Vol. 52.] GLACIAL ACTION IN AT7STBALIA. 291 



In 1884 Mr. R. M. Johnston 1 of Tasmania described the occurrence 

 of erratics, some over a ton in weight, in the Permo-Carboniferous 

 rocks of Maria Island, Tasmania. 



In 1885 Mr. R. D. Oldham 2 visited Branxton in New South 

 "Wales (where Mr. C. S. Wilkinson had the previous year discovered 

 some large erratics), and found one small boulder which he described 

 as being unmistakably striated and polished by ice. This deposit 

 is of Permo-Carboniferous age, and probably homotaxial with the 

 erratic- beds of the Bowen River Coalfield, Queensland, and those 

 of similar age in Tasmania. Mr. Oldham correlates the Branxton 

 beds with those of Bacchus Marsh in Victoria, and suggests that 

 they may be the equivalents of the Talchirs of India. He also 

 suggests that during the deposition of these beds ' there was a 

 widespread glacial epoch corresponding to that which is known to 

 have occurred in post-Tertiary time.' 



In 1886 Mr. R. M. Johnston 3 recorded further evidence of erratics 

 in Permo-Carboniferous rocks at One Tree Point, Bruni Island, 

 Tasmania. They are embedded in marine strata with which is 

 associated Gangamopteris spathulata, M'Coy. 



In 1887 the author 4 recorded the occurrence of numerous erratics 

 in Permo-Carboniferous strata at Grasstree in New South Wales. 



They are mostly rounded, seldom angular ; none observed were 

 distinctly glaciated, though many were faintly striated, possibly 

 through earth-movements. About the same time the author 

 observed, near Branxton, a block of granite nearly a ton in weight, 

 embedded in the Permo-Carboniferous strata in such a position as 

 to leave no other explanation possible than that it had been dropped 

 from floating ice. (A photograph of this was exhibited at the 

 meeting.) 



In 1890 the late Dr. Feistmantel 5 correlated the Bacchus Marsh 

 Beds of Victoria and the Upper and Lower Marine Beds of New 

 South Wales with the Dwyka Conglomerates of Southern Africa, and 

 with the Talchir Boulder-beds of India. The Prodwcfow-limestone 

 which in the Salt Range caps the Talchir Boulder-beds afforded 

 palaeontological evidence for the above correlation. 



Feistmantel summarizes the evidence as follows : — ' This circum- 

 stance [the occurrence of ice-scratched boulders in the strata] 

 would, of course, indicate a rather general change of climatic 

 conditions over Australia, portions of Africa, India, etc. towards the 

 close of the Carboniferous epoch. But I do not think that it was 

 contemporaneous over that whole region, and it appears to me that 

 it set in first in Eastern Australia (New South Wales), destroying 



1 Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania, 1884, p. lxv. 



2 Rec. Geol. Surv. India, vol. xix. pt. i. p. 44. 



3 Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania, 1886, pp. 23-24. 



4 ' Evidence of Glacial Action in the Carboniferous and Hawkesbury Series in 

 N. S.Wales,' Quart. Journ. G-eol. Soc. vol. xliii. pp. 190-196. 



5 'The Geological and Palaeontological Relations of the Coal- and Plant- 

 bearing Beds of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Age in E. Australia and Tasmania/ 

 Mem. Geol. Surv. N. S. W. Pal. No. 3, pp. 46, 47, 181. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 206. x 



