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We present the first direct assessment of marine reservoir effects in the Moreton Bay region using radiocarbon dating of known-age, pre-AD 1950, shell samples from the east coast of Stradbroke Island and archaeological shell/charcoal pairs from Peel Island in Moreton Bay. The resulting ǵR value of 9±19 14 C years for the open ocean conforms to regional values established for northeast Australia of 12±10 14 C years. Negative ǵR values of -65±61 14 C years and -216±94 14 C years for southern Moreton Bay highlight the potential for larger offsets over the last ~900 years. These may be linked to changing terrestrial inputs and local circulation patterns.

The Treponematosis of Tahiti: Its Origin and Evolution; a Study of the Sources. By Isaac van der Sluis. Published by Boekhandel & Antiquariatt. B.M. Israël N.V., Amsterdam. Pp. 178. Paper back. Price (not stated).

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North‐western Victoria is a semi‐arid region of low sand dunes and dense mallee vegetation cover. Except for possible hearth sites in Pleistocene deposits at Lake Tyrrell, Aboriginal occupation of this area, known as ‘the Mallee’, does not appear to have occurred until the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene, when the region was much less arid than at present. Occupation then was restricted to the northern part of the Mallee; more widespread occupation did not occur until long after the favourable conditions of the Holocene ended. The later occupation was probably triggered by an increase in population in inland south‐western Victoria.