55 million years ago - ghosts of Gondwana
Australia's Eocene fact file
Position
- Australia, Antarctica and South America remained linked together as the last remnants of Gondwana.
- The Australian part of Gondwana remained close to the South Pole.
Climate
- Australia had a wet, warm climate.
Setting
- Australia was connected to Antarctica only via Tasmania. Along the rest of Australia's southern margin, a wide, sunken rift valley had developed between Australia and Antarctica as they began to tear apart.
Vegetation
- Over much of Australia broad-leaved rainforests were replacing earlier conifer forests.
Southern Beech Trees.
Photo: K Deletti © Australian Museum.
Animals
- In Australia (and in the rest of the world) dinosaurs, giant marine reptiles and flying reptiles had all disappeared.
- Land animals such as frogs, horned turtles, flightless birds, snakes and mammals (monotremes, marsupials and placentals) moved throughout the Gondwanan forests.
What was happening in the rest of the world
- In the early Eocene, North America, Africa, Europe and Asia had warm wet climates. New types of forests began to appear, creating new homes for a rich array of plants and animals.
- Placental mammals were rapidly adapting to fill forests, oceans and the night skies.
