[Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 22 (N.S.), Pt. II., 1909.] 



Akv. XIII. — The Biiildrng Stones of Victoria. 

 Part I — The Sandstones. 



By henry 0. RICHARDS, M.Sc. 



(Caroline Kay Scholar and Government Science Research Bursar 

 in Geology, Melbourne University). 



(With Plates XXXIII.-XXXVI). 

 [Read 9th December, 1909]. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Although Victoria is a country rich in various mineral 

 deposits, it has not up to the present yielded a sandstone with 

 properties which have rendered its adoption to any extent for 

 building purposes. The want of a good cheap Victorian free- 

 stone is at present severely felt by Melbourne architects, and 

 although many stones have been tried at different times in 

 Melbourne, one having the combination of good weathering and 

 economical dressing properties has not been obtained. 



For many years thorough investigations into the weathering 

 properties of building stones have been carried out in America 

 and Germany, but in Victoria very little appears to have been 

 done in this direction. 



In the early sixties J. G, Knight^ carried out investiga- 

 tions on several Australian stones then used ; while some of 

 his results still hold, much of it, more especially the chemical 

 portion, is almost valueless. In 1873 a Board was appointed to 

 examine and report on suitable stone for the erection of the 

 Houses of ]*arliament ; their report was submitted early in 1879, 

 and then, as now, the difficulty of finding a cheap and good 

 weathering stone was very pronounced. The stone eventually- 

 chosen for the Houses of Parliament was that from the Gram- 

 pian quarries, 17 miles north-west from Stawell. It is the 



1 Australian Buildinj;- Stones, 1864. 



