The ACT has adopted its fourth community emblem, this time in the shape of a fossil following community consultation which received 30 per cent of the community casting their vote for the long-extinct creature.
Adoption of the Batocara mitchelli makes the ACT the fourth State or Territory in Australia to have an official fossil emblem, joining Western Australia, NSW and South Australia.
Announcing the Batocara mitchelli’s formal adoption by the Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the marine creature received more than 1,100 votes during public consultation.
“Batocara mitchelli (pictured) is a trilobite from an extinct group of marine anthropods – the same group as spiders, scorpions and crabs,” Mr Barr said.
“They became extinct 250 million years ago,” he said.
“The Batocara mitchelli is commonly found as fragments, however a complete specimen was found while drilling the foundations of the Treasury building in the 1940s.”
Mr Barr said the new fossil emblem joined the floral, faunal, and mammal emblems for the ACT: the Royal Bluebell, the Gang-gang Cockatoo, and the Southern Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby.
He said the adoption of a State or Territory emblem could be used to raise public awareness and conservation support of a species.
“All ACT emblems have no legislative requirements surrounding their use,” the Chief Minister said.
“They can be used by anyone on their publications, uniforms or websites.”
Western Australia adopted the Mcnamaraspis kaprios Gogo fish as its fossil emblem in 1995, followed by NSW’s adoption of the Mandageria fairfax in 2015 and South Australia’s Spriggina Floundersi in 2017.
