It is one of several famed Australian lagerstätten, with thousands of exceptional fish fossils found at a site near the town of Canowindra.

Antiarch placoderms make up the majority of specimens recovered; Bothriolepis and Remigolepis are the most abundant fossils, followed by the arthrodire Groenlandaspis.

About 20 sarcopterygian (lobe-finned fish) fossils have also been found, including new taxa such as Canowindra, Mandageria,[2] Cabonnichthys,[3] Soederberghia[4] and Gooloogongia.

The detail of preservation is high, with individual armor plates, scales, and the internal structures of major bones all visible in latex casts produced from the moulds.

[2][6][4] The Mandagery Sandstone is part of the Hervey Group, a cluster of deformed Paleozoic sediments located near the center of the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales.