AUSTRALIA. 



AUSTRALIA. 



C98 



cretaceous or tertiary character. A similar rock is found in the Gulf 

 of Carpentaria. Many examples have been discovered of the occur- 

 rence of the bones of mammiferous animals in clefts and caves, in the 

 same manner as those observable in the ossiferous caverns and clefts 

 of Europe. The best known caves and fissures are in the limestone 

 district, previously noticed as extending to the northward and south- 

 ward of the vicinity of Bathurst. The principal cave is in Wellington 

 Valley, through which the river Bell flows, one of the principal sources 

 of the Macquarie. According to Baron Cuvier and Mr. Pentland the 

 bones found by Sir T. Mitchell, and forwarded to Paris, consisted of the 

 remains of fourteen species of animals referrible to the following genera : 

 Dagyurut, or Devil of the Colonists, three species, one of which does 

 not appear to differ from the D. Sfacrounu of Geoffroy ; Perameles, 

 one species ; Hypsiprymnut, or Kangaroo Rat, one species ; Macropus, 

 or Kangaroo proper, three or four species; Halmaturiu, three species; 

 PfiaKotomyt, or Wombat, one species ; a small animal of a new genus, 

 and of the order Rodmtia ; elephant one species ; and a saurian reptile 

 alli'-'l to the genus Gecko: to which may be added, from a package sent 

 for examination to Mr. Owen, fragments of teeth and a large parcel of 

 vertebrae and cylindrical bones of the Diprotodon. It is worthy of 

 remark, that only four or five of these animals are known as existing 

 species. The evidence derived from these remains points to a change 

 in the animals of the country since this osseous breccia was formed, 

 both as respects one remarkable genus, the elephant, and the species 

 of existing genera. And it is further interesting to observe, that the 

 remarkable marsupial animals, which with few exceptions are con- 

 fined to Australia, have been the inhabitants of that part of our planet 

 from a period that may perhaps be considered equivalent to the 

 residence of elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, hytenas, &c., in the British 

 Islands. 



It only remains for us to notice some considerable and apparently 

 recent accumulations of sands, principally composed of comminuted 

 sea-shells, in certain parts of the coasts of Australia. They have been 

 found in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and in one or two other places, but 

 are particularly remarkable on the western coast, especially in the 

 vicinity of Perth on the Swan River. They are distinguished by concre- 

 tions which appear to have been formed round vegetable substances that 

 have for the most part disappeared. At Mount Eliza, 10 miles from 

 the mouth of the Swan River, this deposit attains a height of 300 

 feet above the sea. It is there based on red-sandstone, which appears 

 to be associated with red marl and gypsum, and to constitute the 

 country up to the sienitic mountains of Darling's Range, among the 

 argillaceous slates of which roofing-slate has been dctccttl. 



Australia was not until lately considered rich in minerals. The 

 discovery of the valuable Burra Buna copper mines in 1845, and 

 still more the extraordinary discoveries of gold in 1851, however, 

 led to investigations which have gone far to show that Australia is 

 mineralogically one of the richest countries in the world. The first 

 official mention of gold being discovered in Australia was in a des- 

 patch to the Secretary of State from Sir George Gipps, lieutenant- 

 governor of New South Wales, dated 2nd of September 1840, in which 

 is inclosed a report from count Strzelecki, stating that he had 

 discovered in the vale of Clwydd, in 1839, a small quantity of gold in 

 an " auriferous sulphuret of iron, partly decomposed." No further 

 notice was taken of this communication. Sir R. I. Murchison however, 

 in the course of various statements respecting the Ural Mountains, 

 which he read to the Geological and Geographical societies of London 

 between 1841 and 1843, called the attention of men of science to the 

 fact of the similarity of the formations of the Australian to those of 

 the Ural Mountains, and asserted hu belief that gold must exist in 

 Australia. No steps were taken to pursue the inquiry practically, and 

 Sir Roderick in 1846 addressed a letter to the Geological Society of 

 Cornwall, urging unemployed Cornish miners to emigrate and search 

 for gold in the drift and debris of the Australian Alps. In 1848 Sir 

 Roderick addressed a letter to Earl Grey, the then Secretary of State 

 for the Colonies, stating his reasons for believing that gold would be 

 found in Australia in large quantities, but no notice was taken of his 

 communication. Meanwhile efforts had been made to attract attention 

 to the subject in Australia. Small quantities of gold had been found 

 by a shepherd and sold in Sydney. About 1841 gold was found in 

 UK: bed of the Macquarie by the Rev. W. B. Clarke of St. Leonards, 

 near Sydney, a gentleman of considerable scientific acquirements, who 

 somewhat later announced the fact in the Sydney journals, and asserted 

 his belief of the extensive prevalence of gold in the colony, on the 

 ground that the strata of the Australian mountains running north and 

 south through Victoria and New South Wales were of the same for- 

 mation as those of the Ural Mountains in Russia, namely, granite 

 mixod with quartz and schistose slate ; and also, as was subsequently 

 |.-iiiit,.;d out, as the Sierra Nevada in California. But it was not till 

 1 849 that a Mr. Smith communicated to the governor, SirC. A. Fitzroy, 

 that he had found gold in a particular place, produced a specimen, 

 and offered to discover the locality for a certain reward ; and some- 

 what later Mr. Lancellott forwarded a specimen weighing 3.J ounces, 

 which he had found in the river Turon, near its junction with the 

 Macquarie, with a similar proposal. Sir CluriM <l lined these offers, 

 and the matter dropped till April 1851, when Mr. Hargraves, who 

 bad returned from gold-seeking in California, wrot.ci t<> (!<>, rrn<>r 

 Fitzroy, announcing that he had been seeking for and had found gold, 



and offering to discover the localities on being assured of a reward. 

 The governor replied that any such discovery would meet with a 

 reward, but declined assuring him of any beforehand. Upon this Mr. 

 Hargraves disclosed the places where he had found gold namely, 

 Lewis Ponds, Summerhill Creek, the Macquario River, and another 

 in the districts of Bathurst and Wellington, about 150 miles west of 

 Sydney. AVhen the government officer was sent in May to examine 

 the places he found persons already working them. The governor 

 immediately issued a proclamation claiming the gold for the crown, 

 and forbidding any person to dig for it on his private account. But 

 this it was found at once to be quite impracticable to prevent, and on 

 May 22nd instructions were given by the governor to grant licences 

 at the rate of 80s. per month. By May 25th there were 1000 persons 

 employed in digging and washing at Summerhill Creek and its neigh- 

 bourhood, which took the name of Ophir. In July gold was found in 

 two or three places within the colony of Victoria ; and from that time 

 the discoveries of fresh localities still richer in gold have been made 

 almost without intermission. On the 3rd of June the governor ordered 

 a reward of 5001. to be paid to Mr. Hargraves, who subsequently 

 received a temporary appointment as assistant commissioner; in 1852 

 a further sum was awarded to him, making his reward in all amount 

 to 5000^. The first discoverers obtained the gold by washing the 

 detritus from the beds of the creeks and the earth from the shores ; 

 but it was soon found that the richest deposits were in the quartz, 

 and means were found to crush the rock and obtain the gold. On the 

 5th of August the governor issued a notice that the licences would only 

 apply to the gold-washers, and that on gold obtained by crushing a 

 royalty must be paid of from 5 to 10 per cent. Policemen were 

 appointed to the various stations, and escorts furnished for bringing 

 the gold from the diggings to the ports of Sydney or Melbourne. An 

 assay-office was subsequently established at Adelaide, and a mint has 

 been established at Sydney. The effect of the gold discovery on the 

 colonists was most extraordinary. In a short time the towns and 

 villages were deserted, all the usual avocations abandoned, the ships 

 in harbour left unmanned, and every one capable of labour repaired 

 to the diggings, so that serious apprehensions were entertained that 

 the growing crops would be left ungathered, the wool of the numerous 

 flocks remain unshorn, and the flocks themselves be destroyed by 

 being untended. These evils were for the time fortunately averted : 

 the colonists exerted themselves to obtain assistance, and on the news 

 that gold was to be had for gathering being made known in England, 

 an immigration ensued almost without a parallel. It is computed 

 that in 1852 not less than from 90,000 to 100,000 persons left 

 England for Sydney and Melbourne, and it was found difficult to 

 provide ships in sufficient number to convey them. The emigration 

 from England during the first half-year of 1853 has been on an equally 

 large scale. In the meantime the price of provisions has risen greatly, 

 particularly at the diggings, which are usually in remote districts, to 

 which thero are no roads ; the sheep instead of being, as recently, 

 shorn and their carcasses boiled down for tallow, arc now driven to 

 the diggings for food, and the wool and skin thrown away. The 

 effect on the public revenue is shown in a striking manner by a com- 

 parison of that of the colony of Victoria in the first three quartors of 

 1851 and 1852. In the three quarters ending September 1851 the 

 total revenue was 226,181i. 9s. Id., while in the three quarters ending 

 September 1852 it was 979,476i. 3s. Id., being an increase of 

 753,294i 14s. From the first discovery of gold in Victoria up to 5th 

 February, 1853, the quantity of gold found in the colony of Victoria 

 alone is stated by colonial authorities to have amounted to 5,166,234 

 ounces, of the estimated value of 1 9,373, 377i In the first four months 

 of 1653, the quantity conveyed by escort waa 689,429 ounces, and in 

 May, up to the 19th, 87,041 ounces, and the local statements assert 

 that at least half the produce is either retained or forwarded by some 

 other means than the escort. In New South Wales the value is said 

 to have somewhat exceeded three millions and a half. 



There is every reason to believe that the quantity obtained will at 

 any rate for a long period continue to increase almost in proportion 

 to the increase of diggers. The places where gold has been found 

 now extend from the Grafton range, New South Wales, in 26 S. lat., 

 149" E. long., to Ballarat in Victoria, 37 S. lat., 144 E. long; while 

 two small gold fields have been discovered about 27 miles from 

 Adelaide, South Australia, 35 S. lat., 139" 30' E. long. What may 

 be called the main gold region of New South Wales alone, including 

 no portion of the northern district where gold has been found in con- 

 siderable quantities, and of course wholly omitting the valuable gold 

 fields of Victoria, has been officially estimated by the government 

 commissioner, the Rev. W. B. Clarke, after several surveying journeys, 

 to embrace an area of 16,000 square miles ; and this he says in a 

 subsequent report " is strictly witWn the limits of truth, and very 

 far within them." The gold is found generally among the mountains, 

 in creeks and gullies, and the other water-courses, and on the flanks 

 far above the water level, but usually at elevations not exceeding 

 3000 feet above the level of the sea. It is found in granite, wherever 

 quartziferous schist occurs, throughout the trnppean formations, and 

 largely in bands of argillaceous iron-ore. 



Copper, as has been mentioned, had been found in largo quantities 

 in South Australia some years before gold began to be sought for. 

 The Kapunda mine, the first of any consequence, was discovered and 



