172 president's address. — section c. 



is, on the whole (other things being equal), favorably situated for re- 

 ceiving a plentiful rainfall. It is situated, in the direct track of the 

 aqueous air currents of the South Temperate Zone. No mountain 

 barriers exist parallel to the coast that might intercept the rain in its 

 passage inland ; and if the present central basin could be exchanged 

 for an upward grade towards the centre of the continent, the cyclonic 

 disturbances, which now keep well to the southward, would, no doubt, 

 overlap the land to a greater extent than at present, and give a more 

 generous precipitation. 



That the geological period immediately preceding the present, in 

 South Australia, was one in which the country received a greater rain- 

 fall and produced much larger rivers is abundantly evident. Fluvia- 

 tile sands and gravels are found in most of the principal valleys and 

 plains that have no direct relation with the existing system of drainage, 

 and on a scale vastly larger than belongs to the present streams. 



The fauna of the Pleistocene period, in a country that is now in- 

 cluded within the arid regions of Lake Eyre and surrounding districts, 

 was abundant, including animals of gigantic size, and others whose 

 habitat is limited to permanent fresh waters. The large fossil bones 

 of the Diprotodon and the Giant Kangaroo are so plentiful, in this 

 central courtry, as to have attracted the notice of the aborigines, 

 who call them the Kadimakara, and concerning which they have a 

 pleasing tradition or myth.* In addition to many other extinct forms 

 that roamed on land, alligators, large chelonians, and the ceratodus 

 (mud fish), found a home in the rivers Cooper and Warburton,f which 

 must have been at that time both fresh and perennial. The discovery 

 of alligator remains at Port AugustaJ gives us further proof of the 

 former prevalence of this aquatic reptile in Central Australia, and also 

 presumptive evidence that these northern rivers flowed southward 

 into the present drowned valley of Spencer Gulf. 



Many years ago Tate stated the case for cooler and moister con- 

 ditions of climate in South Australia during the Pleistocene period, 

 based on the evidences of extinct rivers, lakes, and fauna.§ His 

 views on this subject were influenced by the supposed Pleistocene age 

 of the Hallett's Cove glaciation, and his explanation of the colder 

 conditions at that time was based on astronomical grounds, together 

 with such an elevation of the land as to bring the Mount Lofty Eanges 

 within the limits of a permanent snow-line. It has since been demon- 

 strated that the glacial features of Hallett's Cove have a much greater 

 antiquity than that supposed by Tate, and therefore his explanation, 

 being deductions from incorrect data, are irrelevant ; but the facts 



♦ See Gregory, Dead Heart of Australia, p. 3. 



t Debney, Trana. Roy. See. S. Aus., Vol. IV, p. 146. Tate, ibid.. Vol. VIII, p. 54. Gregory., 

 Dead Heart of Australia, p. 81. 



X Tate, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Aus., Vol. IV, p. 153. 



§ Trans. Philos. Soc. of Adelaide (Roy. Soc. S. Aus.), Vol. II, p. Ixvi, " Post-Miocene Climate 

 in South Australia." Ibid., Vol. VII, p. 52 et seq. 



