Meet our founders
Built on curiosity. Backed by 20 years of experience.
Dinosaur Diggers is a family-run business, founded and led by people who genuinely care – about every student, every session, and every detail of the experience we deliver. We started in 2006 with a crate of fossils, a passion for natural history, and a belief that children learn best when they’re excited, engaged, and allowed to discover things for themselves.
Two decades later, that belief hasn’t changed, it’s just been refined, scaled, and delivered to hundreds of schools across Australia. Every resource pack we send reflects the care and craftsmanship we’ve built into this programme from the very beginning. Meet the family behind the fossils:
Sandara Knox
Co-Founder
The brains behind the operation; Dinosaur Diggers exists because of Sandra. A lifelong passion for dinosaurs and prehistoric science led her to start the business in 2006 with a crate of fossils and a belief that children learn best when they’re genuinely excited about what’s in front of them.
As the original creator of the Dinosaur Diggers concept, Sandra shaped every element of the experience — the content, the storytelling, the sense of wonder — and brought it to life as the lead presenter for school incursions across Melbourne for over a decade. The warmth, curiosity, and care that defines Dinosaur Diggers today started with her.
Patrick Duggan
Co-Founder
Alongside Sandra, Patrick has been part of Dinosaur Diggers from the very beginning. With a background in IT and project management, he has always been working behind the scenes.
Now stepping into an active leadership role for the 2026 relaunch, Patrick is co-leading the development of the new digital product offering alongside Teagan. His grounding in technology and delivery is what allows Dinosaur Diggers to scale nationally without losing the quality and care the business was built on.
Teagan Duggan
Managing Director
The oldest child of Sandra and Patrick, Teagan grew up with Dinosaur Diggers. As a child herself when the business was launched, she watched as it took shape and brought joy to thousands of kids just like her; understanding instinctively what made it special.
She went on to build her own career as a founder and entrepreneur, developing a sharp commercial instinct and a clear perspective on what it takes to grow something with integrity. Now she’s back; leading the relaunch of Dinosaur Diggers in 2026 as Managing Director. Having had a front-row seat to the inner workings of the business from the beginning, and with the benefit of growing up in a digital landscape, she is well placed to lead Dinosaur Diggers into the future; carefully balancing the prehistoric magic of dinosaurs with the modern world.
Conor Duggan
Family & OG Digger
Like Teagan, Conor has been part of the Dinosaur Diggers journey since day one. Growing up alongside the business, he was there during the early incursions, the school visits, and definitely at the end of a spade on more than a few digs. Conor was part of the furniture during the years of discovery which have shaped the programme, and remains a sounding board when it comes to the past, present, and future of Dinosaur Diggers today.