For more than 20 years, a simple white slab sat in the main office of Biloela State High School, blending into the background. It was a relic of the nearby Callide Mine, a gift to the school by a geologist. For most, it was just an impressive rock with multiple chicken-like tracks.

This schoolyard boulder with ancient footprints is revealing a vibrant moment in Australia's prehistoric past.

A trove of fossilised dinosaur footprints has been found on a slab of rock gathering dust inside an Australian school, scientists said on Wednesday.