68 AuDAs, Characteristic Vegetation about Tarram. rvd"^xxxv 



Alyxia huxifolia, Coast Acacia, Acacia longifolia, var. sophorce, 

 Coast Boobialla, Myoporum insiilare, Coast Tea-tree, Lepto- 

 spermum Icevigatum, Scented Paper-bark, Melaleuca squarrosa, 

 and Apple Box, Eucalyptus Stuartiana. Since the navigation 

 of the Lakes' Entrance was proved practicable, and especially 

 since the formation of the Gippsland railway. Port Albert has 

 dwindled in importance. It has a post and telegraph office, 

 a State school, a mechanics' institute, two churches, &c., and 

 is mainly supported by the fishing grounds. This is one of the 

 principal feeders of the Melbourne market, and one of the best 

 places on the Australian coast to catch the toothsome flounder, 

 which is daily sent by rail to Melbourne. Along the creeks 

 which run into Port Albert and Corner Inlet good sport can be 

 had with the gun. These and the Albert River are a great 

 resort for anglers, all the streams about having been stocked 

 with trout. Ninety-Mile Beach, with its great wash of ocean 

 thundering in giant rollers, is a great picnicking resort, also 

 the old Port — that is, the original Port Albert, a little distance 

 from the present settlement, where, in the fifties, ships direct 

 from England and also Tasmania and Melbourne landed 

 passengers and goods, the latter to be carted many a mile b}' 

 horse team or bullock waggon. The machinery for the Long 

 Tunnel mine, Walhalla, was all carted from this port. 



It had been my intention to pay a visit to Snake Island, an 

 area of 11,500 acres, which lies about eight miles to the south- 

 west of Port Albert ; but, as boating facilities could not be 

 arranged, I had to content myself with the shorter journey to 

 Sunday Island, which has an area of 2,537 acres. This island, 

 which lies about three or four miles from Port Albert, in a 

 south-westerly direction, consists of small, unconnected sand 

 hillocks timbered with rather stunted growths of Eucalyptus 

 viminalis, E. ovata, E. amygdalina, Banksia marginata, B. 

 integrifolia , and Acacia melanoxylon. The scrub is composed 

 mainly of Leptospermum scoparium, Melaleuca ericifolia, and 

 Leucopogon Richei, which form dense thickets of bushes or low 

 trees, and which are intersected with salt-water swamps fringed 

 by belts of White Mangrove, Avicennia officinalis. On the 

 north-east end the vegetation consists chiefly of Coast Tea-tree, 

 Leptospermum Icevigatum, and on the south-western parts 

 Stipa terettfolia, Poa ccespitosa, Spinifex hirsutus, Mesembry- 

 anthemiim cequilaterale, and Scirpus nodosus tend to arrest the 

 progress of shifting sands, but they are all much inferior to the 

 introduced Marram Grass, Ammophila aritndinacea, and Sand 

 Lyme Grass, Elymus arenarius. Lomandra longifolia (Liliaceae) 

 forms characteristic rush-like clumps over the sand-hills, while 

 Lepidosperma elatius and other Cyperaceous plants cover large 

 spaces. On the southern end of the island there is a pier about 



