 30th of August at the Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron, there are two special times - 11am-2pm, and 2pm-5pm. Curator and palaeontologist Ben Francischelli will be giving a special talk on the Killer S***m whales, from their evolution, functional morphology and their extinction.

2) I've just completed a small display at the Beaumaris library with more than a hundred fossils. It will be set up permanently for the next few months for anyone to see it at any time, so if you need your fossil fix - get to it!

To book your tickets, for the open day, check out the link here: https://linktr.ee/a_fools_experiment

02/08/2026

Want more Prehistoric Bayside? Soon, there will be another display at the Beaumaris library! We'll be giving a free talk on the 17th August, book it in below!

22/05/2026

Are you ready?! The next Prehistoric Bayside Open day is coming up on June 27th and due to overwhelming demand, we've had to split the day into two sessions: one at 12pm-230pm, the other at 230pm-5pm.

Unbelievably, we've already sold out half of all tickets, so book them now: https://linktr.ee/PrehistoricBayside

We've got an amazing day planned:

For this open day, we're emphasising everything about SHARKS, and we're incredibly fortunate to have world-renowned palaeontologist and science communicator, Professor John Long, speak at this event. I'll be giving a talk on the rise and fall of the biggest shark that has ever lived - the Megalodon.

There will be more than a 1000 local fossils on display (from whales to sharks), and entry is a gold coin.

This event will sell out, so book your ticket now!

13/03/2026

We have had a HUGE response to our next open day on April 11th, selling out all available tickets for the session more than a month out. We apologise to those who havent been able to book a ticket, we've enabled a waitlist on the humanitix booking site if you'd like to be included if other ticket holders cancel their tickets.

We have other events planned for the year; the next one is going to be extra special for June 27th - with a special emphasis on SHARKS, with talks from world leading experts.

Book it out in your diary, we'll make the tickets available next month.

Pictured above is a sneak peek of the new layout for the museum, with more than 1000 fossils on display! To be included on the waitlist for April 11th, check out the link here: https://events.humanitix.com/prehistoric-bayside-open-day-saturday-11th-april

07/03/2026

Saturday 11th April, 12pm-5pm. The biggest Prehistoric Bayside Museum open day yet!

Its going to be HUGE. Dont miss out, make sure to secure your tickets now as they will sell out!

01/02/2026

This is one heckin big chonker...

Local freediver and citizen scientist Ryan Langenfelds messaged the museum the other week, exclaiming that there was this huge bone on the seafloor. "40cm wide, two feet long". There was only one thing it could be...

We came down to the beach to inspect the find. With the help of others, Ryan and other citizen scientists were able to retrieve this gigantic bone chunk off the bottom of the sand - keep in mind that this bone weighed almost 40 kilograms.

What he discovered was a portion of jaw from a gigantic, prehistoric Baleen whale.

The Baleen whales in Prehistoric Bayside are some of the biggest ever known in the fossil record, with some approaching the size of a Pygmy Blue whale (>20 metres in total length).

A few years ago, the team found another jaw (that is still on the bottom of the seafloor) that is roughly 5 metres in length.

This recently retrieved jaw chunk will be displayed at the next open day for the Prehistoric Bayside museum (April 11th 2026).

26/01/2026

More than 5 million years in the making!

This fascinating find was made this year by Ryan Langenfelds down at Site B (Black Rock). Sitting loose on the sand, was this incredibly dense bone.

This is the upper jaw (rostrum) of a prehistoric Beaked whale. These deep-diving whales have the densest bones known in the animal kingdom - the males in this group use their jaws to harass and pumell each other. This density lends well to their preservation in the fossil record.

What is even more astounding, are a series of parallel grooves on the upper jaw itself - this appears to be evidence of predation, most likely from a shark scavenging the carcass.

This bone will be on display at the next open day for the Prehistoric Bayside museum (TBC).

03/01/2026

A couple of recent dives have yielded even more fossil material - including a large chunk of a Megalodon tooth in image 2.

These 5 million year old specimens were all found loose on the bottom of the seafloor, and will be placed on display for the next open day (TBA).

Its critically important to note - the use of tools to extract any fossils in Bayside is illegal, and can carry hefty fines for anyone found doing so. Luckily, the unique erosional activity (waves and currents) rips these teeth from the fossil sediment. All you need to find fossils are your eyes.

If you have found a fossil and want it identified, or you think you've uncovered something of scientific importance, send an image of your find through to this page, and we can help you identify it. There are new discoveries happening every week in Bayside.

31/12/2025

Check out this fistful of fossil teeth we found in Prehistoric Bayside just a few days ago! There's an incredible diversity of fossil life in this hand, from giant great white shark relatives, to tiger sharks, Wobbegongs, and even heckin' big porcupine fish. More than 100 individual teeth are in this hand, and all were found in a single dive, loose on the bottom of the seafloor.

There's one specimen that was uncovered of particular interest (on the end of my index finger): a gigantic ray mouth plate, very similar to modern smooth rays. It appears to be the first time this group of gigantic rays has ever been found in the fossil record of Bayside.

In other news, we'll be updating this page in mid January for the next batch of open days for 2026, so stay tuned! There's some MEGA things coming your way!

Happy new year and thanks for all your support.

Address

1 Pelican Quays (Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron)
Beaumaris, VIC
3193

Website

https://linktr.ee/PrehistoricBayside

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