AUSTRALIAN QUATERNARY CLIMATES AND MIGRATION 43 



require investigation by intelligent collecting for evidence of an 

 earlier occupation; such, whether it was positive or negative, 

 would be valuable. 



The artefacts found at Altona and Point Cook, on the evidence 

 available, belong to the Murundian, the newest of Hale and Tin- 

 dale's industries. 



G. — Deposits under Lava-flows and Volcanic Ejectamenta. 



In Victoria, artefacts have been found under lava-flows and 

 volcanic ejectamenta. Much of the evidence must be accepted on 

 its face-value, for most of the finds were made more than half a 

 century ago. They were found at widely separated places by 

 individuals who, with a single exception, did not realize the 

 significance of their finds: the thought of antiquity never occurred 

 to them. Where possible inquiries have been made by the writer 

 and statements checked. It has been ascertained, for example, 

 that they who were connected with the finding of the Pejark 

 Marsh Millstone (p. 46 post) were trustworthy and all of them 

 lived in the locality at the time. It was not possible to locate 

 those who found the Buninyong Hone (p. 50 post) but the writer 

 knew the Hon. R. T. Vale who was the parliamentary member 

 for Buninyong towards the close of the last century and chairman 

 of the Board of Directors of the Great Buninyong Estate Mine ; 

 he resented any implication that the bone had not been found 

 in the circumstances stated, or that it had been tampered with. 

 The Maryborough Axe was found in 1854. Its authenticity 

 cannot be probed, but it was facetiously queried by a boring- 

 engineer who visited the site some 50 years later and gave it as 

 his opinion "that it might have fallen down a wombat hole or a 

 natural hollow." The Colongulac Bone was picked up on the 

 shore of Lake Colongulac together with a number of other bones, 

 including some of Diprotodon ; it came from a bone-bed that has 

 not yet been located, but is known to occur in the immediate 

 vicinity. There is ground for the belief that the bed is contem- 

 poraneous and probably identical with that at Pejark Marsh. 

 Spencer and Walcott (p. 51 post) were convinced of the genuine- 

 ness of the Colongulac Bone. The section from winch the Bushfield 

 Axe is stated to have come was inspected by 8. R. Mitchell and 

 myself (p. 56 post): E. W. Hamilton, who found it, is, too, an 

 untrained observer and his account must also be taken at its 

 face-value. The sole instance of a discovery of implements by a 

 competent and reliable observer was the finding of the Myrniong 

 artefacts (p. 54 post) under "The Island" lava-flow; their 

 authenticity cannot be doubted. 



