Tim the Yowie Man meets 'Shawn the Prawn'

Tim the Yowie Man takes us on a tour of Parliament House to find the little-known wonder inside named 'Shawn the Prawn'.

Transcript

00:00 Along with the giant flagpole and the two chambers, one of the most visited spots in

00:08 the Australian Parliament House is of course, Sean the Prawn.

00:13 But is Sean actually a prawn?

00:16 Today I have Dr Steve Hill from Geoscience Australia with me and he's going to explain

00:22 whether Sean the Prawn is a prawn or not.

00:26 Sadly, Sean the Prawn is not a prawn.

00:30 What is known as Sean the Prawn is a random collection of fossils.

00:36 They are mostly fossils of corals.

00:39 There are some shells in there and they have just arranged themselves in a way, randomly.

00:45 And then the rock has been sliced to give you an impression that looks remarkably like

00:51 a prawn.

00:53 It's about 345 million years old, which is known as the Carboniferous Period.

00:59 And at that time, there were prawns around, but not very many as we think of prawns today.

01:05 Prawns actually became a lot more prolific in the geological record about 100 million

01:11 years later.

01:12 So, yes, they're very old fossils.

01:16 They're from Belgium, when the sea level, at a time when the sea level was higher because

01:21 the earth was warmer, but sadly, that's not a prawn.

01:26 There's also an interesting feature in the limestone floor.

01:30 Some people claim it looks like the late Queen Elizabeth II.

01:32 Is that right?

01:33 Yes, that's right.

01:34 There is a fossil of a colonial coral that's on the way up the staircase in the foyer there

01:42 that looks remarkably like the bust of Queen Elizabeth II, which is amazing.

01:49 Firstly, she was not around in the Carboniferous Period.

01:53 What is amazing is that it was Queen Elizabeth II, of course, who opened this building and

01:57 to see a fossil that resembles her in profile is quite remarkable.

02:10 [Music]

02:12 [BLANK_AUDIO]