During the Early Jurassic, in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, there was a vast river network of swift streams that flowed eastward across a landscape forested with conifers. The clean sandstones deposited by these rivers now contain gas and oil in the Roma area and form the spectacular cliffs of the Carnarvon Gorge, Queensland.

In the Perth Basin, sand and gravel was shed from highlands in the region of the Yilgarn Block and accumulated in alluvial fan and flood plain environments, within a rift valley setting. Along the northwest margin, the distribution of environments followed the pattern established in the late Triassic.

The Pilbara and Kimberly blocks were highlands. Seawards there were a number of islands standing as higher ground, amid a maze of lagoons, sand bars and marshy delta lowlands. All along the western margin the terrestial sediments were red in colour (redbeds), possibly indicating a monsoonal climate with a dry season.