50 T. W. E. DAVID. 



Sandstone, rocks. Further north in the Oairns District a 

 portion of what was perhaps the original old Divide still 

 survives. In this case heavy crust foundering has all but 

 completely effaced the old eastward flowing river system, 

 leaving so narrow a strip of eastern watershed as to make 

 it impossible for any great rivers to gather, in the ten miles 

 which intervene between the crest of the present Main 

 Divide and the ocean. 



It seems strange that the very powerful lines of upheaval 

 of New Guinea running about E.S.E. and W.N.W. have left 

 so little impression upon the tectonic plan of Australia. 

 Possibly the W.N.W. to E.S.E. trend of the schists of the 

 Cape River Gold Field is due to these New Guinea pressure 

 lines, as well as the N. to S. tilt of the Cretaceous Basin 

 and tilt of the Ordovician rocks near the Victoria River in 

 Northern Territory. 



New Guinea. — Brief reference will suffice for what is 

 known as to the tectonic lines of New Guinea. At Port 

 Moresby Mr. A. Gibb Maitland 1 found strata formed of 

 sandy limestones and calcareous shales with flints. These 

 contained a Voluta which Mr. C. S. Wilkinson, the late 

 Government Geologist of N. S. Wales, considered to be of 

 Miocene or Eocene Age. The Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods 

 considered the formation to be Pliocene. Lithologically the 

 material somewhat resembles that of the Eocene beds of 

 South Australia, which is also characterised by the presence 

 of flints. The strata are steeply inclined, often vertical, 

 the dip generally is E.N.E. to E. 30° N., at 30 - 55°. Merid- 

 ional strikes with vertical dips are also recorded. At Yule 

 Island the dip is N. 40° E. at 20-30°. At Ware (Teste) 

 Island the limestones are folded on N. and S. axes. At the 

 island of Einauro (Cette) the dip is W. by N. at 50°. In a 

 recent letter Dr. W. G. Woolnough, informs me that he 



1 Geological Observations in British New Guinea in 1891. 



