250 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIA. 



or Great Dividing Range, as it is locally known, vary from 2,500 to 

 4,000 feet above sea level. Barklay's Tableland and Selby and Kirby's 

 ranges separate the Gulf rivers from the Georgina, Hamilton, and 

 Diainantina streams that flow southwesterly. McPherson's Range, 

 which forms a natural boundary common to New South Wales and 

 Queensland from Point Danger to the junction of Tenterfleld Creek 

 with the Severn River, culminates in Mount Lindesay, 4,064 feet above 

 sea level, but besides it there are several other high and rugged peaks 

 along the crown of the range. Gregory Range, a lateral spur of the 

 Great Dividing Range, divides the waters of the Gilbert and Flinders 

 rivers. Drummond Range lies between the waters of the Belyando 

 River and those drained by the Nogoa and Isaac streams. The waters 

 of the Burnett and A.uburn rivers are separated from those drained 

 into the Dawson by Dawes Range, while the waters of the last stream 

 are also divided from those of the Comet River by Carnarvon and 

 Expedition ranges. 



The country between the Great Dividing Range and the eastern coast 

 line mainly consists of undulating and low-lying alluvial areas, with 

 intervening river valleys abundantly watered and remarkably fertile. 

 It is within the central and northerly parts of this division the great 

 industrial enterprise of sugar growing and manufacture is successfully 

 carried out and developed, it having been found that the soil and 

 climate are eminently adapted to the growth of sugar cane on some of 

 the coast lands of New South Wales and Queensland. West of the range 

 the physical character of the country changes entirely. Here we meet 

 with extensive plateaux or table-lands extending far into the interior of 

 the continent. In New South Wales the most important of these are 

 the Monaro Tableland ; the Great Western Plains, stretching to the river 

 Darling and into South Australia; and the New England Plateau, in 

 the northern part of the colony. Some of these table-lands are utilized 

 for agricultural purposes, but by far the largest portions are held for 

 pastoral occupation. 



In Queensland the western districts comprise the widely known 

 "Downs" country, consisting of immense table-land plains, interspersed 

 with comparatively small areas of hilly and undulating country, extend- 

 ing far and away into South Australia. The Gulf district, or that part 

 of the country bordering upon the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 mainly consists of extensive plains, abundantly watered and luxuriantly 

 grassed. Except to a very limited extent, agriculture receives but lit- 

 tle attention within this vast geographic division, extending the whole 

 length of the colony west of the range, although experience has amply 

 shown that the soil and climate of the Darling Downs country is nat- 

 urally adapted for the production of luxuriant crops of almost every 

 variety of agricultural produce. Nature has endowed it with inex- 

 haustible resources that await development at the hands of enterprising 

 colonists. At present the country is mostly held for grazing purposes, 



