112 
building purposes by Dr. E. 0. Marks, and orchids by 
Miss D. Williams. 
EVENING MEETING, 17th November, 19, '>2. — The 
resignation of Mr. J. T. Woods from the editorship of 
“The Queensland Naturalist'’ was accepted with regret. 
Dr. Ian Hiscock and Mr. and Mrs. D. Wale were elected 
members of the club. The President reported that sixty 
members attended the excursion on 16th November to Mr. 
David Fleay's Fauna Sanctuary at West Burleigh. After 
discussion it was decided that “Proceedings’’ be rein- 
stated in “The Queensland Naturalist’. The President, 
Dr. E. N. Marks gave a lecture on her visit to Murray 
and Darn ley Islands and Dr. Dorothy Hill spoke of the 
marine biology of the Torres Strait Islands. The follow- 
ing were among the exhibits tabled by members : — Shells 
from Grafton by Miss E. E. Baird, pressed flowers from 
Western Australia by Mr. A. Tucker, a specimen of 
Pithecolobinm inosum by Miss D. Williams, fossil and pre- 
sent-day skulls and teeth of lung fish by Mr. F. S. 
Colliver, and snail shells from Tambourine by Mrs. G. L. 
Jackson. Slipper was served after the meeting. 
A VISIT TO MURRAY AND DARNLEY ISLANDS 
ELIZABETH N. MARKS 
In mid-June, 1952, Dr. M. J. Mackerras and I were 
sent to help investigate malaria epidemics on Murray 
and Darnley Islands in the Torres Straits. Several 
famous scientific expeditions have visited these islands, 
and some popular authors have written about them, but 
they are probably as little known to most people as they 
were to me when I went there. 
All the islands of Torres Straits, including several 
within a few miles of the New Guinea coast, are part of 
the State of Queensland. They fall naturally into three 
groups, the Western, Central and Eastern Islands. The 
Western Islands lie in a broad band running north from 
Cape York Peninsula to New Guinea. They are, in 
fact, part of the backbone of Australia and the same 
types of ancient granitic rocks are found on the Penin- 
sula and in these islands (some of which are quite large 
and mountainous) and at Mabudauan Hill in southern 
New Guinea. Thursday Island, from which we set out 
in a launch, is one of the smallest and least fertile of 
them. It was chosen for the government settlement on 
account of its sheltered, deep-water anchorage. 
