Palaeobotany and palynology in Australia: A historical review

Abstract

From the historical aspect, studies of fossil plants in Australia can be broadly grouped into two periods. The first of these, commencing in the early part of the nineteenth century and continuing through the first four decades of the present century, was dominated by studies of plant macrofossils. It was followed, from about 1945 onwards, by a second period which has seen the emergence and rise to dominance of palynological investigations. Research, both on macro- and microfossils, has developed at universities and other institutions, largely in the capital cities of the Australian states. Its history is thus conveniently recorded in sections based on these administrative entities, although there has been a significant, if minor, proportion of investigations based on material from several states or from both Australia and New Zealand. One of the earliest records of plant fossils from Australia is that of Brongniart (1828), who recognised elements of the Permian Glossopteris flora. He was followed by McCoy and Clarke, who investigated material from Victoria and New South Wales, respectively. Prominent workers on plant macrofossils in the latter part of the last century were Feistmantel, Tenison-Woods, Johnston and Von Ettingshausen, the first three concentrating on Palaeozoic and Mesozoic floras and the last named on the Tertiary. Somewhat later, the papers of Chapman cover a wide field of studies on plant fossils from southern Australian states. From 1915 onwards, covering a period of about three decades, Australian palaeobotany was dominated by the work of Walkom, who produced results of considerable stratigraphic significance, particularly in Queensland and New South Wales. More recently, the description of the Victorian Baragwanathia flora (now regarded as Devonian in age) by Lang and Cookson was of great botanical interest, while Cookson and co-workers have contributed extensively to knowledge of Tertiary floras of Victoria and adjacent states. In the present decade Townrow, White, Rigby and Martin are among the more active workers on plant macrofossils in Australia. Cookson (1945) pioneered the study of plant microfossils in Australia. Her contributions, and those of her co-workers have been very significant in the study of Tertiary and Mesozoic spores and pollen grains and, more recently, of Cretaceous and Tertiary microplankton. Other early contributions to palynological studies in Australia were Virkki and Dulhunty. Somewhat later, important papers on Permian spores and pollen grains were published by Balme and Hennelly (1955, 1956). Balme has also made extensive studies of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic microfloras from Western Australia. In recent years the number of palynologists has increased considerably and individual contributions are too numerous to list here. Mention might be made, however, of extensive studies of stratigraphic palynology (namely in eastern Australia) by Evans, of the work of Dettmann, and Playford and Dettmann, on Mesozoic microfloras, and of papers by De Jersey and co-workers on Palaeozoic and Mesozoic microfloras from Queensland. During the next decade, a significant increase in the volume of palynologic studies can be anticipated.