4G Pi'oceediiKj.^ of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



Advancement of Science at the 1890 meeting. Tliis conglo- 

 merate is described as occurring, among other places, at 

 Bacchus Marsh, and is said to consist of material, the great 

 bulk of which is derived from schistose and other ancient 

 rocks and to contain pebbles, boulders and masses of from 20 to 

 30 tons M^eight. Granites, gneiss, schist, quartz-rock, sand- 

 stone, lydianice, agate, shale, porpliyry, and jasper, &c., are 

 said to occur in it. Many of the included stones are 

 striated, and often flattened on one or more sides ; others are 

 well rounded, and others again are rough angular fragments. 

 Erratic blocks of granite occur on the surface at Wild Duck 

 Creek, near Heathcote. 



Mr. Dunn is of the opinion that " no other conclusion can 

 be arrived at than that floating ice has been the agent by 

 which the material has been brought into its present position." 

 "Much of the material," he says, "is foreign, and many of 

 the rocks are not known to occur at present in this Conti- 

 nent anywhere near Victoria." He also considers the 

 conglomerate at Wild Duck Creek to be very similar to the 

 Dwyka glacial conglomerates of Soutli Africa. Mr. Dunn's 

 description is very general, and the evidence on which his 

 conclusions are based is somewhat vague and wanting in 

 specitic detail. 



Mr. T. S. Hall, M.A., has also given a short account of 

 these deposits at Heathcote in the " Victorian Naturalist," 

 (Vol. VIII, No. 2). He also considers the beds to be of 

 iceberg origin. 



Victoria is divided into two main areas by a continuation 

 of the Australian Cordillera, known as the Main Divide, or 

 Great Dividing Range. This extends from Forest Hill on 

 the east to the Grampians on the west. In the eastern part 

 of the south division we have the South Gippsland and 

 Westernport Ranges, of which the Southern Spur forms a 

 leading feature. West of Port Phillip we have the isolated 

 Otway Ranges. The Main Divide reaches its highest 

 elevation in its eastern portions. Mount Kosciusoo being 

 over 7000 feet and several other mountains over (iOOO feet 

 above sea level. Passing westwards the elevation gradually 

 diminishes. The average elevation is about 8000 feet, 

 but in some places it sinks to 1000 feet above sea level. 

 The average distance from the coast is about seventy miles. 

 There are three main drainage systems — (1) The Murray 

 System, north of the Divide ; (2) The South Eastern or 

 Gippsland System, south of the Main Divide and east of the 



