History of Australian tertiary geology

Abstract

The first person to call attention to the tertiary formations of Australia was Capt. Flinders, who, in his survey of the south coast in 1802, noticed the fossiliferous cliffs of the Australian Bight. He imagined them to have been derived from some vast coral reef. Tertiary geology as such was not then known. In 1829 Capt. Sturt traced down the Murray River, and in doing so came to a portion bounded on each side by high limestone cliffs, which were one mass of fossils, many of which converted into selenite. He identified some of those collected with European forms, and though in this he was mistaken, yet he was correct in designating the formation as tertiary.