A new species of ancient marine life is being discovered as often as once a month in a tiny trucking town in outback Queensland.
Fossil hunters from across the globe are flocking to the quiet community of Richmond in the state's north-west, hoping to make a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.
"These things are 100 million years old and we're the first persons ever to see them," fossil enthusiast Barbara Flewelling said.
Ms Flewelling and her husband Gary have made 13 visits to Richmond, a 16,400-kilometre journey from their home in Nova Scotia, Canada.
"[On our first visit] in 2007, we knew of the fossils. We went out to the pit where everybody can go out to dig, and we found vertebra about the size of a tin of salmon and we found one fish scale," Ms Flewelling said.
"We just thought 'wow, this is so great'."
The couple, both former educators, said visiting Richmond "always surprises".
"These new life forms, you would think they would be known but they're not," Mr Flewelling said.
"There's still so many coming through the door."
Some of the world's best-preserved fossils
Now one of the driest parts of Australia, Richmond was once 40 metres underwater covered by the inland Eromanga Sea which stretched from Cape York to northern New South Wales.
Fossicker Harrison Warne said he was chipping away at a rock layer he calls "fish mash", because of its abundance of marine fossils, when he unearthed a new species – a type of ancient squid.
"The guys at the museum think it could be a new species, that's pretty common out here," Mr Warne said.
"The way the fossils are preserved here, it looks like they could have died just the other day."
Researchers say the region was rich with fish, turtle and large marine reptile life during the Cretaceous period, 145 and 66 million years ago.
"These species lived alongside dinosaurs for another 35 million years before the meteorite which caused their extinction," he said.
"It's hard to fathom how old that is."
The ecological scientist makes the 500-kilometre journey to Richmond every few months from his home in Townsville.
"Just seeing the comparative biology of things that were alive 100 million years ago compared to things that are alive today, there's so many similarities," Mr Warne said.
"That's the beauty about Richmond, you really don't know what you're going to find."
Town punching above its weight
Many fossils dug up in Richmond are housed at the Kronosauraus Korner museum, run by curator palaeontologist Kevin Petersen and a team of volunteers.
Richmond Mayor John Wharton said the museum attracted about 17,000 visitors each year, which was warmly welcomed by the town of 650 people.
"Kevin does digging at dusk and digging at dawn, and it's nothing to go out there and see 20 or 30 cars following him to go out to the dig pits," Cr Wharton said.
"We're trying to become a destination.
"We've got expansion going on at the caravan park. We've got another new development that's been approved with 24 cabins. We've already got 140 rooms, which is pretty good for a small country town.
"The fossils are the target for any tourist that comes to Richmond … and every time someone finds a new one it's very exciting."
Chipping away at history
Armed with a chisel and hammer, Mr Warne said digging for fossils was dusty and dirty work, but therapeutic for those with a passion.
"There's still so much here that we don't know, and everything we find contributes a little bit to the natural history of Australia," Mr Warne said.
He believes fossil hunting is an accessible way to contribute to citizen science.
"You're just sitting by yourself in a field, it's stinking hot, and you're just chipping away at it layer by layer," he said.
"But there's so much hidden just below the surface, it's just a matter of time before we find it.
"You might get lucky and find something amazing."
