A Guide to Australian Rocks, Fossils and Landscapes

This book contains information on hundreds of amazing and intriguing ‘geosites’ based around rocks and landscapes in Australia, from world-famous iconic places such as Uluru to lesser-known but no less impressive attractions. It is written in everyday English and lavishly illustrated with photos and drawings to assist inquisitive travellers and interested readers to understand the shaping of rocks and landforms in this wonderful country. The guide is basically a collection of stand-alone explanations of more than 200 different geological features, varying in size from the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Artesian Basin down to the various London Bridges of New South Wales, Victoria, and West Australia. Where sites are complex the author has selected interesting aspects that may not have been previously known to readers. His aim has been to encourage visitors to go much further than simply taking pretty photographs and ticking must-see tourist boxes. Each site account is packed with essential information such as when to visit, where to park, which track to take, and so on, all aimed at helping readers to make the most of their visits, and in the process making this an indispensable guide.

Russ Ferrett is an avid traveller. His travels, along with 40 years of teaching geography and history, make him eminently suitable to write a book of this breadth. His other titles for Reed New Holland include Australia’ s Volcanoes, as well as When The Earth Moves: Earthquakes and Volcanoes in the Young Reed series for children.

Ma p of Sites 6 1 Limestone 8 2 Abercrombie Caves, NSW 10 3 Age of Fishes, NSW 12 4 Argyle Diamond Mine, WA 14 5 Atherton Waterfall Circuit, Qld 16 6 Arkaroola Ridge Top, SA 17 7 Australia’ s Early Geology 18 8 Barkly Tableland, NT 20 9 Barron River Waterfall, Qld 22 10 Batman Bridge, Tas 23 11 Bay Of Fires 24 12 Tasmania’ s Dolerite 26 13 Ben Lomond Cliffs, Tas 27 14 Bicheno Blowhole, Tas 28 15 Black Mountain, Qld 29 16 Blue Lake Complex, SA 30 17 Border Cliffs, SA 32 18 Brachina Gorge, SA 34 19 Breadknife 35 20 Breakaways, SA 36 21 Broken Bay 38 22 Broome’ s Dinosaur Coast 39 23 Bruny Island Tombolo, Tas 40 24 Buchan Caves 41 25 Bunda Cliffs, SA 42 26 Bungonia Slot Canyon, NSW 43 27 Burning Mountain 44 28 Byaduk Caves 45 29 Cable Beach, WA 46 30 Cadell Fault, NSW– Vic 47 31 Camooweal Caves, Qld 48 32 Canal Rocks, WA 50 33 Basalt, Trachyte and Rhyolite 52 34 Canobolas’ s Trachyte Wall, NSW 54 35 Cape Bridgewater’ s Stone Forest 55 36 Cape Hillsborough Volcano, Qld 56 37 Carlo Sandblow, Qld 58 38 Carnarvon Gorge, Qld 60 39 Carnarvon Gorge Walk, Qld 62 40 Cataract Gorge, Tas 64 41 Channel Country, Qld– NSW 66 42 Chevron Rock, NSW 67 43 Chillagoe Marble, Qld 68 44 China Wall, WA 69 45 Cloncurry to Mount Isa, Qld 70 46 Cobbold Gorge, Qld 72 47 Coober Pedy Opal, SA 74 48 Coorong, SA 76 49 Cosgrove Volcano Chain 78 50 Cradle Mountain, Tas 80 51 Cutta Cutta Caves, NT 82 52 Darling Downs’ Black Soil, Qld 84 53 Deakin Anticlinal Ridges, ACT 85 54 Derby’ s Mudflats, WA 86 55 Granite 88 56 Devils Marbles, NT 90 57 Diamond Head, NSW 92 58 Dinosaur Stampede, Qld 94 59 Dismal Swamp, Tas 96 60 Dog Rock, WA 98 61 Dove Lake, Tas 100 62 Ebor Falls, NSW 102 63 Edge of the World, Tas 103 64 Ediacaran Gold Spike, SA 104 65 Ellenborough Falls, NSW 105 66 Ellery Creek Big Hole, NT 106 67 Emily Gap, NT 107 68 Emma Falls 108 69 Eucla Sand Dunes, WA 110 70 Fan Rock, Qld 111 71 Fingal Head Giant’ s Stairway 112 72 Finke River, NT 114 73 Fitzroy Falls, NSW 116 74 Fletcher Crossing, Qld 118 75 Fossil Bluff, Tas 120 76 Flynns Beach Serpentinite, NSW 121 77 Fraser Island Lakes, Qld 122 78 Frenchman Peak, WA 124 79 Gardens of Stone, NSW 126 80 Geikie Gorge, WA 128 81 The Gemfields 129 82 Girraween Pyramid, Qld 130 83 Glass House Mountains, Qld 131 84 Coastal Sand Movement 132 85 Gold Coast Sand, Qld 134 86 Gosse Bluff, NT 136 87 Great Barrier Reef, Qld 138 88 Great Artesian Basin 140 89 Greenfield Silicon Beach, NSW 142 90 Hallett Cove 143 91 Hamelin Pool Shell-Block, WA 144 92 Hanging Rock (Mount Diogenes), Vic 146 93 Harman Valley Lava Blisters 148 94 Hartz Mountains Roche Mutonnees 149 95 Hastings Hot Springs, Tas 150 96 Henbury Meteorite Craters, NT 151 97 Henty Glacial Moraine, Tas 152 98 Hidden Valley (Mirima), WA 154 99 Horizontal Falls, WA 156 100 Hypipamee, Qld 158 101 Illawarra Escarpment 160 102 Innot Hot Springs 162 103 Jenolan Caves, NSW 164 104 Kakadu Escarpment, NT 166 105 Kalgoorlie Gold, WA 168 106 Kanangra Unconformity, NSW 170 107 Karijini 171 108 Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), NT 172 109 Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk), NT 174 110 Keep River ‘ Beehives’ 176 111 Keilor Rosette Rock, Vic 178 112 Kelly Hill Caves 179 113 Kiama Blowhole, NSW 180 114 Kings Canyon, NT 182 115 Kosciuszko’ s Patterned Land, NSW 184 116 Lachlan Fold Belt, NSW– Vic 186 117 Lady Musgrave Island, Qld 188 118 Lake Cave, WA 189 119 Lake Eyre, SA 190 120 Lake George, NSW 192 121 Lake Macquarie, NSW 194 122 Lake Mungo, NSW 196 123 Latrobe Valley’ s Brown Coal, Vic 198 124 Lawn Hill’ s Tufa Dams 200 125 Litchfield’ s Termite Mounds 202 126 London Bridge, NSW 204 127 London Bridge, Vic 205 128 London Bridge, WA 206 129 Lost City, Cape Crawford, NT 208 130 Lost City, Litchfield 210 131 Lowbidgee Floodplain, NSW 211 132 Lyndhurst Ochre Pits 212 133 Mackenzie Drive 214 134 Macquarie Marshes, NSW 216 135 Madura Pass, WA 217 136 Marble Bar, WA 218 137 Mataranka Spr