/qi"s' 1 Daley, Notes of a Visit to Mallacoota Inlet. tjs 



NOTES OF A VISIT TO MALLACOOTA INLET. 

 By Chas. Daley, B.A.. FJ..S. 



{Concluded.) 



It is of interest to note the geographical position of this area 

 at the extremity of the Pacific slope, which, owing to its aspect, 

 its humidity, and its comparatively sheltered position east of 

 the great coastal range, has a distinctive character of its own. 

 This is especially noticeable in its vegetation. Mention has 

 already been made of the prevalence of two trees, one of which, 

 Eucalyptus corymbosa, the Blood-wood, is found from Cape 

 York, in Queensland, to Mallacoota ; and the other, closely 

 allied to it, Angophora intermedia, the Apple, extends from 

 near the Queensland border also to Mallacoota. Neither of 

 these trees is found in Tasmania, so here we have the definite 

 southern limit of their growth. Mr. R. T. Baker, whose 

 valuable work on the eucalypts is so widely known and appreci- 

 ated, gives the most southerly limit of the Blood- wood and 

 the Angophora as the Genoa River. Practically both trees 

 extend to the coastal ridge, and at Mallacoota I found that 

 their range passed beyond the Genoa in a south-westerly 

 direction. Mr. Lees, whose long practical experience and wide 

 knowledge of the forests of Eastern Gippsland make him a 

 competent authority upon the subject, verified my conclusion, 

 and furnished me with some interesting information on this 

 subject. To quote his words : — " E. corymbosa and ^4. inter- 

 media (Apple), miscalled ' Gum Myrtle ' by the Census Com- 

 mittee, extend westwards of the Genoa River to the Wingan 

 River. The latter represents approximately the delimitation, 

 and just beyond we meet the easterly extension of the Snowy 

 River Mahogany, E. botryoides." This determination extends 

 the range of Blood-wood and Angophora about twenty miles 

 further to the south-west, the Wingan River entering the 

 ocean near Ram Head. Mr. Baker's theory is that the An- 

 gophoras and Blood-woods, as the oldest of the red-wooded 

 Australian Myrtacea;, " should occur on land that has been 

 longest above sea-level " ; and hence, taking Victoria and Tas- 

 mania as geologically younger than the Great Divide, he states 

 these trees " have not yet found their way to those parts." 

 Apart from the debatable question raised of geological age 

 in relation to the presence or absence of arboreal growth, Mr. 

 Baker shows that the absence in Tasmania of Blood-woods 

 and Angophoras, and their paucity in Victoria, may reason- 

 ably " be attributed to some physical or geological agency." 

 It seems to me that this physical agency may certainly be 

 referred to the continuous eastern mountain system of Aus- 

 tralia, parallel at no great distance from the coast, providing, 

 along the well-watered and sheltered Pacific slope, a region 



