Prehistoric Bayside Museum

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Prehistoric Bayside Museum

The Prehistoric Bayside Museum is a not-for-profit palaeontology museum located in Beaumaris (Aus). Book tickets in bio for the next OPEN DAY: 11/04/26

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

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.

03/10/2025

Tiger sharks in Bayside, Melbourne?!

5-6 million years ago, Tiger sharks were common predators along this prehistoric coastline. These sharks are associated with much warmer waters up north, but based on the teeth we find, the fossil species are much smaller than their modern counterpart, only getting to about 3 metres in total length. Modern tiger sharks can be more than 5 metres long!

These teeth give us a unique glimpse into a much warmer past within south eastern Australia, and will be on display in the Prehistoric Bayside Museum.

20/09/2025

Believe it or not, this is a gigantic, 5 million year old vertebra soaking in a bucket of freshwater!

The prehistoric whales of Bayside are some of the biggest known in the fossil record. A single vertebra like this can weigh more than 20 kilograms. Can you imagine sixty of these vertebrae, lined up in a row? Its astonishing!

16/09/2025

Hot potato! Now that's a s***m whale tooth!

All discoveries by citizen scientists are found loose on the surface. It is illegal to dig in Bayside, and many ask - how do you go about finding these fossils at all?

Can you spot the 5 million year old s***m whale tooth in the first image? This tooth was found by citizen scientist Elliott Vegh, just sitting on the surface. More than 99% of fossils that are found are loose.

This front facing tooth most likely came from a small species of Killer S***m whale, and is yet another magnificent find that was made earlier this year!

15/09/2025

Marine animals usually make up the bulk of the fossils found in Bayside, but occasionally, something special can reveal itself... something that once roamed on land.

This is a large molar tooth from a giant, cow-sized marsupial called Zygomaturus, found earlier this year. This 5 million year old specimen has already been lodged within the collections of Museums Victoria, and its a heckin' big chonk! It was found by citizen scientist Jason Langer in a few metres of water, loose on the sand.

With a face pushed in like a pug, and a face that only a mother could love, Zygomaturus was one of the most dominant large bodied marsupials that ever lived in Australia. They survived until 40,000 years ago!

14/09/2025

This was a recent, 5 million year old find just before winter of this year - a chunky "Cosmopolitodus plicatilis" shark tooth - it's covered in coralline algae, disguising the specimen and making it awfully tricky to see against the backdrop of Port Phillip Bay.

A close relative to the modern Great White Shark, "Cosmopolitodus" was a monster shark, and based off tooth length, was even bigger than the biggest Great Whites.

All specimens displayed on this page have been found loose on the sand, without the need of any extraction from the rock. Any excavation in Bayside without appropriate permits is illegal and those found digging face heavy finds from DEECA.

But luckily for you, 99% of the fossil material in Bayside is loose. If you've found something you'd like identified, you can message this page for more info!

13/09/2025

There are incredible discoveries, just waiting to be uncovered in ...

You've come across the first post for the Prehistoric Bayside Museum - a new palaeontological museum based in Beaumaris, Victoria, Australia. Bayside is home to some of the most important scientific discoveries of the last decade, and now, we're putting them on permanent display for everyone to see at the Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron.

Our first open day will be on Sunday, 16th November. Lock in the date.

This new page will showcase all the recent discoveries our team of citizen scientists is uncovering, at an incredible pace.

Like and follow this page for more information!

Ben Francischelli

Address

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

Website

https://linktr.ee/PrehistoricBaysideMuseum

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