Search for the lost Diprotodon

In Search of the Diprotodon
Expedition to Sullivans Creek
by Charles P Conigrave

Visitors to the Museum will probably be familiar with the fine skeleton of that great extinct marsupial, Diprotodon Australis, discovered some years ago at Lake Callabonna, in Central Australia. It may not be generally known that the same kind of creature once roamed the western side of the continent, but such is proved by the fact that fossilised bones were discovered at Sullivan’s Creek, in the Murchison District, upwards of fourteen years ago. At that time, when prospectors were exploring that great expanse of country lying between Coolgardie and Cue, a party under the leadership of Mr. Charles Young made the discovery of A Skeleton of Diprotodon in the rock forming the creek bed of a watercourse to the south of Lake Darlot. Not knowing the value of their discovery, the party only brought away a small portion of the bone, and, unfortunately, the spot was not marked, so as to render further research easy.

Mr C P Connigrave Senior Museum Assistant

Mr Charles Young who with Mr Conigrave formed the expedition

The specimen, after being carried about in a camel pack for several months, eventually found its way to the Museum, where its scientific value was at once recognised. A few years later, an attempt was made to locate the spot when Mr. J. T. Tunney, the Museum collector, spent some time in the neighborhood of Lake Darlot, but no further find resulted.

Artist Impression of a Diprotodon

Recently, owing to the public-spiritedness of Dr. Hackett, M. L.C., the chairman of the Museum committee, it was rendered possible for Mr. Charles Young, accompanied by Mr. C. P. Conigrave, the senior Museum assistant, to make an expedition to Lake Darlot and attempt to bring to light further remains of the old-time marsupial. Excellent equipment was provided and a start was made, at the end of January, from Malcolm, in the North Coolgardie district. travelling in a north-westerly direction, we struck the original camel pad from Cue to Coolgardie at a distance of thirty miles from Malcolm, and this was followed for an equal distance till Mr. Young was able to recognise a creek bed as being the place where, fourteen years before, when searching for water, the skeleton had been exposed.

Scenes on the way to Sullivans Creek.

In the intervening time, however, heavy floods had scoured the country, and as a result, the conformation of the creek had been materially changed, and the original camel pad, which was such a necessary key to the exact location of the bones, had been entirely obliterated.

Sullivans Creek

The country traversed, though being anything but picturesque, was not by any means devoid of interest. Twenty miles to the north of Malcolm we reached the Penzance Terraces, a remarkable granite wall that stretches for thirty miles, with rugged escarpments seventy feet in height facing the south, a locality that will be remembered by many “out-backers” of the early days. The old gold workings of “Linger and Die mine” is close to this line of cliffs – in fact, the outlying breakaways surround the place.

A large quantity of gold was secured here, but for some considerable time past the workings have been abandoned, and a well-equipped 5-head battery in the neighborhood is now rusting away into disrepair. The matter of water supply gave us no trouble until after leaving “Linger and Die,” where a large quantity of rainwater had collected in an old shaft. The country to the north was found to be in a terribly parched condition, and with the thermometer reading on two succeeding days (January 23rd and 24th) at.112deg and 114deg. in the shade, respectively, we had a dry stage of over seventy miles between waters and were compelled to travel back 40 miles to water.

Excavating Sullivans Creek

From the western end of the Penzance Terraces, a fine view of the surrounding country was obtained, it being a prospect full of that fascinating beauty characteristic of the Australian bush. In all directions stretched an expanse of mulga scrub, its dingy colour is only broken here and there by a ribbon-like line of gums, which marked some distant creek bed. We camped right at the foot of the granite cliffs and became prey to the myriads of ants that infested that spot. Although, the primary object of the expedition, was to search for Diprotodon remains, no opportunity was lost to make collections of natural history objects, of which the district yielded many interesting forms. The very dry nature of the country is well instanced by the fact that many hundreds of dead rabbits and kangaroos were noticed. Sullivan’s Creek, where we were excavating in the creek bed, for upwards of two months, is a large watercourse, having its source in granite country away to the east. The length is marked by very large gums, many of which have grown to exceptional size. With such a place filled with water, it truly would be an oasis in the desert, but apparently, it is several years since there was an appreciable fall of rain in the locality. The illustrations give a good idea of the creek where the excavations were made, and also at its source, five miles away to the east.

Owing to the alteration in the creek bed, Mr. Young found it impossible to locate the exact spot where the bones were found, so it became necessary to open out the gravel, which filled the creek to a depth of five feet. This was done with the aid of a horse scoop, about five hundred yards of the rocky bottom being exposed, but, unfortunately, when, at the end of March, the search had reluctantly to be abandoned, several hundred yards of gravel still remained in situ. It is to be regretted that the hopes of the Museum authorities to secure such an interesting and valuable acquisition as a Diprotodon skeleton were not realised, but it is hoped that at some future date it will be found possible to continue the search, for only about half a mile of creek bed remains to be opened out.