174 Henry C RichurcU: 



In places the stone has abundant segregations and veins of 

 secondary silica termed •" flints " by the masons. The initial 

 hardness of the stone, together with the presence of these flints, 

 renders the stone a very expensive one to dress. Tlie beds, which 

 are thick, dip into the hillside at about 45 degrees in a westerly 

 direction. Stones of -awj size in reason are obtainable, and the 

 quality seems fairly uniform throughout the quarry. 



Current bedding exists in the stone to a large extent, and 

 although it does not appear in the freshly quarried or dressed 

 stone an examination of the weathered material detects it, owing 

 to the slight inequality in hardness of the different layers. A 

 small quarry has been opened up by Robson and Gray a little 

 to the south of the main quarry, but the stone therein is more 

 ironstained than in the large quarry, and some difficulty has 

 been experienced in obtaining a good "'back." This so-called 

 '* brown stone is finding a ready sale for pitcher-making, and 

 is being extensively used in many places for this purpose. 



The stone was used in the Stawell Town Hall when the 

 quarries were first opened up, but much of the surface material 

 was differentially iron-stained. For this reason alone, and not 

 on account of its weathering away, the stone in the Town Hall 

 was painted in after years. The Stawell Court House, built in 

 1879, is a splendid example of the weathering properties of this 

 stone, and to-day looks almost as fresh as newly-quarried stone, 

 being especially clean looking in contrast with the dirty appear 

 ance the stone takes on in Melbourne after a time, due to the 

 deposition of sooty and tarry material. 



Buildings of this stone in Melbourne are Parliament House, 

 the Crown Solicitor's Office, the recent additions to the 

 National Museum, the upper portions and recent additions to 

 the General Post Office and Town Hall. 



Dunkeld Stone. 



This is a fine even-grained sandstone, with a light brownish 

 tint, and -well defined bedding planes. It is quarried on the 

 slopes of Mt. Abrupt, three miles fiom Dunkeld, at the 

 southern end of the Grampian Range, about 40 miles due south 

 of the Stawell quarries. 



