The Australian rodent fauna, flotilla's, flotsam or just fleet footed?

Until recently the lack of fossil evidence has lead to a complete reliance on molecular data for hypotheses relating to the origin, evolution and paleobiogeography of the Australian rodents. This has inevitably lead to a simplistic view of these processes. Data from newly available fossil material allow us to review the existing hypotheses and propose alternative views. Fossils show us that the evolutionary process in Australia has been complex with at least three phases of immigration, two from SE Asia directly and one from New Guinea. The new information allows us to make comparisons to known geological and biological events in the SE Asian region and see the Australian rodent radiation in a wider perspective.