Mem. Nat. Mus. Vict., 13, 1943. 
THE KEILOR FOSSIL SKULL: GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 
OF ANTIQUITY. 
By D. J. Mahony, M.Sce., Director. 
The following is a brief epitome of evidence concerning the age 
of the river terrace in which a human fassil skull was found near 
the junction of Dry Creek and the Maribyrnong River, a mile 
north of Keilor. The skull was unearthed beneath undisturbed 
strata at 18 ft. below the surface of the terrace, and skull and 
terrace are evidently contemporaneous. 
These notes are based on field work carried out by R. A. Keble 
and Miss Hope Macpherson, but the inferences are my own. Mr. 
Keble is preparing a detailed paper on the subject, and he may 
interpret the evidence differently. 
The area at the junction of Dry Creek and the Maribyrnong 
River was geologically mapped. In this locality there are frag- 
ments of three terraces which will be referred to as the Keilor, 
the Braybrook and the Maribyrnong Park Terraces. The surface 
of the Keilor Terrace, in which the skull was found, is on the 103 ft. 
contour and is 45 ft. above the adjacent river bed. The Braybrook 
and the Maribyrnong Terraces are respectively 36 ft. and 27 ft. 
above the river bed. The river is very shallow. 
These terraces were traced downstream in the valley of the 
Maribyrnong River and their surface levels were determined at 
intervals with a dumpy level and between these points with an 
Abney level. The datum to which heights were referred is low 
water mark at Williamstown (L.W.M.), an official datum used 
in Victoria. The mean diurnal rise and fall of tide at Williams- 
town is 2 ft. 
All the terraces are paired in some localities; in others erosion 
has reduced their area and in many places only fragments remain. 
Keilor and Braybrook Terraces extend as far as Ascot Vale 
Gap, where the tidal portion of the river flows between two isolated 
basalt-topped hills about a mile apart. Maribyrnong Park Terrace 
extends about half a mile further and follows the o!d course of the 
river east of Quarry Hill, the eastern hill of Ascot Vale Gap. 
Keilor Terrace between Dry Creek and Keilor is about a mile 
in length and a quarter of a mile wide, but its surface is disturbed 
by cultivation. Downstream, near the point where the electric 
transmission line crosses the river, it is about 150 yds. wide and 
it retains its natural surface. Its most southern portion is about 
60 ft. above L.W.M. 
Braybrook Terrace at Dry Creek is 7 ft. lower than Keilor 
Terrace, and at Chinaman’s Ford, where the river becomes tidal, 
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