452 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E, 
disintegration of the land by chemical, meteorological, and mechanical means 
would, of course, have been distributed by tides and waves, and would have 
formed sandy beaches in the immediate vicinity of their origin. The form of 
the beaches in the neighbourhood of granite, basalt, shale, or sandstone would 
have been readily recognisable; but such conditions do not exist, and the 
author endeavours to show that the resultant outlines could not assume the 
contour of the present shore-line, but are the natural consequence of a con- 
tinuous travel of beach material in one direction. 
The Eastern Australian current, which first strikes the Australian coast 
between Hervey Bay and Moreton Bay, has a velocity of from one to two 
knots, with very little seasonal variation. Some of the salient points on the 
coast tend to produce eddies, which have the effect of changing the outline of 
the sandy foreshore and diverting the course of the rivers, but, in the main, the 
direction of sand-movement below high water must, in consequence of this 
current, be from north to south. 
The effect of the travelling sand impinging upon the islands and reefs, and 
its accumulation in the form of banner-reefs, hooks, and tongues, &c., are 
described, and the result shown on the accompanying map. The map shows 
the boundary of the old rocky coast at the time the last subsidence of from 
200 to 300 feet took place, and its relation to the existing foreshore. The 
intervening space is partly or entirely filled with sand of marine origin, 
although covered in places with several feet of humus, which forms some of 
the richest land of our coastal area. 
On certain parts of the coast the sandy beaches take the form of the Greek 
letter ‘Zeta,’ the resemblance becoming less as the speed of the current 
decreases. 
The significance of this ‘Zeta’ curve, in its relation to harbour engineering, 
has been referred to by the author in another paper, as also the necessity for 
differentiation between ocean and tidal currents as they affect sand-movement at 
river and harbour entrances. ; 
The volume of sand travelling down the coast has been computed from 
measurements made at the Clarence River entrance and at Port Kembla, and 
the effect of varying weather conditions upon the movement is referred to. 
Some measurements of the sizes of the sand-grains and their geological 
origin are given, for the purpose of supplying data for comparison with similar 
areas in other parts of the world. 
3. Central Australia and its Possibilities. By W. 1. Trerkens. 
That part of Australia to which reference was made lies for the most part 
between the parallels of 24 deg. 20 min, and 30 deg. 35 min. South Latitude, and 
between 123 deg. and 133 deg. East Longitude, embracing an area of about 
378,000 square miles, considerably greater than the area of New South Wales. 
This immense area may be described as a sandy depression, in places perhaps 
not much above sea-level, where the sand-hills or sand-dunes in some instances 
may be 100 feet high, and it has been called the ‘Dead Heart of Australia.’ 
So much has been done in reclaiming these so-called desert tracts in other 
countries that it would be well to turn our attention to the enormous area at 
our door. These sand-hills occur in confused groupings, also in nearly parallel 
ridges, but these will not be found to prevail west of 127 deg. East Longitude. 
West of that meridian, with few exceptions, the country is more level—soil firm 
and hard loam, nodules of iron-stained gravel, robust vegetation, spinifex, 
mulga, desert oak, and other Casuarina. The object is to point. out from 
personal knowledge where such schemes of irrigation can be best effected, and 
which, if carried out, will in time develop and make profitable that which has 
hitherto been regarded as a desert waste. 
Possibilities are suggested from the fact that native wells are sometimes the 
remains of mound springs. These springs, we learn, are the natural outlet of 
artesian waters, and from that it would seem that the artesian basin may here 
be nearer the surface than has hitherto been observed in Australia. 
