EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA. 



357 



Fig. 154.- 



-MacDoxtall's Itineeabies. 

 Scale 1 : 6,000,000. 



6° 



29 may 

 11 July 



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>y27rnay qX) , 

 V---,',, isp 15jur 



.1 -AoV 20 nia} 



layV. 



7july<>, 





A^^Âshhu^on 



22° 





The explorations carried out in recent years by the Challenger and other vessels 

 have determined with tolerable accuracy the submarine bed on which Australia stands, 

 and which may be geologically regarded as forming with the mainland a partly up- 

 heaved continental mass. In 

 the north New Guinea, with the 

 clusters and chains of adjacent 

 islands, such as the Louisiades 

 and Aru, all rest on the com- 

 mon pedestal, being united with 

 Australia by the reefs dotted 

 over Torres Strait and neigh- 

 bouring waters. The Gulf of 

 Carpentaria and the north- 

 western seas nearly as far as 

 Timor belong to the same sub- 

 marine bank, which in the south 

 stretches far seawards, and in 

 the south-east develops a long 

 submerged peninsula, above 

 which rises Tasmania, and 

 which advances over 900 miles 

 into deep water. 



On the east side the New 

 South Wales seaboard is washed 

 by abysses of over 2,000 fathoms, 

 while the north-east coast is 

 fringed by the Great Barrier 

 Reef, which is connected by a 

 sill less than 1,000 fathoms deep 

 with Norfolk Island and the 

 north-west peninsula of New 

 Zealand. This connecting line 

 between the continent and its 

 most remote geological depen- 

 dencies is disposed towards the 

 south-east in the same direction 

 as New Caledonia, the Loyalty, 

 and New Hebrides groups, and 

 other upraised lands in this 

 section of the South Sea. 



It is noteworthy that in this 

 vast aggregate of Australasian 



lands the continent itself presents the least diversity of relief. Even the loftiest 

 Australian ranges are of secondary importance compared with the New Guinea and 



22' 



152° 



120 MUes. 



