Proceedings of the second (2nd) South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves - vol.I : formal papers presented, Sydney, Australia, 1979

Abstract

A transect through the Australian continent from east to west at its greatest breadth, would show a narrow easterly belt of coastal plain. This plain, extending north and south along the whole east coast, is well watered by rivers. It is of variable width, seldom more than one hundred kilometres, and occasionally only a few kilometres. Bordering the western margin of this plain is the Great Dividing Range, which extends from the north of Queensland to the south of New South Wales, and thence one branch sweeps westward towards the boundary of Victoria and South Australia, and the other, the main branch, terminates in Tasmania. This range, which often arises abruptly from the plain, frequently presents steep escarpments on its eastern face, but the descent on its western slopes is gradual, until, in the country to the north of Spencers Gulf, South Australia, the inland plain is below sea-level in some places. Thence there is another almost imperceptible rise until the mountain ranges of Western Australia are reached, and beyond these lies another coastal plain.