Annual Wells Lecture 2019

Following the triumph of the inaugural Wells Lecture in 2018, Flinders University Palaeontology and Flinders University Palaeontology Society hosted the second Wells Lecture on the 18th of October 2019. Professor Gavin Prideaux and Professor Rod Wells opened the event, both highlighting the incredible palaeontology research achieved within the Flinders University Palaeontology Labs during its now 31-year existence, and the reason for the formation of Wells

Professor Rod Wells, with FUPS President Phoebe McInerney, Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, and Professor Gavin Prideaux

Series including raising funds for the James Moore Memorial Award, a foundation close to out hearts here in the Flinders University Palaeontology Labs.

We were incredibly lucky this year with an inspirational guest speaker, Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan from the University of Cape Town, who presented her work on the osteology of various extinct species from Sauropods to birds. The lecture was informative, demonstrating the potential of growth ring analysis in the limbs of animals to make predictions on the osteology, age, and growth of an individual over their lifetime. Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan was presented with a bottle of wine and a cast of a Megalania vertebra as a show of our appreciation, not only for accepting our offer to guest lecture at the event, but also for her huge contribution to the collaborative research within our lab and palaeontology as a whole.

Wells Annual Lecture Social Event

The lecture was followed by a short social event hosted by FUPS at the Flinders Tavern, with the primary focus of raising funds for the James Moore Memorial Award. The night was a great success with a raffle and both silent and live auctions assisting in raising funds for the Award. Thank you to everyone who donated articles for the raffles and auctions, your generosity is very much appreciated. We were able to smash past our goal amount, raising $3, 526 over the night, with our MC for the night, Professor Flint, keeping us all entertained and the auctions lively.

Live Auction Donated Items

Silent Auction Donated Items

Finally, we celebrated two incredible people who have donated a lot of their time to the Flinders University Palaeontology Society, with our current president, Phoebe McInerney, presenting them with the FUPS medals for outstanding service to the society. Both Diana Fusco and Kailah Thorn have gone well beyond what was expected of them, creating an incredible, diverse, active and inviting society, congratulations.

Thank you to everyone who attended the second annual Wells Lecture for 2019. The night was a great success!