THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 93 



UNDER EASTERN BAW BAW : A BOTANICAL TRIP 

 IN THE GIPPSLAND MOUNTAINS. 



By Henry Thos. Tisdall. 

 (Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 10th August, 1896.^ 

 During the midwinter holidays, being bent on a botanical 

 expedition, I determined to revisit Walhalla, the golden city of 

 the Gippsland Mountains. It is situated on a small tributary of 

 the River Thomson, within a few miles of their junction. 

 Leaving the Gippsland railway at Moe, a good team of horses set 

 off merrily for the hills. The first few miles are comparatively 

 level, but we soon came to rising ground. The first hills are 

 evidently old sand hummocks where in far distant ages the sea 

 had full dominion, but they are now covered by a sparse supply 

 of various kinds of low eucalypts, a plentiful undergrowth of 

 scrub, interspersed with broad patches of long coarse grass. 

 Amongst the scrub I noticed a great number of dwarf Banksias, 

 the smaller Grass Trees (Xanthorrhcea minor) Native Hop 

 (Daviesia latifolia), prickly wattle, &c, while the tussocky grass 

 was enlivened by an immense quantity of white and red heaths 

 {Epacris impressa). 



As the road is of the most primitive description, it took us 

 several hours to reach the changing place on the River Tyers. 

 With fresh horses we made a gallant start, but the road now 

 becomes much more rugged as we ascend the side of the Moon- 

 darra plateau. A great change is noticeable in the scenery ; the 

 trees are much larger, and great clumps of Hazel [Pomaderris 

 apetala), Blanket Tree (Senecio Bedfordii), &c, can be seen at 

 both sides of the road. The plateau itself is evidently the 

 remains of an immense stream of lava, which was thrown out by 

 Mount Bavv Baw in ancient times, and covered the country east- 

 ward as far as Ostler's Creek, the main body flowing west and 

 south towards Warragul. After passing Jacob's Creek, which 

 separates Upper and Lower Moondarra, the road becomes worse 

 and worse, the rich chocolate soil allowing the wheels to churn 

 it into such a mass of mud that it would be almost impassable in 

 parts only for the corduroy, which is a road formed by placing 

 small tree stems across the road quite close to each other. This 

 kind of road, though it prevents the wheels from sinking, has its 

 own particular drawbacks. For the driver always takes advantage 

 of the corduroy and drives so quickly over the uneven surface 

 that, as a passenger remarked, " it was enough to shake one's eye 

 teeth out." The descent into the valley of the River Thomson 

 is very steep, but in time we got safely down, and, as we were 

 now only five miles from Walhalla, we congratulated ourselves on 

 soon making a speedy end to a rather tiresome journey; but, alas, 

 we reckoned without our host, for it came on to rain, and what 



