58 COALFIELDS AND COLLIERIES OF AUSTRALIA. 



at a high or low temperature. Its hardness renders it very 

 suitable for export. It burns very freely, and leaves a soft, 

 white ash. From the small proportion of fixed carbon, and its 

 not caking, it does not produce good coke, but a charred coal, 

 which, however, burns well; consequently it is not well adapted 

 for blast furnaces, though well suited for reverberatory fur- 

 naces. As a steam coal it is best suited for stationary or 

 marine engines, the strong' blast of locomotives being apt to 

 blow it through the tubes. It is a very high-class household 

 coal." 



An analysis of coal from Walloon shown at the Queens- 

 land International Exhibition of 1897 gave : 



Moisture Volatile Hydrocarbon Fixed Carbon Ash Sulphur 

 4.70 38.08 47.94 9.28 1.50 



The Staiiwell coal field is a few miles S.S.W. from- Rock- 

 hampton; the town of Stanwell has a railway station on the 

 Central Queensland railway. D. Dunstant says that " The 

 coal measures here occupy an area of about seventy square 

 miles, of which fifty would be quite useless for prospecting 

 purposes, the remainder being possibly coal bearing. The most 

 important part of the measure is contained between Staiiwell 

 and Bushley, but from this, the main area, branches spread out 

 in all directions." Coal was first discovered here unexpectedly 

 by Mr. Peterseii, while sinking a well in the bed of Quarry 

 Creek, on his selection. The coal found occurred in thin 

 scams, and was not too clean, so that there has been no en- 

 couragement to start mining on this field. 



A hydrous or brown coal is found at Valentine Creek and 

 Waterpark Creek. W. E. Cameron* says that up to the pre- 

 sent there is no evidence either stratigraphical or palyeontolo- 

 gical, to allow of the age of these beds being determined. On 

 the map accompanying the report they are put down provision- 

 ally as Trias-Jura. The coal is dull brownish-black, compact 

 awl finely laminated in structure, and breaks up on exposure 

 to the air into irregular lumps, with a subconchoidal fracture. 

 It ignites with difficulty, and burns with a smoky flame, giving 

 off a tarry odour. There are 63ft. of coal, with bands of sedi- 

 ment and black carbonaceous niud, alternating with each 

 other. Fully five-sixths of the strata passed through was coal, 

 some of which was much harder than others, notably two feet. 



tThe Mesozoic Coal Measures of Stanwell, and Associated 

 Formations (By Authority, Brisbane, 1898). 



tThe Coal Beds on Waterpark Creek, near Port Clinton (By 

 Authority, Brisbane, 1902). 



