349 



ON THE RECENTLY OBSERVED EVIDENCES OF AN 



EXTENSIVE GLACIER ACTION AT MOUNT 



KOSCIUSKO PLATEAU. 



By Richard Helms. 



( C ommitnicated hy Professor T. W. E. David.) 



(Plate XVIII.) 



"Quod minimum est, minimum est ; sed in minimum 

 fidelium esse magnum est." 



Whether Australia, or any portion of it, underwent a glacial 

 period has for a number of years been a disputed question among 

 geologists, and up to quite recently the evidences in favour of this 

 conjecture have been so scanty, and were mainly based upon the 

 occurrences of striated or polished (?) rocks, that it cannot be 

 wondered at that the proofs of it were not considered conclusive. 

 If such an astute observer as the late Rev. Tenisou-Woods only 

 a few years ago could declare, and probably justly so at the time, 

 that the evidences of a glacial period were not reliable, it is not 

 surprising that the subject remained a doubtful question so long.* 

 It is also very plainly perceptible from the report to the Minister 

 for Mines furnished by Dr. R. v. Lendenfeld after his visit to 

 Mount Kosciusko during the early part of January, 1885,t that 

 he based his suppositions entirely upon the glacier-worn rocks he 



* J. E. Tenison- Woods. — "Physical Structure and Geology of Australia," 

 P.L.S.N.S.W. Vol. vii. 1882, p. .382. "There is no satisfactory evidence of 

 any former participation in the great ice age by the Continent of Australia. 

 One or two instances of grooves or striations are recorded, but, standing 

 alone in so vast a territory, the ice origin is very doubtful. On the whole, 

 the evidence afforded by the animal remains is decidedly in favour of a 

 warmer climate for Australia than that which now prevails, and this is borne 

 out by the plant remains." 



t Report by Dr. R. von Lendenfeld on the results of his recent exaniina- 

 tio I of the central part of the Australian Alps. 



