Had Bob Foster ignored his gut instinct when he was mining in the 1980s, the world might never have known about a new species of dinosaur and the first dinosaur herd to be discovered in Australia.

Key points: The newly discovered species is a two-legged plant-eating dinosaur

The newly discovered species is a two-legged plant-eating dinosaur To discover dozens of bones from the same dinosaur skeleton is a first, scientists claim

To discover dozens of bones from the same dinosaur skeleton is a first, scientists claim The new species has been named Fostoria dhimbangunmal

Mr Foster was working at the Sheepyard opal field near Lightning Ridge, NSW, when he kept coming across what looked like "horses' hooves".

"We used to smash them up looking for opal in them, because that's what we were out there to do," he said.

But when the hoof-like bones kept coming, he began to think twice.

"After several months of finding these things and smashing them up, I said, 'I think I better go and find out about these'."

A dinosaur toe bone, preserved in opal, found at Lightning Ridge. ( Supplied: Robert A.Smith/Australian Opal Centre )

So he packed two duffle bags full of the opalised rock and set off on a two-day journey from Lightning Ridge to the Australian Museum in Sydney.

"I got up there and said I've got these dinosaur bones to show you and [they] sort of looked at me funny and they laughed and said, 'Ah, yeah'."

"Anyway, I just grabbed them and threw them all down on the table.

"You've never seen better slip catches in your life — they were diving and grabbing them.

"They were fascinated by them."

A team from the museum headed to Lightning Ridge to help excavate the fossils and among the discoveries found 60 opalised bones from one adult dinosaur, making it the world's most complete opalised dinosaur.

"When they came up I showed them the pile where we'd smashed all what we thought was just seam opal.

"Oh, they were nearly crying. They could see all the bones that had been smashed up."

An artist's impression of the new dinosaur species. ( Supplied: James Kuether )

Dr Phil Bell, lead researcher from the University of New England in Armidale, said he was stunned by the sheer number of bones found.

"We initially assumed it was a single skeleton, but when I started looking at some of the bones, I realised that we had four scapulae [shoulder blades] all from different sized animals."

To honour Mr Foster's discovery, the new dinosaur species has been named Fostoria dhimbangunmal, the name meaning "sheep yard" in the local Yuwaalaraay and Yuwaalayaay Indigenous languages.

The Foster family have donated the fossils to the Australian Opal Centre at Lightning Ridge.

"They're back where they're supposed to be," Mr Foster said.