Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Bellarine Peninsula

On the Bellarine Peninsula organic structures have been found within the calcified dune sands. They are the calcified fossils of tea-trees that grew in the sand more than 20,000 years ago. The calcified trunks of these trees are found still standing erect in situ. When a tree grows in an open, windy situation, it is very uncommon for it to have a trunk that is circular in cross section. In windy places the tree trunks elongate the side facing the wind as they grow. This makes it possible to determine from which direction the prevailing wind came when the tree was living. Using this method near Queenscliff, Point Lonsdale, and Barwon Heads, it was found that the prevailing palaeowind was southerly, which agrees with the direction indicated by the dunes.

Sources & Further reading

1. Flood, Josephine, 2004, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, JB Publications.

Glacial Maximum in Australia