Volume II Part 50 (1/2)

CHANGES ON THE SEACOAST. PROOFS THAT THE COAST WAS ONCE HIGHER ABOVE THE SEA THAN IT IS AT PRESENT. PROOFS THAT IT WAS ONCE LOWER. AND OF VIOLENT ACTION OF THE SEA.

The sea, probably when higher relatively to the land than it is at present, appears to have acted with some violence in isolating various points along the eastern coast; most of which we now find curiously a.n.a.logous, in their situation on the southern sides of inlets, and in being now united to the mainland by mounds of sand.

AT WOLLONGONG.

The point of Wollongong was formerly an island and is now only connected by drifted sandhills with the site of the towns.h.i.+p.

CAPE SOLANDER.

Cape Solander, the south head of Botany Bay, on which Captain Cook first landed, was evidently once an island though at present connected with the mainland by the neck of sand which separates Botany Bay from Port Hacking.

PORT JACKSON.

The south head of Port Jackson has also been isolated but is again connected with the sh.o.r.e of Bellevue between Bondi Bay and Rose Bay, by drifted hills of sand. The north head appears to have been likewise isolated.

BROKEN BAY.

Barrenjoey, the south head of Broken Bay, is connected only by a low beach of sand.

NEWCASTLE.

The Beacon head of Newcastle was once an island; and the drifted sand forming the hills on which the town is built has since been thrown up by the sea.

TUGGERAH BEACH.

Brisbane Water, Tuggerah beach, and Lake Macquarie are also striking proofs of change of the same character as those at Port Jackson, especially as they occur in a country possessing no inland lakes, and along a coastline which is very even and straight in other respects.

Ba.s.s STRAIT.