The school chose Lightning Ridge as the destination for their annual excursion after the students had been studying Australian dinosaurs.

It was very exciting for students to see dinosaur fossils at the Australian Opal Centre and to hear about the vast array of animals that lived in this area 110 million years ago.

This is the second school group to visit the new AOC showroom in Morilla Street.

For two hours the students learned about opals and Lightning Ridge’s unique opalised fossils.

They had the opportunity to handle fossils and feel the difference between plant and animal pieces.

Local paleontologist Elizabeth Smith said, “the experience is more interesting for students if they can be like scientists and actually handle fossil samples and learn to identify their different characteristics.”

The students also watched a short film made by local school students called When it’s Gone.

Lightning Ridge Central School student Martin Lane explained why he and his friends made the film and why it was important to preserve fossil treasures for future generations.

The last activity of the visit was a sorting exercise where students sorted items into groups of plant fossils, shell fossils, opal nobbies and opal chips.

The visitors ended up staying half an hour longer than planned and visiting teachers commented they would recommend the Australian Opal Centre to any school group.

Last month volunteers from the Australian Opal Centre attended St Mary’s School in Warren as visiting experts on opals and fossils.

St Mary’s students had also been studying Australian dinosaurs and many of the students already had a good deal of knowledge about the dinosaur fossils of Lightning Ridge.

The Australian Opal Centre began its school programs earlier this year at Lightning Ridge Central School and looked forward to expanding its programs with the local school and others in Walgett Shire and beyond.