Susan Turner reports the sad death of Anthony “Tony” Thulborn (JRGS 1955-1962)

Dr. Susan Turner of Brisbane, Australia, writes: "My husband, Dr. Richard Anthony “Tony” Thulborn - pictured left aged 11 - was a fine man and had an outstanding life." Click on thumbnail to view a larger version.
   Born in Croydon Hospital in March 1944, his home was in Norwood and he was a staunch Crystal Palace supporter. He attended John Ruskin GS from 1955-1962 and left after taking A-Levels in Geography, Geology and French.
   Tony then attended Norwood College for other A-Levels and went on to Chelsea College, University of London, finally gaining his PhD at University College, London on the subject of dinosaurs."
   Dr. Tony Thulborn went on to a post-doc at Birmingham University and eventually gained a job at the University of Queensland in early 1974 as lecturer in the Department of Zoology, where he was employed for the next 30 years."
   He is pictured right in his university gown.
 Tony lived in Queensland for the rest of his life, marrying Susan Turner in 1986. He worked on many Mesozoic reptiles and became one of the experts on dinosaur footprints, notably bringing to life the Lark Quarry Winton dinosaur stampede, the only one known in the world (and a model for the scene in the film Jurassic Park). Tony worked on fossils from many countries and wrote the classic textbook Dinosaur Tracks, published in 1990 by Chapman & Hall. In later years, he suffered from ill health with osteoporosis but eventually took up his camera and produced prize-winning photos of local wildlife, especially birds.

   He died aged 81 of pneumonia after a fall on 22nd July of this year. "It is good that Tony bowed out on life when Crystal Palace FC was at a particularly high point, having just won the FA Cup," Susan adds.
   More details of his illustrious career can be found here. Tony’s memorial service was held in Brisbane on Tuesday, 30th September.

Paul Graham (JRGS 1959-66) adds: By coincidence, I too arrived in Australia in 1974, initially working in Darwin before marrying a Brisbane girl in 1975. One of my brothers-in-law in Queensland, Richard Piper, is an entomologist. He and a close friend, Professor Clive Jones of James Cook University, Cairns, both attended the University of Queensland. Clive remembers Tony Thulborn as a highlight of his undergraduate years, a charismatic young man with engaging idiosyncrasies whose lectures in anthropology and paleontology were very stimulating.