The 11th Ralph Tate Memorial Lecture
"The Ediacaran and Cambrian fossils of South Australia:
the Dawn of Animal Life"
Associate Professor Diego C. Garcia-Bellido
Adelaide University and the South Australian Museum
Thursday 3rd September 2026 at 6.30 pm
5.30 pm for drinks and nibbles
NOTE THE EARLIER-THAN-USUAL STARTING TIME!
Mawson Lecture Theatre,
Department of Earth Sciences, North Terracce Campus, Adelaide University
This special meeting is hosted jointly by the Field Geology Club of South Australia, the Royal Society of South Australia and the Geological Society of Australia (SA Div.)
South Australia holds what is considered by many the best record of early animals in the world, represented by the Ediacara Biota of the Flinders Ranges —now part of a UNESCO World Heritage nomination— and the Cambrian fauna from Emu Bay Shale in Kangaroo Island. These sites are, respectively, just before and just after the Cambrian “explosion”, the biggest radiation of animal groups the planet has witnessed, including most of those we see around us today: arthropods, molluscs, echinoderms, even our group, the chordates. These half-a-billion year old fossils show exceptional preservation of the soft parts of those first complex life forms, which are normally lost soon after burial, and South Australian outcrops contain dozens of species and complete ecosystems. Research on both regions during the last two decades by Adelaide University and the SA Museum has uncovered extensive new material and led to several outstanding discoveries.
Diego was born, raised and graduated in Spain, where he got his BSc in Zoology (1997) and PhD in Palaeontology (2002) from the Complutense University in Madrid. Diego settled in Australia in 2012 but has previously carried out long research stays in Los Angeles, Toronto, Cambridge and London. He studies the early evolution of animals during the Ediacaran and Cambrian, more than 500 million years ago, particularly in the Flinders Ranges and Kangaroo Island, but also the Canadian Rockies, the Andes and the Atlas. His expertise focuses on exceptional preservation of trilobites and other arthropods, molluscs, echinoderms, worms, sponges… and has published on fossils from Australia, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, China, Argentina and Peru. Diego has written over 100 research papers (including 3 in the journal Nature), book chapters and popular articles, presented over 80 international conference communications, and has led research projects totalling over $4 Million in funding, from organisations like Australian Research Council, NASA, Spanish Research Council, and National Geographic Society.
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There will be no supper following the meeting. Drinks and nibbles will be available beforehand in the Alderman Room (Ground floor, Mawson Building). Members may accompany the speaker to dinner (own expense) after the meeting at a venue TBA. If you wish to do so please contact Secretary Frances Williams (details at the end of this Bulletin).
The GSA (SA Div) has set up a booking system for this event. Although it is not essential to register if you plan to attend in person it is advisable to do so. However it is essential if you wish to attend by zoom, otherwise you will not receive the link. Registration links are:
Online attendance:
https://www.gsa.org.au/eventdetails/40558/ralph-tate-memorial-lecture-2026-online
In-person attendance:
https://www.gsa.org.au/eventdetails/40542/ralph-tate-memorial-lecture-2026-in-person
