Page:A sketch of the physical structure of Australia.djvu/13



I it will appear to most persons that an attempt to give any tolerable account of the geological structure of so large a country as Australia, from the few observations that have been as yet made and published concerning it, must be a very rash one. This must be especially the case with geologists, accustomed only to the full, varied, and complex structure of western Europe. It is quite clear that any such account must be very incomplete and imperfect. Still I think that sufficient materials have been collected to give a connected outline, a sketch of the structure of that country, which shall exhibit its principal features in a rude and approximate way. My own reasons for attempting such a sketch are, that having visited some portion or portions of all the coasts of Australia, and having made geological notes upon them, I was enabled to understand and connect the observations of others, and that by studying and comparing all the observations I could find in any published accounts, I conceived a general but distinct notion of