12 XXXII. Dr. J. V. Daneš: 



rise is here claimed to be a relie of the old Tertiary peneplain of 

 east Australia. As a geological monument a peneplain might be rea- 

 sonably expected to outlast a mountain range, since it is safest from 

 denudation." 



(Page 21.) „Tbe whole course of the Fitzroy and Burdekin is 

 exceptional ; showing the characters of age in infancy and the features 

 of youthfulness in middle age. The peneplain on which they rise is 

 old, the shelf on which they discharge is old, but the coastal ranges 

 through which they eut their gorges are new. An exceptional history 

 is required for these exceptional features and such I háve endeavou- 

 red to supply. The fate that apparently overtook other streams, du- 

 ring the crumpling of the coast, of being broken in the middle and 

 reversed threatened them also. But the partial protection of the sub- 

 marine buttress rendered the attack less severe than it was either 

 north or south. So these rivers survived as radiais, but not without 

 a hard struggle. The isolated sheets of alluvial deposited by the 

 Fitzroy at Gogango and by the Burdekin above Mount Dalrymple, 

 show where they staggered in their course. The gorges through which 

 they pass, not at the commencement of their career like o r din ary 

 rivers but towards their close, show where they were almostoverpowered." 



This explanation of the extraordinarily broad and extensive river 

 basins of the Burdekin and the Fitzroy is very ingenious and illustrâtes 

 very well the deep contrast which that part of the pacifie coast 

 shows in comparison with others more to the north or south, where 

 the short marginal rivers are the rule. Mr. Hedley ist best known 

 to the scientific world by his numerous and excellent studies on the 

 zoology, zoogeography and tectonics of the SW. Pacific and the Austra- 

 lian coastal area and it is only natural, that his récent study biings 

 plenty of new materiál and admirable conclusions. The merits of his study 

 from the tectonical point of view are very high, no doubt that the 

 knowledge of tectonics of the Pacific coast area have reeeived here a 

 very valuable enrichment, but from the physiographical point of view 

 it does not seem to me to be established on a sure, definite base. 



The explanation given by Mr. Hedley concerniDg the Burdekin 

 and Fitzroy Systems is completely- opposite to the views of Mr. Tay- 

 lor. I have shown that some very important facts are opposite to the 

 views of Mr. Taylor and I maintain that the same speak strougly 

 against the views of Mr. Hedley, that the Burdekin and the Fitzroy 

 are the radial rivers of the old peneplain, or, in other words, that, 

 they are antécédent to the last uplift of the coastal ranges. 



