Maitland. — ll'esfrn> A iislraluni (rcojo(/y. 
Ill 
There ni’e two liistim-t i’aim;il regions of this age in Western 
.\iLstralia, viz.: those omirring in tiie strata beneath the Niillarbor 
Plains, at the liea<l of the (Jreat Australian Higlit, and those of 
(Jingin airl its sin roundings, to the north of the metropolis. The 
Cretaeeous rocks of (tingin consist of a thin bed of chalk — tlc‘ 
only on»' in Australia — Inhow which are ^‘greensands” and clay 
shale. The chalk of Oingin is an ancient modcrati'ly deep sea 
foraniiiiiferal de[)Osit somewhat analogous to the Globigerina ooze 
now found on the floor of the Atlantic. The total amount of 
extraneous mineral matter in the rock being small, and the quan- 
tity of recognisable minerals still smaller, it may reasonably be 
concluded that the Gingin chalk was formed in clear water of 
some d(‘]»tii in i\ region wlu-re there were no volcanoes, and at 
some distam-e fi'om land. The fauna of the Cretaceous system as 
develo])cd in Wt'stern Australia is remarkably rich, esjiecially in 
foimainifeva and ostracoda. The Oretaceous rocks of Western 
Australia are of far more than nun-e local iinportance, since the 
elements in th<‘ir fauna connect tliem with those of South Africa, 
Portugese Past Africa, Pastel n Madagascar, Western Peninsular 
India, and Assam. 
The Cretaceous sea was gradually liecoming- shallower owing 
to a. steady elevation, as is evidenced by the preponderance of 
sandy rocks in the up])er members of the (‘retaceous formation. 
Plevation continued until the whole of the Trans-Australian Cre- 
taeeous sea became dry land, and for the first time Australian 
and Asiatic Australia iHaanie one great continent. It was the 
earliest federal imi of the States of the Commonwealth. The geo 
logical federation was com])lete and final and with it there came 
inevitalile (hdcunoralion, for the drying-np of the Cretaceous sea 
caused the dessicatioii of the central ])ortious of the continent, and 
the climate became hotter and drier. 
Poliowing the ])eriod of elevation and erosion at the close 
of the Cretaceous, the Tertiary era was inaugurated, somewhere 
about 10 to 15 million years ago, by a subsidence below sea-level 
(,f a great ])ar1 of the country at the head of the Great Aus- 
trali.an Bight and ])ortions of what are now the lino to the west- 
ward. With the advent of tlie Tertiary era there were ushered in 
im])oi'tant changes in the topogra})hy and geograjdiy of the globe. 
First in order of im])ortance was tlu‘ foianation of tliat great zone 
of elevated plications, the result of successive movements of ele- 
vation, which extended from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to 
the Himalayas, and thence ])rolonged through the Malay Peninsula, 
the Dutch East Indies and Neiv Guinea. This immense upheaval 
was accompanied by the gradual draining of the interior of Aus- 
tralia and by the sinking of other parts of the pre-existing land. 
