The Palmerville Fault in North Queensland is an important structure with a probable length of at least 600 miles, extending from Princess Charlotte Bay in the north to Townsville in the south, and controlling the configuration of the coast line of eastern Cape York and at Halifax Bay. The fault forms the western boundary of both the Palaeozoic Hodgkinson Basin (Tasman Geosyncline) and of the Mesozoic Laura Basin, and has been active at least four times since the Silurian. The latest movements took place during the late Cainozoic.