10G Physical Features of the Australian Alps. 



what, and again forming an anticlinal ridge towards Mount 

 Pbipps, a flat-topped, thickly-timbered height some 16 miles 

 distant, and about 4300 feet above sea level. 



An extension of the Precipice Plain tableland forms the 

 watershed line between the Victoria and Cobungra, the 

 surface configuration being a mere modification of that on 

 the higher plateaux. From Mount Phipps a minor water- 

 shed line trends north-easterly in a rather circuitous direction 

 towards Mount Livingstone (a rounded height near Omeo), 

 and separating the Victoria River from the Livingstone 

 Creek ; while southerly from the former mountain the Main 

 Divide forms an elliptical curve, enclosing the extreme 

 southerly sources of the latter creek. Continuing thence as 

 a well-defined ridge, it suddenly breaks away along the 

 eastern watershed of that creek into two low gaps — Swift's 

 Creek and Tongio Gap — the latter forming the principal 

 (and natural) outlet from the Mitta Mitta source basin 

 to the seaboard (via the valley of the Tambo River). 

 From Tongio Gap the country slopes gradually towards 

 the Omeo township (five miles distant), while southerly it 

 falls away into a deep gorge formed by the valle}^ of the 

 Tambo. 



From this gap the Dividing Range forms a clearly 

 outlined anticlinal range, northerly towards Mount Sisters, 

 at the eastern margin of the Omeo Plains tableland (ten 

 miles distant). Within the Livingstone drainage area is 

 situated the township of Omeo; its actual position, 37° 06' S. 

 lat., and 147° 26' E. long., at an elevation of 2108 feet above 

 sea level. It enjoys a mean annual temperature of about 

 50° Fahrenheit ; a climate both salubrious and exhilarating, 

 its greatest summer heat being tempered by cooling moun- 

 tain breezes, while the winter's snow seldom remains longer 

 in the immediate vicinity of the township than a few days. 

 The Omeo goldfield, although one of the oldest in the colony, 

 remains at present practically undeveloped. An important 

 feature connected with the auriferous deposits near Omeo 

 consists in their situation. Occupying the valley of the 

 Livingstone Creek, since the lower Silurian rocks became 

 metamorphosed into the present crystalline schists, were a 

 series of ancient lakes, or tarns, into which, by the breaking-up 

 of the ancient lava flows, masses of igneous boulders became 

 deposited ; subsequently the gradual wearing down of the 

 metamorphic schists, with their associated auriferous quartz 

 veins, filled up these ancient lake-beds with a deposit of 



