Cainozoic heritage in the modern landscape near Bungonia,southern New South Wales

The regional topography of much of the New South Wales Southern Highlands was long attributed to Quaternary erosion, but it has been recently demonstrated that the region was, in fact, well developed by the Eocene. The hillsides at Inverary Park are mantled by the Late‐Eocene Reevesdale Basalt, thus indicating the extent of landscape development by the mid‐Tertiary. Pre‐, intra‐, and post‐basaltic alluvial and lacustrine sediments are compared with the current extent of the basalt, clearly demonstrating the age of this landscape and the paucity of modification since the Late Eocene. Stratigraphic techniques, U/Th, TL and ¹⁴C dating aid reconstruction of much of the Cainozoic history of Inverary Park. Major changes in sediment type and source have long been common, but Late Quaternary changes do not correlate well with similar observations elsewhere, suggesting that changes in hydrologic regime, notably climate change, are not necessarily responsible for changes in the stratigraphic record. This landscape development and preservation is also at odds with most models of landscape development.