Page:A sketch of the physical structure of Australia.djvu/30

18 patch of palaeozoic rocks, not more than a mile or two in extent, forming a low gently undulating ground surrounded by hills of igneous rock. No section is exhibited, but blocks of the rock protrude through the soil. It is a fine compact quartz rock, charged with the usual fossils of the formation in great abundance. The rock reminded me strongly of the quartz rock of the Lickey Hill. The fossils of this locality were

B.—The islands of Bass's Straits appear to be chiefly granitic.

C.—New South Wales.

Wilson's promontory is all granite, and granite and metamorphic rocks appear from Count Strzelecki's description to extend thence to the Australian Alps, which are almost or entirely composed of them. To the east of this part of the chain occurs the low land of Gipps's Land, which appears to be chiefly tertiary. On the west of the chain palæozoic rocks, with coal, occur around Western Port, and are found in highly inclined positions at some points around Port Phillip where horizontal tertiary strata rest upon them. About Goulbourn and Bredalbane Plains the palæozoic rocks appear to stretch across the whole chain, but farther north granite and metamorphic rocks again appear at the surface, forming a wide district round the head waters of the river Macquarrie, and run thence in a narrower band