Historical information

Lesley Kool is an honorary research associate in the Department of Vertebrate Palaeontology, Museums Victoria and does research in Palaeontology and Geology. Her current project is 'Polar turtles from the Aptian of Victoria, Australia' plus research into the Early Cretaceous fauna and flora of Victoria. A group of researchers from Monash University, including mammalogist, palaeontologist and environmentalist decided to follow up on the discovery of Australia’s first dinosaur bone, the Cape Paterson Claw by William Ferguson, at Eagles Nest in 1903. Lesley Kool joined them. Together with colleagues, including Mike Cleeland of Phillip Island, she has made and researched discoveries over the following 40 years that have, among other things, completely turned worldwide theories on their head about the origins of mammals and how cold-blooded dinosaurs could have existed and thrived within the Antarctic Circle for millions of years. Reflecting on the importance of the work to which she has contributed she says: “These animals were as Australian as the koala and the kangaroo, but very few people are aware they ever existed. We would like to change that view.”
Lesley was a Research Assistant at Monash University from 1986 to 2006. She then became Honorary Research Associate at Museums Australia in 2006. Lesley was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for Paleontology.