Six sidewall core samples from the petroleum exploration drillhole McNicol 1 in the onshore part of the Tertiary Gambier Basin have been analysed using palynological techniques. The oldest sample (from 756 m depth KB) has been dated as Maastrichtian and correlates with the Timboon Sandstone of the Late Cretaceous Upper Sherbrook Group. The remaining samples are all dated as Tertiary, i.e. Late Paleocene to Early Eocene, and correlate with the Pebble Point Formation (the 725 m depth sample) and Pember Mudstone (708, 677, 650 and 617 m depth samples) of the Wangerrip Group.