Four selected drill cuttings samples spanning a 12-metre depth interval within BHP Minerals' BR 97001 drillhole, located 26 km west of Lyndhurst, have been palynologically analysed and dated. Their contained palynoflora are correlative with the Cicatricosisporites australiensis Zone, of Early Cretaceous (basal Berriasian, possibly late Tithonian) stratigraphic age. The microfloral fossil species present in the deepest samples indicate that at this time a podocarp / araucarian type forest, with a rich fern understory component, had developed along a contemporary shoreline. Later on, though, the palaeoenvironment appears to have changed from non-marine/brackish to open marine depositional conditions, as evinced by palynomorphs found at the top of the sequence.