 Australian born Rod Taylor is the time traveler the 1960's film based on H G Wells classic story 'The Time Machine' H G Well’s classic story ‘The Time Machine’ explores the idea of visiting past worlds in a beautifully crafted time machine. A far less romantic way of discovering past worlds relies on the sciences of geology and paleontology. These methodical and often painstakingly slow disciplines provide windows into past worlds through fragments of evidence found in ancient rocks  The Barrabool Hills started as an inland lake environment in the Cretaceous period 135 million years ago. The grevillia like flowers of primitive members of the protea family began to appear at that time in Australia. There is a lot of ancient history hidden in the rocks of the Barrabool Hills and this history has played an important part in developing its unique landscape and vegetation.
Let’s imagine we have borrowed the amazing time machine and it has carried us through many millennia in a matter of seconds to a time 135 million years ago when it all began. We’ve arrived and we’re mystified because we’re sitting in total darkness and the air is sharp and cold. We zip up our windcheaters and pull down our beanies to keep out the chill of a deep arctic winter in Gondwanaland. We shine our torches into the eerie darkness and see snow under the ghostly silhouettes of trees hugging the edge of a shadowy frozen lake. A dog sized animal ambles past sniffing the air curiously, its paw prints in the snow are strangely reptilian.
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Stephen Murphy is an author, an ecologist and a nurseryman. He has been a designer of natural landscapes for over 30 years. He loves the bush, supports Landcare and is a volunteer helping to conserve local reserves. 
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