Hi<j}il<i iid>< of WcMem Victoria. 251 



its pof-'ition. The use of the term did not imply thut it was ;i 

 Mountain Raniro in an exact geological sense (the date of in- 

 troduction of the term should be remembered), nor do geologists 

 ever seem to have regarded it as such. 



Rather strangely Professor Gregory' lias described Mr. 

 Reginald Murray as supporting the term, and connects with this 

 supposed support its frequent use. Murray's " Geologv' and 

 Phy^^ical Geography" was published in 1887, nearly forty yea is 

 after the term had first been otfieially used. But we hud on 

 reference to the book that Murray does not use the term Great 

 Dividing Range, but consistently speaks of the "Main Divide." 

 Apparently his supposed support consisted in describing a main 

 divide in Victoria running from east to west, whereas Brougli 

 Smyth" had previously described the principal dividing line as 

 running south to Wilson's Promontory. But Sehvyn'' had 

 already de-alt with this idea, tracing it to Count Strzelecki in 

 a map published in 1845. 



Every objection which is urged against the Great Dividing 

 Range can be used with at least equal force against this line 

 to the Promontory. It does not conform to the arrangement of 

 the ancient folded rocks ; it is composed of residual ridges of 

 ■denudation, and further it crosses the Mesozoic trough (a feature 

 which cannot be paralleled on the Main Divide) ; so that on this 

 southern line the continuity of any early high land area was soon 

 interrupted. Brough Smyth himself uses the tenns '" Dividing 

 Range " and " Great Dividing Range," and applies the shorter 

 term even to the Mt. Ararat ridge far distant from his main 

 dividing line, and subsequent to the date at which he had 

 ■described the latter.' 



On the geological map of Victoria the term Gre*\t Dividing 

 Range appears, but its use is not due to Murray. He distinctly 

 says' that " the latest Geological Sketch map is— with the addi- 

 tion of being geologically coloured -the topographical map is- 

 sued from the Crown Lands Department." Even here the con- 



1 The Geography of Victoria, 1903, p. 62. 

 •1 GoUlfields aiifl Mineral Districts of Victoria, 1809. 

 3 Notes on ttie Physical Geography and Geology of Victoria, 1807. 

 ■t Report of Progress of the Geological Survey of Victoria, II., 1874, p. 18; III., 1875, 

 p. 17. 



ij Op. cit., p. 3. 



11.4 



