974 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 
penetrated to depths ranging from 1,360 feet at Lake Harry, 
where the water has a temperature of 116 degrees Fah., to 1,571 feet 
at Oodnadatta, where the water has a temperature of 113 degrees 
Fah. The supply from such borings reaches 100,000 to 270,000 
gallons per diem, and the quality thereof is distinctly better than 
that from the borings nearer the edge of the basin. One of the 
last borings completed is that at Kopperamanna, about 100 miles 
from the edge of the basin. This is the deepest boring in South 
Australia, and the artesian water was reached at 2,874 feet, and 
the supply quickly increased until at a depth of 5,000 feet the 
flow over the surface reached 800,000 gallons of excellent water 
per diem, at a temperature of 176 degrees Fah. The pressure at 
the surface is about 100 lb. per square inch. 
Tt will thus be seen that within the limits peculiar to this 
formation successful artesian wells can be confidently predicted, 
and that as a general principle the depth will depend upon the 
distance from the edge of the basin. 
The height to which the water will rise under its natural 
pressure—presuming that a tube were carried up above the surface 
as far as the water will reach—is not one uniform elevation above 
sea-level. There is a clearly determinable hydraulic grade line 
with a fall from the direction of the source of about 9 inches per 
mile. Speaking generally, the chief source of the water is the 
coast range in Queensland and New South Wales. 
The theory has been repeatedly advanced that there is a deep- 
seated flow of this underground water in the bed of the sea 
towards the Great Australian Bight in South Australia. The 
information so far obtained, however, in South Australia, from 
numerous borings, is strong presumptive evidence to the contrary, 
and geologically the Nullarbor Plains formation near the head of 
the Bight does not correlate with the cretaceous beds, and the 
specific evidence of several borings within 80 miles west of Lake 
Eyre goes to show that the edge of the basin may be drawn 
within this limit, and that beyond it, for a considerable distance, 
the water is as salt as the sea. So far then, speaking from a de- 
partmental standpoint, no connection has been traced, either 
geologically between the formations, or between the waters of this 
artesian basin and the waters towards the Great Australian Bight. 
Numerous Government borings have been put down in South 
Australia to depths reaching to 2,000 feet outside the secondary 
basin referred to, but with only moderate success. In only three 
instances in such bores has artesian water flowing over the surface 
been discovered ; in some others sub-artesian water has been 
found, but in many only very salt water has been tapped. Almost 
invariably granite bed-rock or other equally unfavourable con- 
ditions have been reached before abandoning an unsuccessful 
bore. 
