Nov.,"! 



I9I7 J 



Excursion to the You Yangs. gy 



formis, and several eucalypts^E. globulus (var.), rather 

 dwarfed and with gnarled branches ; E. sideroxylon, Ironbark, 

 rather unusual on granite country ; and E. obliqua, Stringy- 

 bark. E. polyanthemos was in full bloom. Acacia mollissima 

 and A. annata were in bloom, the former very slightly but 

 giving a promise of profuse flowering, the latter full ; also A . 

 melanoxylon, rather dwarfed, except on the more sheltered 

 slopes. All of these trees grow well among the boulders. 

 Although the horizon was hazy, from the peak we had an 

 extensive view to Mount Macedon to the north-east, Bunin- 

 yong north-west, Blackwood to the north, the Anakies to the 

 west, and to the south over Corio Bay and the Bellarine penin- 

 sula past Geelong to Swan Bay. The dial-face, showing 

 direction and distance, is a useful institution. We found that 

 some vandals had been firing bullets at the bronze plate com- 

 memorating Flinders's visit in 1802, bullet marks being visible, 

 whilst names had been freely scratched on the surface by 

 thoughtless and brainless visitors without any regard as to the 

 fitness of things. We lunched and rested on the summit. 

 Fhnders Peak is 1,154 feet in height, and, standing as it does 

 on a plain of low elevation (perhaps about 300 feet), apart 

 from other ranges, is a very prominent landmark, appearing 

 higher than it really is. The range extends to the north-west 

 for about seven miles. Its composition is a porphyritic granite 

 of quartz, felspar, and biotite. Prof. Skeats, who has carefully 

 studied its petrological character, calls it an alkali-granite. 

 The range stands like an island, being surrounded on every 

 side by the lava plains, which exhibit so extensively the 

 bygone volcanic activity once prevalent in the south and west 

 of Victoria. To the south-west, near Duck Ponds Creek, 

 denudation has disclosed the Ordovician measures underlying 

 the basalt. Right in front of the peak are the limestone 

 deposits of Lara, probably of the Pleistocene period, originally 

 deposited in a fresh-water lacustrine area extending right 

 across Corio Bay to the east of Geelong. Leaving the peak, 

 we went down the steep southern slope, which was found to 

 be much moister, with a good depth of humus, carrying rich 

 herbaceous growth, in marked contrast to the northern and 

 eastern slopes. Here some well-grown trees of Red Box Gum, 

 Eucalyptus polyanthemos, were much beset with galls. The 

 Kangaroo Apple grew well, but was not yet in bloom. The 

 Lesser Clematis, Clematis microphylla, festooned some of the 

 rocks with its feathery fruitlets. The Sweet Bursaria, Btirsaria 

 spinosa, showed its clusters of brown seed-cases. On this side 

 the gums, acacias, and exocarps are of much larger and finer 

 growth, with a profusion of grass, bracken, and meadow vege- 

 tation, among which were the Anagallis, Wahlenbergia, 

 Anguillaria {Wurmbea) dioica, Er odium cygnorum, Btdbine 



