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Our Museum
Welcome to the Age of Fishes Museum, where history comes to life! Located in the heart of Canowindra, our Museum offers a unique glimpse into the Devonian period, over 360 million years ago. Explore an unparalleled collection of ancient fish fossils, many of which are unique to our region.
Winner of the 2021 Daroo Award
for Excellence in Tourism.
Winner of the 2021 & 2022
Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice Awards.
Discovery
About 360-370 million years ago, during the Devonian Period, a severe drought caused a mass kill event in a freshwater lake or billabong, where thousands of armoured fish perished. Rapidly covered by sediment, these fish were preserved in rock for posterity.
In 1955, a council road worker in Canowindra, New South Wales, discovered a large rock slab with strange impressions. Recognized for its importance by a local bee-keeper, the slab was examined by experts at the Australian Museum in Sydney, confirming it as one of the most remarkable fossil discoveries globally.
In 1993, Dr. Alex Ritchie and a team rediscovered the source of the 1955 slab, leading to a major excavation with the support of the Cabonne Shire Council. Over 4,000 fish specimens were recovered, many of which are displayed in the Age of Fishes Museum. The site still holds thousands of undiscovered fossils, potentially including early amphibians.
Life In The Devonian
During the Devonian period, the area now known as Canowindra was a wide floodplain with rivers, lakes, and billabongs. The Canowindra fossil site reveals a diverse ecosystem dominated by armoured fishes like Bothriolepis, Remigolepis, and Groenlandaspis. These fossils support the theory of the supercontinent Pangaea.
Lobe-finned sarcopterygians, ancestors of the first land vertebrates, and small lungfish like Soederberghia simpsoni, provide ancient links between today's continents. The Age of Fishes Museum showcases these extraordinary fossils, illustrating the evolution of fish to land-dwelling amphibians.
Timeline
360 MILLION YEARS AGO
The Devonian Inland rivers and lakes teemed with fish. The invasion of dry land had begun but the majority of life was still under water. Life looked very different and this is the time when our fossils were alive.
A BIT LESS THAN 360 MILLION YEARS AGO
A pond on the super-continent of Gondwana finally dries up and thousands of fish die in a single place only to be covered with silt and buried for millions of years.
150 MILLION YEARS AGO
Dinosaurs roam the earth and our treasures remain buried deep within the ground they walk upon already 200 million years old and waiting.
200,000 YEARS AGO
65,000 - 40,000 YEARS AGO
WHAT HAPPENED IN 1955
The first modern Homo sapiens walk the earth in the Paleolithic Era.
Indigenous Australians first walk this land.
On a country road a bulldozer operator turns over a rock that has been buried for 360 million years. Shortly after Bill Simpson, a local Canowindra resident recognizes its significance and informs the Australian Museum.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 1956
WHAT HAPPENED IN 1973
WHAT HAPPENED IN 1993
The first slab now known as the 1956 Slab is moved to the Australian Museum where it remains under glass for many years.
The Canowindra Grossi is described and reconstructed by Dr Keith Thompson of Yale University.
Dr Alex Ritchie and the Canowindra residents organise a rediscovery of the site and excavate a further 4,000 fish specimens across eight fish species.
A truly world class find.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 1999
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2006
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2009
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2013
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2019
Building of the current Age of Fishes Museum commenced.
The famous 1956 slab returns to its home to be permanently displayed at the Age of Fishes Museum in Canowindra.
The addition of the timeline to the Museum experience is completed.
David Attenborough visited the Museum and described the Fossils as "World Class".
All the slabs previously stored under the grandstand at the Canowindra Showgrounds were transported to our newly constructed Storage Facility next to the Museum.
PRESENT DAY
Dr David McGrath is the new purchaser of the dig site at "Kalang" and in this podcast is talking to Dr Alex Ritchie about his plans for the site. He is intending to develop it as an educational and tourism feature, which will have huge benefits for the entire Central West NSW.
Listen to the podcast below.
