AUSTRALIA. 



ATSTRALIA. 



a steamer on the Murray to run up to the confluence 

 of the Darling, where Urge depot with wool-presses and boiling 

 bonnet was to be formed ; but the derangement of colonial affairs by 

 the gold-discoveries has for the present prevented the project being 

 earned fully into effect : a steamer has however been built for the 

 purpose, ana, according to accounts recently arrived, is now navigating 

 the Murray. 



The llwmtmHridget reaches the lowlands went of 148 E. long., anil 

 flows in an extremely tortuous but generally western direction as far 

 as the Hamilton Plains, when it diverges more to the north-west, and 

 passes through a thickly wooded country to about 146 30', where 

 the low plains are on both sidca for somo distance a mere swamp. 

 Through this low marshy country it continues to flow till its junction 

 with the Lachlan, in 84 30' S. lat, 143 30' E. long. Somewhat 

 lower it turns to the south-west, in which direction it continues to 

 its confluence with the Murray. 



The LatUan, after descending into the lowlands, traverses consider- 

 able marshes in 147 E. long. ; and shortly after issuing from them 

 it changes its course from north-west to south-west. Flowing in thu 

 direction to 145 long, it traverses somo fine plains and again enters 

 some very extensive marshes, which continue to the place where the 

 river joins the Murrnmbidgee. 



The .Wacyuarie may be considered as entering the lowlands nt the 

 place where it forms a cataract, 148 3' E. long., 31 50' S. lat It 

 soon afterwards diminishes very much, and scarcely deserves to be 

 called a river at Mount Harris, where its current is very sluggish. 

 At no great distance farther to the north it enters the marshes, which 

 are 20 miles in breadth and extend for a much greater length. A 

 channel, which is commonly dry, called the Macquarie Creek, carries off 

 the superabundant water of the marshes after long rains to the 

 Darling ; the marshes are also in port drained by the Morrisctt Ponds 

 and the Castlereogh River, which likewise join the Darling near 

 Macquarie Creek. 



The Darling was discovered by Captain Sturt in 1828. He traced 

 its coune between 148 and 147 E. long., and under 30 S. lat, for 

 about 1 S miles ; and again between 1 46 and 1 44 30' E. long., and 29 30' 

 S. lat, for about 68 miles. At the first place the river runs nearly 

 from cast to west; and in the second its course is directed to the 

 south-west That both currents belong to the same river is proved 

 by their water being equally salt ; and though not quite so salt as 

 that of the ocean its taste is precisely the same, and it is unfit to 

 drink. In its bed several brine-wells were discovered. TheDarlingjoins 

 the Murray, after a long and very winding but generally south- 

 western course, near 141 40' E. long. The principal tributary of the 

 D.irliiiT, which enters it on the left bank about 145 50' E. long., 

 '< the Bogan, a considerable stream, which rises in the Harvey 

 Range and has a generally south-western course, similar to that of 

 the Macquarie. 



Otology, Mineralogy, <<?. We possess so few facts, comparatively, 

 respecting the geological structure of Australia beyond an enumera- 

 tion of a somewhat limited number of localities in which granite, 

 limestones, sandstones, and other rocks, distinguished only by their 

 mineralogical characters, occur, that it would bo of little use to attempt 

 to give a general description, or even to institute comparisons with the 

 known European deposits. Here we shall do little more than .-nu- 

 merate the principal varieties of rocks merely stating as a general 

 law that, as far as known, the geological formations are almost entirely 

 of the kinds commonly termed primary and tertiary. Secondary rocks 

 arc scarcely anywhere met with. It is however premature to draw 

 general conclusions. The mineralogy of Australia is exciting at pre- 

 sent an extraordinary amount of attention, and the geology is also 

 being with more or leu care and skill investigated, so that additions 

 are almost daily being made to our previous store of information. 

 The route will be more conveniently given in our notices of the 







The direction of the mountains and the strike of the rocks of wl.i.-h 

 they are composed are almost invariably north and south ; the only 

 important exception being on the north aide of the continent where 

 there is an inclination to the oast and west Oranite forms the axes 

 of the ranges of mountains described as occupying the south-eastern 

 and eastern portion of the island, having frequent masses of metamor- 

 phio rocks in connection with it Much ..f the granite is highly 

 quartriferoin ; in other extensive formations the felspar an. I 

 blende so largely abound an t , modify the granitic typo; in somo 

 places the hornblende predominates, and frequently, as between 

 Amprior and Braidwood, the granite passes into sienite and porphyry. 

 Examples of all these varieties aro met with in the Austral i 

 about the sources of the Murray, in Mooneroo, in the Curramhenya 

 Range, the Aralucn and the Main ranges, Mount Victoria, and many 

 olisr parts of this vast tract of country. Trap rocks prevail very 

 wdly, and vary as usual very much in their miniralogical structure. 

 Very commonly they consist of basalt, greenstone, and various amygda- 

 wi. *" OTcri y in 8 dPt of conglomerate grit an<l sand- 

 . Tnc tr >n of Maneero, which may bo taken as 



Illustrative of the trajipcan regions of the south-eastern portion of 

 Atwtralia, i. ,,f this character. According to the Rev. W. IV < 

 the governnwnt commumoner, "the physical features of thn 

 ar> precisely similar to those of the Grampians and Lammermuir U ill* 



in Scotland. Each occupies a trough between granite mountain* (hero 

 the Snowy and the Coast mountains), which it has filled up, sending 

 its streams of subaqueous lava to considerable distances on each side 

 of the general line of the axis of eruption. In Maneero this axis has 

 a north-west and south-cast direction, and ranges from the head of the 

 Towamba towards the principal head of the Murrumbidgee, .-.- 

 northern extremity of the Snowy Mountains, or Australian Alps. 

 Connected with this general trend of the trappean formation, whii h 

 lias produced the plateau or ' plains,' as bare tracts occupied by 

 basalt, &c., aro improperly locally designated, aro various outlying 

 hills and ranges, insulating patches of the schistose rocks, or pi> 

 and transmuting the larger masses of that system. But the <: 

 tion of these local exhibitions of igneous agency, their texture, 

 structure, and composition, prove them to have a common relation 

 with each other, and with the great development which hoe occa- 

 sioned the remarkable connection between the Snowy ranges to the 

 west and the Coast ranges to the east, and the no less remarkable 

 anticlinal division between the waters flowing on the northern side to 

 the Murrumbidgee, and on the southern to the Snowy River. It U 

 to the trappean outburst, which is undoubtedly of oiisiilerable 

 antiquity, that the broken and disturbed condition of the present 

 surface of the counties of Bercsford, Wallace, and \\Y11. ley is in a 

 considerable measure duo ; it has directed the pr!n<-ip.-il drainage of 

 the country in two opposite courses, and has produced innumerable 

 physical disarrangements." 



A large portion of the basin of the Murrumbidgee is occupied by 

 quartz porphyry, which is also largely developed in many other places. 

 Porphyritic and basaltic dykes are very frequent Very fine examples 

 of columnar basalt occur at Cooroo and elsewhere on the great dividing 

 range, and not unfrequently in other parts of the great mountain 

 district Serpentine, soapstone, pitchstone, and a fine rod jasper aro 

 frequently met with in the trappean districts. Laminated, compact, 

 and foiwiliferous limestones are found in numerous places. In the 

 ridges of the gullies running into the Shoal-haven, a little below 

 Qlenrock, the limestone is seen passing into statuary marble, white 

 and crystalline ; black marble occurs in strata in Borough Creek. A 

 bed of limestone, which appears to range with considerable thickness 

 both north and south of Bathurst, has been termed carboniferous. 

 The coal and associated bed of sandstone and shell, which occur exten- 

 sively on the eastern coast from Port Stephens to Botany Bay, 

 occasionally ranging into the interior, have been considered equivalent 

 to the coal-measures of Europe, merely from their mineralogical 

 characters. What the ago of this Australian cool deposit may be wo 

 have no means of accurately judging; but it is worthy of remark, 

 that a fossil plant (Glotsopferit Browniana) detected in it is also dis- 

 covered in the Damuda coal district in India. The coal itself appears 

 to be abundant and generally of good quality. Coal also occur* in 

 great quantities on the Warranbungall Mountains and elsewhere in 

 the mountain district of New South Wales. Mr. I;...- in 1848 dis- 

 covered coal by the mouth of the Fitzgerald River, about 149 40' 

 E. long., 34 10' S. lat, and by the Phillips River some distance to 

 the west, both places being in or near to Doubtful Island Bay and 

 easy of access. It has also been met with in several other parts of 

 the continent 



Sandstone rocks extend very generally through the mountain dis- 

 trict. Sydney is built upon a sandstone deposit, which extends as for 

 inland as Mount Victoria, and forms the bulk of the Blue Mountains. 

 Its southern limit is Port Stephens. The sandstones are of various 

 kinds, foiwilifi'rou*, ferruginous, silicated, argillaceous, and calcareous. 

 In pai ts they appear very similar to those of the old red-sandstone 

 formation of England. .Found in conjunction with fossiliferous lime- 

 stones and conglomerates they closely resemble those of the IV. 

 system. Both the limestones and sandstones are of exceeding value 

 for economical purposes. Sandstone and limestone are the pn 

 rocks of the shores of Western Australia. In North Australia is a 

 great sandstone plateau rising 1800 feet above the level of the sea. 



The slate and other schistose rocks ore numerous and important 

 A quartziferous schist is the predominant rock of the country between 

 the Canobolas and the Wellington Valley, and it prevails extensively 

 throughout New South Wales and the eastern part of Victoria. The 

 soil which covers this rock is generally poor, but the rock itaelf is 

 rich in minerals. Tho slates are commonly gray, bluish, and yellowish ; 

 good roofing-slates are found in many places. The slates aro not 

 iinfrequcntly intersected by veins of quartz and trap. Gray or 

 brownish-white, soft or hard, felspathic beds of schist occur in con- 

 junction with the slates, passing " into a true grit or sandstone, and 

 becoming occasionally very quartzose, bands of quartz and trans . 

 fibrous veins of quartz traversing them." Clny-xlates and other 

 argillaceous deposits ore also general. The clays and other tcrtmry 

 i occupy a wide area; in fact, it is probable that the whole 

 is formed of horizontal tertian- deposits, broken !>! 

 1 1,, i . I .y hilly tracts rising out from them, like islands from the bod of 

 an inland sea. Good brick and pottery clay is found. 



Mr. Stnrt in liii passage down the Murray cnwsed a considerable 



extent of country occupied by a fossiliferous deposit, compo.i-<l of 



l*o than a mass of shells. He estimates the thickness of this 



' to be considerable, and that it rises to tin- height of about 



800 feet From its organic contents he inferred thnt it is of super- 



