PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 



followed by the higher forms of vegetation, then marine and 

 terrestrial animals, and ultimately intelligence, in the shape of 

 man, appeared on the scene. 



Cooling and consequential shrinkage divided the surface of the 

 earth into land and water, and, by lateral thrust and folding, 

 produced mountains, which gave rise to rivers; and these, with 

 a constant heavy rainfall, wore down and denuded the mountains, 

 and spread mud and debris over the beds of oceans, lakes, and 

 depressed places, thus forming strata, which gradually built up 

 and consolidated the whole of the earth's surface, including not 

 only those parts which appeared above the water, but all the 

 land covered by oceans, for these, being of insignificant depth 

 compared with the whole mass of the earth, need not be taken 

 into account. 



The operations going on at this stage being so exactly the same 

 everywhere, it may reasonably be asked why the whole surface 

 of the earth was not converted entirely into dry land perfectly 

 level, or else covered everywhere by water of an even depth; but 

 the answer to this question must be that the earth revolved round 

 the sun, not in a true circle, but in an ellipse, that its axis was 

 not at right angles with the plane in which it revolved, and that 

 the variations thereby effected would necessarily produce conse- 

 quential variations in the operations and their effect, then mould- 

 ing the surface. 



During the turmoil of these troublous times, and apparently in 

 the Cambrian epoch, some part of Australia arose above the 

 ocean, and other parts appeared later in geological sequence. 



Australia was originally very different in shape, size and 

 features from what it is at the present day, and it is evident 

 that, at no very distant geological date, not only Tasmania, but 

 also New Guinea, formed part of the continent. 



In the general instability of everything, Australia, after its 

 birth, or the greater portion of it, must have been several times 

 submerged beneath the waves before it began to settle down, in 

 the Tertiary age, to its present form. 



