128 BUILDING STONES OF QUEENSLAND. 



Murphy' H Creek Sandstone. 



This is a rather coarse-grained white sandstone and from 

 a weathering point of view is one of the best sandstones 

 which has been used in Brisbane. It is very irregular 

 in grain and while having an average grain-size of .4mm. 

 many of the sand grains are more than 1mm. in length. 

 The cementing material, which is argillaceous for the most 

 part, also contains secondary silica which makes it stronger. 

 The cementing material is very abundant and it. is a matter 

 of difficulty to find two grains of sandstone in contact 

 (see microphotograph 2, plate VIII). 



The main quarries worked were those of Cameron, four 

 miles from Murphy's Creek railway station, and of Mont- 

 gomery, McLachlan and Sheddon, 1| mile from the 

 station. The stone was used mainly over a period from the 

 late seventies till the beginning of the present centur}-. It 

 is a clean-wearing stone and in comparison with the M^hite 

 Highfields and white Helidon stones it shows iip very well. 

 The old ijart of the General Post Office built in 1871-74 has 

 a little of this sandstone in it, although the main stone used 

 came from Petrie's Quarry at Breakfast Creek. The columns, 

 fascias, caps and other stone facings in the Roma Street 

 Railway Station (1875) are of Murphy's Creek material, 

 the Breakfast Creek stone being used in the base course. 

 The stone front of the Public Library or old Museum (1877- 

 79) is entirely of this stone, and it affords an excellent 

 example of its good weathering powers and fine appearance 

 (see text-fig. i3). The Queensland National Bank (1882) 

 affords perhaps the best instance of the use of this stone. 

 The columns of this building are of Oamaru limestone, also 

 some of the upper part of the structure was made of 

 Pearson's sandstone from Helidon ; this latter material 

 recently needed considerable attention and renovation. 

 Some Murphy's Creek stone was used in the Customs 

 House (1887). 



The colonnades of P,arliament House facing George Street 

 and Alice Street arc built of this material (see text-fig. 14). 

 The latter colonnade was built in 1899 and replaced one 

 which had been built of Moggill sandstone but which had be- 

 come unsafe. The stone was obtained from Montgomery's 

 quarry in Harley's paddock. Other examples of this stone 



