REMARKS ON THE SEDIMENTARY FORMATIONS OF NEW 
SOUTH WALES. 
If we inspect the map of Australia we observe that the coasts of 
Victoria, New South "Wales, and Queensland follow the general 
directions (with some irregularity) of the Cordillera, or elevated 
land separating the waters flowing directly to the coast from those 
which, draining the interior, disembogue to the south-west. 
The Murray River receives some parts of its tributaries from 
the high lands of Victoria, and others from New South Wales ; 
whilst the Darling and its tributaries collect the remainder of 
the supply from as far north as 25° s* 
The Cordillera thus sweeps round in an irregular curve from 
w. to e. to the head of the Murray— and thence, northerly and 
north-easterly, to the head of the Condamine; trending north¬ 
westerly from that point to 21° s., whence it strikes to the north, 
terminating its course at Cape Melville, in 14° s., about the 
meridian of 144° 30' e., which is that of Mount Alexander in 
Victoria. 
The more westerly and southerly trend of drainage is repre¬ 
sented by the Thomson and Barcoo Rivers, which carry off the 
waters of the Cordillera at the back of the Barrier Ranges to 
Spencer’s Gulf. The meridian of the head of that Gulf is there¬ 
fore the western limit of East Australia. 
The Cordillera itself, described in part by Strzcleclci in 1845, 
was traced by turn through a considerable part of its diversified 
course (as understood by him), from the southern point of Tas¬ 
mania to the parallel of 28°, in longitude 152°, but not further 
westward than 140°, on the parallel of Mount Alexander. It is, 
however, doubtful whether the range between this furthest 
western point and Wilson’s Promontory, where he considers the 
chain to be cut off by the sea, forms anything more than a spur in 
that direction, though passing through Pass’s Strait on to Tasmania. 
But the extent of the Cordillera westerly, to its termination 
on the border of South Australia, is so well defined that tliero 
can be no question that the s.w. and w. extension has as true a 
character as any part of the northern prolongation. This may he 
geologically deduced from researches of the Geological Survey of 
Victoria. That province is limited, at its eastern corner, by a line 
joining Cape Howe and the bead of the Murray, so that the 
boundary crosses very near the highest point of all Australia, 
which Strzelecki made 0,500 feet above the sea, but which 
subsequent observations have shown to be 7,175 feet. This 
correction rests on observations made by myself in 1852, and on 
a re-discussion of them in comparison with results obtained by 
