Strata of Cenozoic age occur around the southern margin of Australia as thin and discontinuous outcrops, interpolated and fleshed out by economic exploration onshore and offshore. The neritic strata fall into four sequences or allostratigraphic packages of (I) Paleocene -Early Eocene, (II) Middle Eocene -Early Oligocene, (III) Late Oligocene -Middle Miocene, and (IV) Late Miocene -Holocene age: a four-part pattern that can be seen also in the flanking pelagic and terrestrial realms including regolith deep weathering. Problems of correlation and age determination (predominantly biostratigraphic) have included biogeographical constraints (endemism in neritic molluscs and terrestrial palynomorphs, mid-latitude assemblages in calcareous plankton), and slow progress in magnetostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy. Sequence I largely repeats the Cretaceous siliciclastic-coal, marginal-marine facies (carbonate-poor, with marine and non-marine palynomorphs and agglutinated foraminifers) punctuated by marine ingressions with microfaunas and sparse macrofaunas. Sequence II contains the first carbonates in the region since the Palaeozoic and the most extensive coals of the Cenozoic anywhere. Sequence III contains the most extensive neritic carbonates and the last major coals. Sequence IV is more strongly siliciclastic than the two preceding. Each of these four second-order entities (10 7 years duration) comprises third-order packages each with an unconformity and marine transgression. These packages hold true right along the southern Australian margin in the sense that the hiatuses and transgression do not display significant diachroneity at the relevant timescales (10 5 -10 6 years). Recognised, delimited and correlated independently of the putatively global Exxon sequences, they are remarkably consistent with the latter, thereby providing a significant regional test. There are two widespread emphases on southern Australian geohistory and biohistory: (i) to regard the regional story as part of the global story of accreting continents, an expiring Tethys, and an episodically cooling planet; and (ii) a somewhat contrary emphasis, with the region being a special case of rapid longitudinal motion towards the equator. Both emphases are plausible with the former being the more heuristic. The stratigraphic record is strongly punctuated, the four sequences being separated by both tectonic and climatic events. Thus: the sequence I/II gap involved extensive plate-tectonic reorganisation and a new spreading regime from ca 43 Ma, coevally with early growth of Antarctic ice; in the II/III gap, deformation in marginal basins is coeval with a global low in cooling, large ice sheet and falling sea-level to ca 30 Ma; and the III/IV gap is marked by widespread cessation or contraction of stratal accumulation and withdrawal of thermophilic taxa coevally with the major expansion at ca 14 Ma of the Antarctic ice sheet, onset of intense canyon cutting, and plate-wide basin inversion.

Unfortunately, the quality of Figure 6 in this paper, which was published in volume 47, issue 4, on pp. 851±881, was affected during typesetting and printing. Please ®nd the ®gure reproduced at a higher quality below. The publisher apologizes for this error. Fig. 6. (a and b) Large foraminiferan±bryozoan facies. (a) Bioclastic grainstone. Fragmented bryozoans and clypeasterid echinoids with crab claws, coralline red algae and abundant large benthic foraminiferans (mostly Operculina and Amphistegina). Facies FB-1, Glenforslan Formation, Noll Road (section 14). Coin approximately 1 cm diameter. (b) Bryozoan rudstone pod, facies FB-2, Glenforslan Formation, Blanchetown (section 12). Coin is 1á5 cm in diameter. (c and d) Echinoid±bryozoan facies. (c) Echinoid±bryozoan¯oatstone facies (EB-4a) with abundant infaunal echinoids. Lower Mannum Formation, Devon Downs (section 5). Hammer head is approximately 15 cm in length. (d) Thalassinoides burrows (arrow) ®lled with echinoids (Lovenia, Monostychia, Eupatagus), pectinid bivalves and bryozoans. Facies EB-4b, upper Mannum Formation, Devon Downs (section 5). Coin is 1á5 cm in diameter.

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Bryozoans are an important part of the benthic marine fauna in a wide variety of modern environments and are found in rock forming abundance in a number of settings throughout much of the Phanerozoic. Bryozoologists and nonspecialists have grouped taxa into colonial growth forms (e.g., erect fenestrates or encrusting sheets), both to simplify analyses and because correlations exist between some colony growth forms and the environmental conditions in which the organism lived. These correlations allow for the possibility of paleoenvironmental analyses based on skeletons alone. Existing bryozoan colonial growth form classifications do not, however, fully exploit the ecological information present in colony form.A new scheme is proposed here (Analytical Bryozoan Growth Habit Classification), which provides a list of colony-level morphological characteristics for bryozoan growth habits. This differs from previous approaches to bryozoan growth form analysis in that it is a classification of growth habit characteristics rather than a classification of morphological groups as such. The classification is based on eleven character classes, which describe the orientation of the colony and its occupation of, and placement in space. The overall colony shape is described based on the arrangement of modules in colonial growth. This classification provides a common ground for systematic comparison of character states among varied bryozoan growth habits. This approach allows for the evaluation of correlations among observed morphological character states and specific environmental conditions in which they develop. In addition, these growth habit characters can be used to recognize, characterize, evaluate, and apply more traditional growth form groups in broader studies.

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