Overview
- David Hole found the unusually heavy, reddish rock in 2015 while metal-detecting in Maryborough Regional Park and spent years trying to crack it open.
- Melbourne Museum geologists Dermot Henry and Bill Birch recognized the telltale sculpted exterior and confirmed it as a meteorite after laboratory analysis.
- A diamond-saw slice revealed high iron content and visible chondrules, leading to its H5 ordinary chondrite classification and the name Maryborough.
- Carbon dating and records of regional fireball sightings suggest the meteorite has been on Earth for roughly 100 to 1,000 years, with a possible 1951 arrival.
- The specimen is the 17th recorded meteorite in Victoria and, according to researchers, offers greater scientific value than any local gold nugget.