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A Fossil Plant Formation in Central Queensland.

the Rev. J. E. TENISON-WOODS, F.G.S., F.L.S., Vice-President Linn. Soc. N.S.W.; Hon. Mem. Roy. Soc. N.S.W., &c.

[Read before the Royal Society of N.S. W., 6 December, 1882.]
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I wish to bring under the notice of the Society a fossiliferous formation in Central Queensland, which has recently yielded plant remains which are new to Australia. It is situated on the central line of railway, which runs westward from Rockhampton to the Drummond Range, a distance of about 230 miles from the farthest navigable point of the Fitzroy River, and nearly 300 miles from the sea. It is intended to carry the line far into the plains of the western watershed, but as yet it has not crossed the divide. It is necessary to bear this in mind in considering the relations of the rocks exposed in the railway cuttings. There is no part of the continent where the Dividing Range makes so far a curve inland from the sea. Even when the Drummond Range is cut through, the railway will not be found upon western waters. The valley of the Belyando will be reached, which is a tributary of the Burdekin River. On the further side of this valley will be the real divide. I shall have occasion to refer to this more particularly in the latter part of this paper. In the Drummond Range occurs a fossiliferous formation whose plant remains I am about to describe. Its highest point where the railway crosses is 1,840 feet above the sea-level, at 235 miles from Rockhampton.

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