54 Kelly, Plant Distribution in the Healesville District. [ vor'xxxi 



PLANT DISTRIBUTION IN THE HEALESVILLE 

 DISTRICT. 

 By Reginald Kelly. 

 {Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 20th April, 1914.) 

 The Healesville district is so well known as a tourist resort 

 to the majority of the members of this Club that httle need 

 be said as to its position or characteristics ; but, as the 

 Naturalist has readers outside the limits of this State, it will 

 be necessary to briefly refer to the main features of the 

 district. The area to which I propose to refer covers 

 al)out 150 square miles, and may be roughly defined as 

 bounded by a line drawn from Toolangi (about 10 miles north- 

 west of the township of Healesville) to the Blacks' Spur, thence 

 to Mount Donna Buang, west to the Yarra, along that stream 

 to the railway tunnel, then north to Toolangi. The details 

 of this area can be readily seen on a large scale map, such as 

 that recently issued by the Lands Department for the use of 

 tourists. 



Healesville, about 40 miles almost due east of Melbourne, is 

 surrounded on its northern, eastern, and southern sides by 

 ranges of hills varying from 700 to 4,000 feet above sea-level, 

 the township itself being situated on the banks of the Watts 

 River, about 270 feet above sea-level. To the west are the 

 extensive fiats stretching towards Yarra Glen, through which 

 the Yarra meanders, and which in winter are often submerged 

 and appear like a huge lake. The district is a well- watered 

 one, permanent streams occurring in every direction. The 

 lower part of the area was apparently at one time under land- 

 locked water, which was banked back into the present mountain 

 gullies, and formed arms or inlets like those of Lake Tyers, 

 or, in miniature, Sydney Harbour. The water was supplied 

 by the heavy rainfall in the mountains now included in the 

 water reserve under the control of the Metropolitan Board of 

 Works, and which formed the watershed of the Yarra and 

 Watts rivers. These rivers, instead of having an outlet from 

 the Healesville basin, close to their confluence near the 

 railway tunnel, were probably there l^locked by a range of hills, 

 and, indeed, did not exist nearer than those points where they 

 fed the lake at a level corresponding to the lowest point on 

 the confining range of hills. In course of time the lake dis- 

 appeared, from two causes — erosion at the present outlet and 

 silt deposit in the lake itself. On the high banks of the gap 

 through which the Yarra now flows, on the west side of the 

 town, can still be seen wave marks, and similar signs are 

 observable also on the sides of many of the promontories. 

 Rock formations are exposed on both north and south banks 

 at this sjx)t, though not directly opposite. It is conceivable 



