May, 1927 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
2 7 
rivers in this corner of Queensland, and a few of the 
problems which they present, and which, I hope, may 
receive the attention and further observation of our 
Club members, as opportunity may arise in the field. 
The Brisbane River appears to be a compound 
stream. The lower part receives few large tributaries, 
but above the junction of the Bremer the drainage bash' 
opens out like a fan. North, West, and South. In this 
general arrangement of its main tributaries there is a 
marked similarity to the Burnett, Fffzroy, and Burdekin, 
and a dissimilarity to most of the other rivers of Queens- 
land. It was suggested some years ago by Dr. Danes 
that the Burdekin and Fitzroy might owe their peculiar 
arrangement of tributaries to their having at one time 
formed the basins of inland lakes, the water of which 
had subsequently found egress to the sea, or been 
“captured” by what is now the lower part of the main 
stream. The possibility' of this explanation applying to 
the Brisbane River is interesting, and investigation may 
in future show some light on the question. T have none 
to offer. 
In both its upper and lower portions the Brisbane 
River twists and turns from one meander to the next 
in an irregular manner. 
In a general way river meanders are usually regarded 
as especially characteristic of the final stages in the life 
of a stream, being due to its ever widening oscillations 
from side to side of the soft alluvial plain of its own 
making. The land inside the loops would thus be alluvial. 
This is not the case in the Brisbane. There are 
some alluvial flats, in places extensive ones, but most of 
the land inside the loops is solid rock, and often of con- 
siderable height. 
The outer concave bank is, as is usual, high and 
steep, while the land on the inner side tapers down to an 
alluvial flat at the extremity. 
A river could hardly, as the result of mere oscillation, 
develop in solid rock such meanders as, for instance, 
Kangaroo Point. There is thus some reason for supposing 
that the meanders were formed and later became “en- 
trenched” as the result of an elevation of the land 
with consequent cutting down of the river. But we may 
be wrong in assuming them to be true meanders, for they 
may represent deviations, due to some irregularity in the 
original surface or in the geological structure. 
