Three stages, Payntonian, Datsonian and Warendian in ascending order, are proposed for sequences of trilobite and conodont faunas occurring about the Cambrian‐Ordovician boundary in the Burke River Structural Belt, western Queensland. They are defined with reference to the base of a measured section at Black Mountain, 59 miles (95 km) northeast of Boulia. The base of the Payntonian Stage is marked by the incoming of tsinaniid and saukiid trilobite faunas; that of the Datsonian by incoming conodonts of theCordylodus proavusAssemblage‐Zone, together with leiostegiid trilobites; and that of the Warendian by conodonts of theC. prion‐ScolopodusAssemblage‐Zone, with rare asaphid and dikelokephalinid trilobites. The top of the Warendian is marked by strata containing multicostate scolopodids.