Mary Julia Wade (3 February 1928 – 14 September 2005) was an Australian palaeontologist, known for her role as the Deputy Director of the Queensland Museum.
[6] Wade worked as a demonstrator while she undertook her PhD on tertiary aged microfossils, under the supervision of Professor Martin Glaessner.
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.
[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.
[4][7] Wade, Thulborn and Alan Bartholomai joined an expedition from the Natural History Museum in 1978 to collect Mesozoic reptiles from around Winton.
Her research led to the development of Kronosaurus Korner in Richmond, the Flinders Discovery Centre in Hughenden, and Lark Quarry near Winton.