The first species and specimens of this fossil organism was first discovered in the Ediacara Member of the Rawnslay Quartzite, Flinders Ranges in South Australia.
Reg Sprigg, the original discoverer of the Ediacaran biota in Australia,[REF] described Dickinsonia; he named it after Ben Dickinson, then Director of Mines for South Australia, and head of the government department that employed Sprigg.