621 
If an Antarctic ice-sheet actually impinged upon the shores of the Great 
Australian Bight, we may expect to hear of the discovery in Victoria of glaciated 
surfaces similar to those of St. V^incent Gulf, although, perhaps, the soft and incoherent 
Tertiary rocks of which a great part of the southern coast-line is composed may be 
unfavourable material for the retention of markings. i iv/r 
The evidences of former glacial action are thus succinctly summed up by Mr. 
James Stirling, P.G.S., Tf.L.S.* : — . 
“ Erratics in the Mitta Mitta and the Kiewo Valleys, huge blocks weighing many 
tons ; smoothed surfaces on the Cohheras Mountains and Mount Bogong ; moraiiii^ at 
the base of the latter on the Mountain Creek Valley; eroded lake, basins. Dry Hil , 
Hermomu^ee Sw^amp ; Omeo lake basin ; morainic lake. Mount Wellington ; smoothed 
and scratched surfaces on Mount Kosciusko. The interest appertaining to this question 
is no doubt great, and although the fact of glacier action can, I think, be satisfactorily 
established in the Australian Alps, yet further evidence is desirable as to the synchronism 
of the glacier period in Australia with that of the glacial epoch in the Northern 
Hemi.sphere. That the glacier action w'as widespread over South-east Australia, 1 have 
no doubt, and without entering into a discussion as to the causes of such glacier action, 
it seems to me difficult to resist the conviction that, considering the uniformity of 
natural operations all over the globe during past time, Australia was not exempt ±rom the 
refrigeration which in the Northern Hemisphere culminated in a glacial epoch, ihe 
geological evidences are, I think, accumulating in favour of the view that glacier action 
has played a very important part during Mesozoic and Palaeozoic time m the distribu ion 
of boulder deposits and the abrasion of rock surfaces. Mr. Dunn, E.G.S., has recently 
found some well-marked striated boulders in the Older Tertiary conglomerates m the 
Beechworth district, which may be seen at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition, while 
the author has found similarly striated boulders in the Upper Silurian conglomerates 
of the Gibbo Eiver.” a. j 
To the most recent phase of the Post-Tertiary, and extending to the present day, 
belong the accumulations of Blown Sand, or Dunes, which fringe the coast at intervals 
from Cape Moreton to Cape York. In some cases the Blown Sand attains a considerable 
elevation, but this circumstance must be attributed to such conditions as force and 
direction of the wind, slope of the land, &c., and not to upheaval. , , ,, , 
Blown Sand occurs at the north end of Moreton Heads, and all along the western 
or sheltered side of Moreton Island, at a height of about 150 feet above the sea. 
At Double Island Point, near the south end of Eraser Island, the late Bev. J. Jt. 
Tenison Woods referredf to “ a formation of sand which forms cliffs for some three or 
four miles,” and adds that the sand cliffs “ are densely covered with a light brush 
(Melaleuca genidifolia ?) . The cliffs of sand are quite precipitous on the seaward side 
and are from 100 to 200 feet high. On a close examination, the cliffs present exactly 
the appearance of the Hawkesbury Sandstone, except in colour, and they aie not 
consolidated.: There are the same undulating ‘ layers,’ of varying thickness, forming 
thick sinuous marks upon the cliffs, which can be seen at a great distance, the layers 
are entirely constructed ot lamime of sand, with false bedding, which dips at every ang e 
not outside 80°. The layers are of different colour, and they seem to preserve 
this colour throughout, giving the cliffs a curious ribhon-like structure. Some are white, 
* The Physiography of the Australian Alps. Proo. Austr. Assoc. I®*’’ 
t The Halkesbury Sandstone. Journ. Boy Soc. N. S. Wales for 1882 (1883), P' ® ^ 
+ The Author argued that the Hawkesbury Sandstone is of aiolian origin, and 
M.t I. Ol .!» I. 
discovery of fish remains in the Hawkesbury Sandstone, and with many other observed facts. 
