BY R. II. CAMBAGE. 679 



of settlement. On the same day. lie traversed the creek which 

 flows south-westerly past the eastern slopes of Black Mountain, 

 and, on pages 52 and 53 of his Held-book, entered the name as 

 Canbury Creek.* 



Elevation and Topography.! 



The elevation of the Federal Capital Territory above sea-level 

 ranges from something under 2,000 feet along the valleys in the 

 northern portion, including part of the proposed Federal City of 

 Canberra, to upwards of 6,000 feet in the south-western portion, 

 the highest point being Mount Bimberi, which reaches an eleva- 

 tion of 6,264 feet, giving the Territory a range of elevation ex- 

 ceeding 4,000 feet. 



The western boundary follows a range northerly from Mount 

 Bimberi to Mount Coree or Pabral, the elevation of the latter 

 being 4,657 feet Dividing the Cotter from the Murrumbidgee 

 River is another range running north and south, one of the 

 highest points of which is Tidbinbilla, said to be a slightly altered 

 native name which signified a snow-capped mountain, and which 

 reaches an elevation of 5,115 feet. These high points are all 

 visible from many spots on the north side of the Molonglo River. 



The area east of the Murrumbidgee, which is regarded as a 

 fault-block, is generally lower than that on the western side, 

 and ranges between about 2,000 and 2,800 feet above sea-level, 

 the vegetation being of an open forest character. Around the 

 Federal City site and Duntroonare the Canberra Plains, formeiiy 

 known as the Limestone Plains, naturally almost treeless, and 

 through which the small Molonglo River flows. 



The southern portion of the Territory is largely composed of 

 a network of broken mountains, though, in a few places, as near 



* In 1837, Surveyor Hoddle had charge of the laying-out of the City of 

 Melbourne, and in 1851 became the first Survej^or-General of Victoria. 



t See "Notes on the Physiography of the Southern Tableland of New 

 South Wales," by C A. Siissmilch, F.G.S., Journ. Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. 

 Wales, Vol. xliii., p.331 (1909). Also "The Physiography of the Proposed 

 Federal Territory at Canberra," Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, 

 Melbourne, by Griffith Tajdor, B.Sc. (1910). 



