Group of fossilised nuts.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria
Group of fossilised nuts.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria
These Haddon nuts measure 3–8 cm in diameter.
This collection of fossilised seed pods, nuts and fruiting bodies found in a gold mine near Ballarat belong to plant families that gave rise to the modern Australian flora.
The climate in Australia cooled around 30 million years ago and the lush rainforest covering Victoria eventually gave way to temperate forests. Land fossils from Australia at this time are rare, so these well-preserved fossils of the fruiting bodies of plants provide valuable clues to the changing environments in Victoria.