I am completely new to this post, having just come across an on-line image of a gold replica of a small opalised fossil mammal jaw found at Lightning Ridge in the early 1980s.
This unique specimen, the oldest fossil mammal ever discovered in Australia, was later named Steropodon galmani, after Dave Galman, the miner who found it and his brother Alan.
Dave's son Shauno, who photographed and posted the image, mentioned that there were only three copies of this gold replica. I know because I have the third gold replica.
As the Australian Museum's Palaeontologist from 1968-1995 I have mostly searched for, and worked on, very ancient fossil fishes, much older than the opalised fossils of Lightning Ridge.
But I also saw it as part of my job try to keep in touch with the opal-mining community. I tried to spread the word through the opal fields of the unique scientific importance of rare opalised fossils that were being discovered there. As everyone knows, many rare and unique opalised fosssil specimens have been cut up for their opal content without ever having been seen by scientists. In many cases these specimens were actually more valuable as fossils than as gemstones!
Dave and Alan Galman were honorable exceptions to the rule. They built up a fine private collection of opalised fossils which they put on public display and which they allowed me to examine when I visited the Ridge. So I knew their collection contained some scientifically important specimens but I didn't realise just how important until they needed to sell the collection and gave the Australian Museum first option.
I found funds to bring Dave, Alan and their collection to Sydney for detailed examination of their finds. It was only then that I first set eyes on a small beautifully-preserved opalised lower jaw with 3 distinctive teeth and immediately recognised them as mammal teeth - from a continent where no mammal remotely as old as this had ever been discovered before.
Since this mammal was new to science and needed a name I suggested that it be called Steropodon galmani, from the Greek for 'flash-of-lightning-tooth' and also acknowledging the Galman brothers' role in its discovery.
This was undoubtedly one of the highlights in my long professional fossil-hunting career and all credit to Dave and Alan Galman for saving this unique treasure for posterity.
Thanks to the publicity that Steropodon received, several years later some other opal miners at Lightning Ridge discovered and saved a second, but quite different, small opalised mammal jaw which was named Kollikodon (literally 'bun-shaped-tooth') ritchiei, for my role in its recovery!
Both of these national treasures are safely housed in the Australian Museum in Sydney.
I have good quality images of both opalised jaws if you would like to feature them!
