BY THE REV. J. MILNE CURRAN, P.G.S. 171 



crop out on the Talbragar River, about 28 miles north-east from 

 the town. He considered the seams exposed as valueless, but 

 believed them to represent some part of the great coal formation 

 of the colony. In February, 1870, Prof. Thomson, when on a 

 visit to Wellington district, examined some specimens (forwarded 

 to him by Mr. James Samuels) which he labelled '' Fossil Plants 

 similar to some found in the coal measures at Talbragar." 



Rev. W. B. Clarke, in the third edition of the " Sedimentary 

 Formation," (1875) says he traced the Hawkesbury rocks at 

 intervals all along the escarpments to the westward of Sydney 

 from the latitude of the Clyde River to that of Talbragar. 



Mr.G. S. Wilkinson, F.G.S.,F.L.S., the present head of the Geolo- 

 gical Survey, visited the Dubbo district in 1880. In his progress 

 report for that year he says " Immediately about Dubbo the forma- 

 tion consists of the Hawkesbury formation, covered in places with 

 basalt and auriferous tertiary gravels, but on the Talbragar River, 

 about 12 miles north-east of Dubbo, the Hawkesbury rocks are 

 seen over-lying the coal measures, containing seams of inferior 

 coal; there is little doubt therefore but that the coal measures will 

 be found underlying the Hawkesbury rocks in the vicinity of 

 Dubbo, but at what depth can only be ascertained by boring or 

 sinking." 



Mr. E. F. Pittman, who examined the same localities, in 

 company with Mr. Wilkinson, says (Annual Report Department 

 of Mines, New South Wales, 1880, p. 243) " From Dubbo the 

 road via Cobborah to the Castlereagh lies over the Hawkesbury 

 sandstone, with overlying Pleistocene drift and patches of basalt.' 



" About Heane's Station there are outcrops of what appears to 

 be the true coal measures. These are well seen in section with small 

 seams of poor coal at Ballimore on the Talbragar about 6 miles 

 from Mr. Heane's, though I could find no fossils except some faint 

 impressions of plant stems. 



" South of Dubbo the Hawkesbury sandstone extends for about 

 10 miles (with occasional cappings of basalt) and then gives place 

 to rocks of Silurian age." 



