Wade was born in
Adelaide, South Australia and spent her early life on a property in the northeast of the state. She lived the typical country girl's life, it is said. Her family moved when she was seven to
Thistle Island in
Spencer Gulf where she first became interested in geology. She studied geology and biology at the
University of Adelaide, and in 1954, completed a Bachelor of Science with Honors in
Micropalaeontology.[3] Wade worked as a Senior Demonstrator at the University, while completing her Doctorate of Philosophy in 1959. Studying remotely via correspondence, Wade was sent on scholarship to the
Wilderness School in Adelaide as a boarder from the age of 13.[4][5] After she finished school, she undertook a Bachelor of Science in Geology at the
University of Adelaide before graduating in 1954.[6] Wade worked as a demonstrator while she undertook her PhD on tertiary aged
microfossils, under the supervision of Professor
Martin Glaessner.[7]
Career
In 1959, after Wade received her Doctorate of Philosophy she took up research at the
University of Adelaide looking into the earliest forms of animal life. In 1968, while at the University of Adelaide she worked with
Martin Glaessner on the
precambrian jellyfish fossils found in the
Ediacara Hills of the
Flinders Ranges.[8]
In 1971, Wade moved to the
Queensland Museum as curator of geology and worked her way up to becoming Deputy Director in 1980.[4][7] She studied the Cambrian and Ordovician nautiloids from north Western Queensland. She also studied vertebrate fossils arranging for the preparation for display of a Cretaceous ichthyosaur, which had first come to the museum in 1935.[9] She developed a network of contacts around
Winton, and with Dr
Tony Thulborn, they organized and supervised the excavation of 3,000 dinosaur footprints in the Tully Ranges from 1976 to 1977. This site, known as
Lark Quarry, is now a major tourist destination, and is on the National Heritage list for the quality of the dinosaur footprints, evidence of a dinosaur stampede.[4][7]
In 1987, with the assistance of contacts in the
Hughenden area, Wade recovered a second skull of the Queensland dinosaur, Muttaburrasaurus. She was able to excavate specimens of
Kronoaurus, and secure the site and remains of Jurassic
sauropod, Rhoetosaurus, which had been lost since the 1920s. In 1990, Wade excavated the most complete Pliosaurus fossil at Hughenden, presently known. She continued research into mollusc fossils of the
Great Artesian Basin.[4] Wade became an Honorary Research Associate of the Queensland Museum after retiring in 1993. She moved to western
Queensland, helping to develop the Fossil Centers at Richmond and Hughenden.
Wade received the Queensland Museum Medal in 1994. Her research led to the development of Kronosaurus Korner in Richmond, the Flinders Discovery Centre in Hughenden, and
Lark Quarry near Winton. The Dinosaur Trail tourist program is based on the work she and her contacts began.[4][10]
In 1998, the
Geological Society of Australia dedicated a special symposium in her honor. A prize is now given in her honor at the biennial Palaeo Down Under conference.[11] Wade died in
Charters Towers, Queensland, in 2005. She did not marry, and was survived by her brother.[4]
Published papers
Wade, M. 1968. Preservation Of Soft-Bodied Animals In Precambrian Sandstones At Edicara, South Australia. Lethaia, 1: 238-267. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1968.tb01740.[12]
Wade, M. 1979. Tracking dinosaurs: the Winton excavation. Australian Natural History, 19: 286–291.[13]
Thulborn, R. A. and Wade, M. 1979. Dinosaur stampede in the Cretaceous of Queensland. Lethaia, 12: 275–279.[14]
Wade, M. 1984. Platypterygius australias, an Australian Cretaceous ichthyosaur. Lethaia, 17: 99-113.[15]
Turner, S. & Wade, M. 1986. The records in the rocks. In: Mather, P. (ed.) A Time for a Museum. The History of the Queensland Museum 1862–1986. Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 128–149.
Thulborn, R. A. and Wade, M. 1989. "A footprint as a history of movement". In Dinosaur Tracks and Traces, Edited by:Gillette, D. D. and Lockley, M. G. 51–56. : Cambridge University Press.[16]
Wade, M. 1989. "The stance of dinosaurs and the Cossack dancer syndrome". In Dinosaur Tracks and Traces, Edited by: Gillette, D. D. and Lockley, M. G. 73–82. : Cambridge University Press.[17]
Wade, M. 1994. Fossil Scyphozoa. In: Grasse´, P. (ed.) Traite´ de Zoologie. Masson et Cie, Paris.[18]
Thulborn, R. A. and Wade, M. 1984. Dinosaur trackways in the Winton Formation (mid-Cretaceous) of Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 21: 413–517.
Thulborn, R. A. & Wade, M. 1984. Winton dinosaur footprints. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 21.
^
abMather, Patricia (1986). A time for a museum: the history of the Queensland Museum 1862-1986. Queensland Museum. pp. 144–145.
ISBN0724216456.
^McKay, Judith, 1949-; Queensland Museum (1997), Brilliant careers : women collectors and illustrators in Queensland, Queensland Museum, p. 77,
ISBN978-0-7242-7693-6{{
citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
^Garcia-Bellido, Diego (5 April 2016).
"AAP Awards". AAP Awards. AustralAsian Association of Palaeontogists. Archived from
the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.