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The first mention ot the discovery of tin in Australia dates from the iit'h of 

 Muivh. 1843, when deposits of ore were found in the Ovens District, now Beechworth, 

 Victoria. Six years later that veteran geologist and fine old colonist, the Rev. W. B. 

 Clarke, met with traces of the metal along the Murrumbidgee, in the Australian Alps, 

 this time within the boundaries of the mother-colony. This report was elated August 

 1 6th, 1849. In the same year a Mr. James Dan brought under the notice of a silver- 

 smith, who knew something about metallurgy, some specimens obtained by him in the 







bed of the Broadwater, a tributary of the Severn River. These specimens were declared 

 on examination to be rich samples of the ore. In January, 1854, advantage was taken 

 of the presence in Melbourne of Mr. Storer, geologist of the United States expedition, 

 to have some parcels of ore from the Ovens River analyzed by him. His report was 

 highly favourable, and these circumstances gave an impetus to the working of tin in 

 X'ictoria, so that by the 1st of September, . 1865, it was recorded that the colony had 

 produced two thousand three hundred and eight tons of ore. The rich fields and 

 flourishing workings among the table-lands of New South Wales were not inaugurated 

 until long after this, and it was only on the 5th of October, 1871, that Mr. George Milner 

 Stephen, in a letter to Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, the well-known geologist, spoke 

 for the first time of a promising deposit of tin situate at a place about fifteen miles 

 east of Quorrell. In 1872, the discovery of specimens of the metal was announced in 

 Queensland, and in 1873, the wonderful discovery that has had such an influence on 

 the fortunes of Tasmania was made at Mount Bischoff in that colony, by a Mr. James 

 Smith. The most remarkable tin mines in Australia are that referred to in Tasmania 

 and those in the north-eastern parts of New South XVales. The principal deposits in 

 the latter colony, in the form of stream and lode tin, lie in the neighbourhood of 

 Inverell, Emmaville, Vegetable Creek and Tenterfield. At Poolamacca, in the Barrier 

 Ranges, the ore has also been found. The total value of the New South XX'ales 

 output up to 1890 is given at .9,255,384; the yield for the year was quoted at 

 582,496 ; and the highest value recorded for any one year was in 1882, standing at 

 ,833,461. The total for 1886 was 4,968 tons. In Victoria the yield of tin ore for 1889 

 was 109 tons. That of Queensland for 1886 was 3,153 tons, chiefly from the Her- 

 berton District. South Australia contributed no returns ; but Tasmania for the same 

 year recorded an output of 5,728 tons. There are some mines in New Zealand which 

 have not yet been extensively worked. 



Silver was first discovered in New South XYales at Moruya, but little was heard of 

 the prospects of any profitable mining until 1882. In and after that year an epidemic 

 of silver "finds" broke out in the mother colony, and the lucrative operations at Boorook, 

 in the New England District, at Sunny Corner, near Bathurst, and at Silverton on the 

 Barrier Range, were rapidly opened up. Smelting was soon carried out on the latest 

 modern principles. The most important silver district in the colony is that at Broken 

 Hill where rapid advances were made between 1884 and 1888. The workings there 

 are now world-famous, the proved length of the lode being two miles. Important dis- 

 coveries have also been made at the Pinnacle, Umberumberka, and other places in the 

 vicinity; the field covering an area of about 2,500 square miles, along the South 

 Australian border. The most successful mine is that of the Broken Hill Proprietary 



