^°''^?o^^^"] Excursion to Essendon. 



49 



feet below, at the foot of the steep slope. The river here, about 

 6 miles above its confluence with the Yarra, near Footscray, is 

 still tidal, and continues so for some distance above this spot, and 

 therefore is practically a dead stream, performing the work of 

 transport of sediment loads only wheji in flood. On the opposite 

 (MariLyrnong) side a fine series of river terraces could be easily dis- 

 tinguished on the alluvial flats in the bend, as many as four levels 

 being noticed. The river-cliff" sections here reveal the stratigraph- 

 ical relations of the rocks, Newer Volcanic basalt overlying Ter- 

 tiary sands and clays, which rest unconformably on the eroded 

 surface of the Older Volcanic basalt. The Tertiary sands of the 

 spur which runs to the south between the Saltwater River and the 

 rejuvenated tributary before mentioned are economically impor- 

 tant, an open cut, known as the "Sand Pits," having been made in 

 order that the material may be easily taken out. These deposits 

 will be described in greater detail on a future occasion. They 

 show splendid sections of cross-bedded sandstones of shallow 

 water origin, iron-stained in various tints of red and brown. A 

 picture of a part of these sand pits, from a photograph kindly 

 supplied by Mr. J. A. Armitage, and illustrating the nature of 

 the current bedding, will be published with this report (Plate V.) 

 It also shows the Club excursion party at work studying the 

 features of the quarry. After examining a section of fairly fresh, 

 finely-jointed Older Basalt close to the water's edge, the party 

 left the quarry, and visited an outcrop of extremely hard quartzite 

 at the southern extension of the spur. The members then 

 wended their way back to the railway station, after an afternoon's 

 ramble of a little over four miles, carried out under most 

 delightful weather conditions. 



I am indebted to our hon. secretary, Mr. F. G. A. Barnard, 

 for a few notes on the botany of the outing. He says : — 

 " The botany of the bank of the Saltwater River at the Horse- 

 shoe Bend was at one time rather good, but what with the spread 

 of introduced plants and shrubs, notably the African Boxthorn, 

 and the inroads of cows, it has now almost disappeared. There 

 are, however, several interesting plants to be found there, such as 

 Myoporum desert^ which really belongs to North-West Victoria. 

 There are some good-sized Blackwoods, Bursarias, Hymen- 

 antheras, and Sheoaks {Gasuarina quadrivalvis). One of the 

 wattles. Acacia retmodes, grows at the water's edge. The 

 *' lignum," Muehlenheckia Ciin7iinghami, forms dense bushes in 

 several places, and was in flower, as also Aster ramulosus and 

 Goodenia ovata. The latter can be found in bloom almost any 

 day in the year. Meseinhryanihemum australe grew on the 

 basaltic outcrop just above the stream, while as we walked across 

 the plain the bright pink flowers of Convolvulus erubescens were 

 noticed here and there." 



I am exhibiting to-night some thirty rock specimens, illustrating 

 the geology of this very mteresting outing. — R. W. Armitage. 



