114 THE VICTOHIAN NATUKALIST. (Vol. XXIV. 



These quarries have long been known to Victorian scientists, 

 and some account of llie place will be found in Mr. IJrough 

 Smyth's " Aboriginals of Victoria," but it had been almost for- 

 gotten till, in December last, the District Teachers' Association 

 organized a great nature stutly outing there, when in a few hours 

 the Lancefield folks learned more about their district than they 

 had in as many years beh)re- 



Mt. William lies north-east of the township, and is reached by 

 following the Pyalong road. Its height is not given on any of 

 the official maps of Victoria, but, being a trig, station, I felt sure 

 its height must be recorded somewhere. So on my return to 

 town I applied to my friend Mr. Saxton, of the Lands Department 

 plan room, for information on the point. He turned up an old 

 survey plan, and found the height given as 2,689 f^^'^' — 5° f*^t;t 

 higher than Mt. Disappointment — and the name of the mount 

 as " Williamson." Here, again, is a point for inquiry — when 

 and why was the termination " son '' dropped on our maps, and 

 hence the confusion always likely to occur, when using the name 

 Mt. AVilliam, as to whether the chief peak of the Grampians, near 

 Ararat, or the Lancefield Mt. William is referred to. I believe 

 Mr. Saxton, with his love for the origin of names, as evidenced in 

 the interesting little book he has just published on Victorian 

 place-names, is endeavouring to clear up the mystery. 



So much for the name, now for the road thither. Crossing 

 the Deep Creek about a mile east of where we crossed it the day 

 before, the road trends north-easterly over poor Silurian country, 

 with the rich cultivated slopes of the Mt. \Villiam Range rising 

 sharply up on our right. We had heard a new find of Grap- 

 tolites had recently been made in a quarry by the creek, but the 

 l)erson who knew of the locality was not at home when we called, 

 so we drove on to where I learned one of our former members, 

 Mr. E. E. Johnson, of Northcote, had purchased a homestead, 

 and was about to settle down. He happened to be at home, and 

 gladly availed himself of our invitation to join in our visit to the 

 mount, as, being a recent arrival, he had not yet learned much 

 about the district. 



The road was fairly level hereabouts, and no one would imagine 

 that we were just on the water parting between the streams flow- 

 ing to the Murray and those to Port Phillip, and it was only by 

 closely watching the signs of water action by the roadside that 

 we decided that we crossed the divide at about 7^ miles from 

 Lancefield. The Goldie State school was shortly afterwards 

 passed, and then in about a mile we came to a cross road leading 

 east along the northern base of Mt. William. Looking across the 

 paddocks here, one wonders at the number of old houses and hay- 

 stacks dotted about, but on getting nearer these turned out to be 

 immense bosses of granite. Dozens of these could be seen in 

 every direction. 



