MOA

DISCOVERY

1873 - [BIG BIRD]

Mr.  Krefft  also  referred  to  bird  bones  which  he  had  received  from  Mr.  James T.  Plunkett,  on  September  7th,  1873,  found  in  the  "Sandhole"  Claim,  Black  Lead, Gulgong, at a depth of one hundred and sixty feet, consisting of "fragments of vertebrae of a bird rather stronger built than the  emu, but not larger in size." These may be portions of the same species lately described by Mr. de Vis, as Dromaiue pairiciue...

Source: Records of the Geological Survey of New South Wales, Vol. i. p 149

1873 - LIST OF DONATIONS TO THE AUSTRAIAN MUSEUM

Fossil bones, from Gulgong. By Mr. James F. Plunkett.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Mon 6 Oct 1873 Page 3 

1873 - [MOA]

Let me add to this that many bones of birds and eptiles have been found at Wellington, and that Moa bones were obtained at Gulgong a month ago. The first Moa bone (a femur or upper leg bone) was discovered at the Leichardt Downs, in Queensland, 186 feet beneath the surface, and is now deposited in the Australian Museum.

Source: The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912) Sat 15 Nov 1873 Page 638

1874 - [MOA]

Since then remains of moas have been found at Gulgong, and in other localities; so that the Rev. W. B. Clarke is right to head his paper Dinornis, an Australian genus.

I quote further remarks of the author regarding the time when this bird existed here: —

"The period at which this large wingless bird trod that singular land (Australia) was that at which the elephantine marsupial Diprotodon flourished..."

Source:  The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912) Sat 17 Jan 1874 Page 82