]{Y I'UOrKSSOR SIK T. W. E. DAVID, K.B.E., ETC. J23 



outwash apron material and the undulating peneplain of 

 hard rock on which it reposes, may very well have taken 

 place in post-Wiirmian time. 



Meanwhile this is the most important discovery up to 

 date, as to the high geological antiquity of man within the 

 Commonwealth. 



i.b. Last February the writer discovered at Regatta 

 Point, one mile north of Launceston, on the east bank of 

 the Tamar River, a large number (altogether about 100) 

 of specimens of very roughly chipped implements formed 

 out of pebbles embedded in the loosely cemented conglomerate 

 of an old raised beach. So rudely fashioned were some of 

 these implements that at first he doubted whether they were 

 necessarily of human workmanship. The occurrence of 

 these sharp-edged flaked stones alongside of well rolled 

 shingle attracted attention as an anomaly in sedimentation 

 requiring explanation. Eventually he discovered in situ 

 a roughly chipped somewhat water-worn implement of sub- 

 translucent chalcedonic quartzite, most obviously of human 

 Workmanship. At least 30 definite blows had been struck in 

 order to fashion the implement into its present form. (See 

 fig. 2 of PI. X.) Unfortunately the original has been 

 temporarily mislaid. 



This raised beach is about 4-5 feet thick, and extends 

 to at least 2-3 feet above high water spring tide, and is 

 further covered by an overburden of about 8 feet of talus 

 from the hill slope. The raised beach material is a ferru- 

 ginous gravel, loosely cemented. The raised beach rests 

 on Tertiary lacustrine leaf beds, perhaps of Miocene or 

 Pliocene age. The raised beach belongs to the period, in 

 the opinion of the writer, of a higher sea-stand, when sea 

 level was perhaps 3-5 feet above what it is now. The 

 maximum sea level of this epoch within the area of the 

 Commonwealth averaged about 15 feet above present sea 

 level, and dated back to a time suggested by R. A. Daly 

 to be about 7,000 years ago. From this an age of perhaps 

 1,500 to 2,000 years may be deduced for this raised beach on 

 the assumption that the decline in sea level took place at a 

 uniform rate from 7,000 years ago down to the present 

 time. The aborigines preferred a hard laminated pre- 

 Cambrian quartzite for making their rough scrapers there. 

 These were obtained from pebbles, in a gravel bed 8 feet 

 thick and 85 to 110 feet above high water immediately above 

 (to the east) the raised beach. A few scrapers are made 



