Around 30 million years ago, the piece of land now known as Australia was in the process of splitting off from the Gondwana supercontinent. As the plates parted, there was a series of upward movements along what is now the east coast, which became a series of ranges and escarpments, with effects on climate and vegetation.
Of the 8 million hectares of rainforest in Australia in 1788, only 2 million hectares remain. Many of these are isolated fragments.