Page:A sketch of the physical structure of Australia.djvu/91

79 this great plain extends far into the interior round the head of the Gulf is apparent, from no hill having been seen rising beyond it either by Leichhardt or by Stokes when he reached what he calls the "Plains of Promise."

I would now call the reader's attention to some general conclusions from the foregoing details. We may first notice the simplicity and uniformity of the geology of Australia, when looked at on the great scale. The strike of the rocks and the direction of the principal chains of hills, is with one exception the same throughout the country, namely, north and south. This is the case with the great chain of the Eastern coast, with its subordinate ranges that traverse the interior of New South Wales and Australia Felix, such as the Hervey Range, Balloon or Taylor Range, and Peel Range, on the Lachlan river; Mount Byng Range, the Pyrennees and the Grampians in Australia Felix. The chain of South Australia runs nearly due north and south, as does the ranges visited in the interior by Sturt,—Stanley Range and Grey Range. The ranges of the hill country of Western Australia, have the same direction from King George's Sound, to the neighbourhood of Sharks Bay. In North Australia, however, we find a great change of strike, there are several dips to the S.S.E. and S.W. mentioned, and the direction of the hills