The Cooper and Eromanga Basins region, Australia's most productive onshore petroleum province, has a regional groundwater flow system over 1500 km in length. While the present-day hydrology of the Cretaceous and Jurassic aquifer system is well documented, little is known about the palaeohydrology of these basins and its associated subsurface thermal effects. Even less is known about the effects of convective heat transfer on the thermal maturation of source beds within these basins. The referenced reports describe preliminary results of a collaborative research effort between the University of New Hampshire and the CSIRO to assess the importance of groundwater flow on the timing and spatial occurrence of petroleum generation within the Cooper and Eromanga Basins over the last 276 Ma. The approach being taken in this study is to develop mathematical models of coupled sediment compaction, groundwater flow, heat transfer, and oil and gas generation. Thus far, a cross-sectional, finite element model has been constructed along an east-west transect that more or less follows the present-day flow system through the basins. Quantitative model results indicate that Tertiary and Pliocene uplift events within the central and eastern portions of these basins induced a regional, topography-driven groundwater flow system that had a pronounced effect on the subsurface thermal regime and petroleum generation. Computed fluid over-pressuring that occurred before and between the periods of tectonic uplift and erosion within the Cooper and Eromanga Basins had little impact on subsurface temperatures. Model results will be compared with observed present-day temperatures, vitrinite reflectance, hydrocarbon fluid inclusions, isotope geochemistry, and apatite fission track data. If these findings are substantiated by palaeogeothermic data, then a new hydrologic model of petroleum exploration within the Cooper and Eromanga Basins needs to be considered. A second, north-south cross-sectional model through the southern portion of the Cooper Basin is currently being constructed to better understand the ramifications of the Tertiary uplift event.