INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
7 
the Permo-Carboniferous rocks are developed in the valley of the 
Victoria River for 100 miles from the sea. Also on the Kimberley 
Gold Eield, to the south-west of the Victoria. 
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
The geographical features of this period appear to have been a 
continent somewhat similar in form to that of the present Australia ; 
there was an elevated range along the east coast which attracted 
moisture and a climate favourable to vegetation, and also by rapid 
degradation of its rocks supplied suitable soil for tropical growth. 
The central interior was not favoured by such a climate, and there are 
few r traces of either deposit or denudation. The western interior 
enjoyed a moderate rainfall, and the detritus was carried down 
towards the north and south coasts, where it was deposited in regions 
where the carboniferous flora flourished, though not to the same degree 
as in east Australia, where it laid the foundation of the great goldfields 
of New South Wales and Queensland. 
FURTHER ELEVATION OF CONTINENT. 
About the end of the Palaeozoic or the commencement of the 
Mesozoic periods, there appears to have been a further elevation of 
the continent, especially in the eastern part, for though in many 
places the deposits of the strata show little interruption, in others 
there has been considerable disturbance and uncouformity of 
succession, with indications of an increase in the elevation of the 
land, which, with a contingent increase of rainfall, accounts for the 
luxuriant growth of the carbonaceous flora and its extension much 
further to the west. The artesian bores which have been made, show 
that the cretaceous beds rest on the carbonaceous at a depth of 2,000 
feet below the present ocean level, and the freshwater beds of the 
coal series are not less than 3,000 feet in thickness, showing that the 
terrestrial level of the mountains has been decreased 5,000 feet, or, in 
other words, they were 5,000 feet higher during the Mesozoic period. 
On the western coast the elevation is not so well defined, but the land 
was at a greater height above the ocean than at present, as fragments 
of coal and its accompanying minerals have been washed up from the 
deep sea, and may be found embedded in the Tertiary limestones of 
the coast. There is thus proof that on the west coast the land 
extended further, and was covered with the freshwater flora of the coal 
period ; but this area is now submerged, and taking into consideration 
the great depth of the ocean on this coast, the height of the land 
must have exceeded its present level by 1,000 feet. Examining the 
ocean depths around the present Australian coast, even 5,000 feet 
would make little difference in the limits of the west, south, and 
south-west shores ; but on the north and east the land would extend 
