466 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 
17.—NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN CAVES. 
By James Sriruine, F.G.S. 
18.—NOTES ON THE CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS OF 
THE) CAPE OTWAY DISTRICT 
By J. H. BieNnett. 
| ddstract. | 
Tue Mesozoic rocks of the Cape Otway Ranges are bounded by 
the coast on the south, and are more or less overlain by Tertiary 
rocks on the north and north-west. 
During four years’ prospecting the author found several seams 
of brown coal near Mount McKenzie, into the largest of which a 
tunnel was put for 300 feet. It averaged 3 feet 6 inches in 
thickness. Iron pyrites were abundant in that part of the district. 
It would not pay to work the coal-seams of the Gellibrand 
River district unless the latter were made navigable or a railway 
brought near. The author believes the immense drift deposits 
of this district to have been brought down from the Grampians. 
Passing over the dividing range between the Gellibrand and 
Barrum Rivers, the author found the Mesozoic rocks to be well 
exposed in the beds of the streams. Small veins of bright coal 
were visible, and on the coast, between the mouths of the Elliot 
and Barrum Rivers, five seams were found, varying in thickness 
from 5 inches to a foot. Between the mouths of these two rivers 
there also exist mineral springs, about one and a half miles inland. 
In the Apollo Bay district the Mesozoic rocks dip from north 
to south, at an angle of about 25 deg., and contain patches and 
small veins of bright coal of the nature of cannel and anthracite, 
and in following down the dip a bluish-white fire-clay is found. 
Some twenty chains up the Wild Dog Creek, which runs into 
Apollo Bay, Mesozoic rocks appear, standing at an angle of 75 
deg., and seams of coal are seen between layers of sandstone and 
shale. These extend for some 80 chains, and have been exposed 
by the erosion of the creek waters; they vary in thickness from 
3 to 18 inches. They all dip to the south-west, at angles varying 
from 10 to 71 deg. Some 50 chains to the east les the Stony 
Creek, a short distance up which is a precipitous ledge, 100 feet 
in height. Under this cliff the author proposes to put in a tunnel 
to cut the 25 seams met with along the Wild Dog Creek, and 
expects to cut them about 700 feet below their outcrop. Above 
the cliff nine seams of coal were seen, varying im thickness from 
3 to 17 inches, and in angle of dip between 49 and 61 deg., the 
coal being of first-class quality. 
