TELL US ABOUT WHO YOU ARE AND HOW YOU GOT STARTED.

I'm Sally, a palaeontologist and archaeologist, which means I study fossils, dinosaurs, and human history.

Like most kids, I loved dinosaurs. Unlike most kids, I didn't grow out of it.

During Year 10, I needed work experience. I'd already done one placement at Penguin Publishing in Sydney, but I wanted to try something different. So I sent a cold email to the National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra asking if I could spend a week there.

They hired me at the end of that week. I ended up working there on and off for five years, through high school and into uni.

During my gap year, I visited museums and archaeological sites across North and South America. That's when it clicked: I wanted to do this for real.

I found Macquarie University, where I could study both "dead people and dinosaurs." Packed my bags, moved to Sydney, and I've been here ever since.

After my undergrad, I did a Master of Research, but I had a problem. I'd studied palaeobiology and Egyptian archaeology, and I had no idea what to do if I actually found a fossil or artifact.

One day, walking across our family farm with my mum, she asked: "If I find something, who do I tell? What's the next step?"

I had no idea. And if I didn't know with university training, how would a farmer or bushwalker know?

For my master's, I created the Found a Fossil website, a guide on what to do depending on your state, territory, and land type if you find a fossil or First Nations artifact. The laws are completely different for each, and it can be confusing. I wanted to help protect Australia's incredible heritage by raising awareness.

WHAT ARE YOUR AMBITIONS FOR WORK AND LIFE?

Right now? Simple. Get on as many dinosaur digs as possible.

Field work is my favourite part of the job. There's nothing like getting covered in dust and dirt in the desert or the mines of Lightning Ridge, uncovering something no one's seen in seventy million years.

This year, I'm hoping to go on five digs:

• Victoria with Dinosaur Dreaming, Australia's longest-running dinosaur dig
• Wellington Caves, NSW for Pleistocene megafauna like Diprotodon (think: wombat the size of a 4WD)
• Canada with the University of Reading at Dinosaur Provincial Park
• Winton, Queensland with the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum
• Mongolia's Gobi Desert, if I can afford it

I have several casual jobs around Sydney and do research on the side, but all that energy and money gets funnelled toward the next paleo dig.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVOURITE PROJECT YOU’VE WORKED ON SO FAR? ANY DREAM PROJECTS OUT THERE?

I've just finished writing a book with CSIRO called Found a Fossil: Digs, Discoveries and Australia's Deep Past, coming out in May. That's been really exciting.

As for dream projects? My favourite dinosaur is a pachycephalosaur, a little dome-headed dinosaur we think head-butted each other. We often find bits of their thick skulls, but rarely the rest of their bodies. And we've never found soft tissue.

I'd love to find a mummified family of them. How did they grow up? Did their skulls change from baby to adult? These are big contentious questions in palaeontology.

Otherwise, digging up a T. rex in North America would be amazing. Bonus points if it's fighting a Triceratops. Or heading to China for their exceptionally preserved feathered dinosaurs.

Honestly? Put me in a hole, give me a shovel, and I'll be happy.

An Ankylosaur tail found by Sally and her team on a dig

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE UNEXPECTED JOYS IN WHAT YOU DO?

I grew up on a farm showing cows, but I was never really into manual labour. So when I started field work, I was surprised by how much I loved it.

It's exhausting and backbreaking, shovelling buckets and wheelbarrows of dirt and rock, but underneath all that, there's hopefully a dinosaur.

There's nothing quite like going to town on rocks with a hammer or pickaxe. I've loved working with women who maybe haven't had the chance to do these activities before. You give them a pickaxe, and they become the hardest workers you've ever seen. There's so much joy in letting loose.

I'm an introvert, so I love the people on these digs. The Jurassic Park trivia knowledge is elite. Multiple people can quote the entire movie. The conversations, the random knowledge: these are genuinely some of the nicest, most inclusive people you'll meet.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR WORK AND YOUR FAVOURITE PARTS OF WHAT YOU DO.

My palaeontology career probably looks different from the traditional path: undergrad, master's, PhD, then museum or university work.

I got to the end of my master's and thought: I'm done. I want to get outside. I want to build other skills. I want to go on digs.

And it worked.

I've travelled the world on different digs, meeting people, teaching skills, getting acquainted with new fossils. It's a paddock-to-plate experience: we dig something up, jacket it, take it to the museum, catalogue it, write a research paper (which takes 1-2 years), and it might end up on display.

These digs are usually only a few weeks at a time, so in between, I work several casual jobs. I'm a self-employed researcher with Macquarie University, working on the things we dig up. I used to work at the Australian Museum as an education presenter. Now I run my own business, visiting schools to talk about field adventures and running workshops with real fossils. I also have a casual office job at Macquarie to pay the bills.

I've forsaken job security, but I get to take off every few months and dig up dinosaurs.

It can be stressful, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

You can follow Sally on Instagram, check out her website and read all about what to do if you stumble across a fossil on the Found a Fossil website.