Dead Bones Society

Young writers inspired by the bones and stones of the Somerville Collection.

The Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst NSW is the home of the Somerville Collection and Australia’s only complete T.rex skeleton is also the home of the Dead Bones Society.

Young writers aged 9-14 attend regular writing workshops with professional authors in the eerie atmosphere of the museum after dark.

Guided by author Paul Stafford, Charles Sturt University student mentors, musuem staff and volunteers young writers weave a series of funny, spooky, weird and wild action packed stories about science, fiction and the realms of possibilities in between.

Scattered Bones

The Scattered Bones program is a series of  dinosaur themed writing workshops delivered via video conference technology to regionally isolated schools across NSW It is a fun and interactive combination of paleontology and creative narrative writing hosted by Paul Stafford, children's book author and literacy consutrant, and the AFMM Education Officer Penny Packham, allowing isolated schools to meet and work together writing dinosaur stories. It is an outreach version of the AFMM's award winning boys' writing program Dead Bones Society, hosted after dark since 2005.

This project is funded by Arts NSW and Bathurst Regional Council.