In an attempt to elucidate their ages, the often incomplete and poorly known early Permian marine faunas and sequences of India, Tibet, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Oman are compared with those of the Perth, Carnarvon and Canning Basins of Western Australia, where faunas are documented and in sequence, and stratigraphic relationships between units are clear. This comparison indicates that the faunas discussed are Latest Asselian or younger in age, and that most of the underlying glacial beds are probably Early Permian (Asselian) in age. By implication, the Permo‐Carboniferous boundary for Gondwana is considered to lie at or near the base of Unit II/Stage 2 and equivalent palynomorph zones throughout Gondwana.