1380 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



different colonies. The most commercially important of these is the Boghead mineral, 

 commonly called kerosene shale. This has been found, more or less, in all the coal- 

 mining districts, but has been principally worked at Hartley, at Berrima, and near 

 Wollongong. The seams vary very much in their quality and thickness, but in the best 

 of them the mineral is superior to any found elsewhere, both in the quantity and 

 quality of the gas obtained from it. The illuminating power of the gas is equal to 

 forty-two standard candles with burners consuming five cubic feet per hour. The shale 

 was first worked at Hartley, with the object of distilling kerosene oil, the price of 

 which at that time was six shillings a gallon. But before all the difficulties could be 

 conquered a superabundant supply of oil from America lowered the price, and the 

 manufacture of illuminating oil in Australia has been a struggle ever since, although the 

 industry enjoys an incidental protection of sixpence per gallon under the operation of 

 the revenue tariff. This shale is very valuable for gas-making purposes, and is shipped 

 at a good profit to many parts of the world. An addition of ten per cent, to the 

 ordinary coal improves the quality of the gas. Paraffine of very good quality is obtained 

 as a by-product from the distillation, and the crude oil is worked up into a useful 

 axle-grease. Several fresh seams of shale have lately been discovered, but the manufacture 

 of oil is carried on only at Hartley, in the west, and at Joadja Creek, near Berrima, in 

 the south. Of other minerals, it may be mentioned that antimony is found in New 

 South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria ; asbestos in New South Wales ; 

 bismuth in New South Wales and South Australia ; quicksilver in Queensland and N<-\v 

 South Wales ; manganese in New South \Yales, South Australia and Queensland ; and 



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spelter in South Australia. Gems have been found in nearly all the colonies, but no 

 distinctly payable diamond-field has as yet been discovered, though the geological indica- 

 tions warrant the hope of such a discovery. 



A reference to the history of each colony will show how large a part the discovery 

 of mineral wealth has played in contributing to their prosperity, and in stimulating immigra- 

 tion. In New South Wales, the working of the coal added to the infant commerce of 

 the colony a new and valuable industry, which has never ceased to provide wages for 

 labour and profit for capital. In South Australia, the discovery of copper lifted the 

 colony out of deep despondency, and gave it its second start on the road to wealth. 

 In Victoria, the discovery of gold not only gave the colony an impetus but altered the 

 whole conditions of Australian colonization. In New Zealand, the discovery of gold was 

 the redeeming element after the exhaustion of the Maori War. In Queensland, successive 

 discoveries of gold have carried civilization and settlement right up to the Cape York 

 Peninsula, and round to Croydon at the head of the Gulf. In Tasmania, the discoveries 

 of tin and gold in the northern part of the Island gave fresh life to the colony at a 

 time of extreme dullness ; and in New South Wales, though the gold-fields have not 



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been so extensive and permanent as elsewhere, successive "rushes" have had the effect of 

 enticing many miners over from the other colonies who have there settled down. What 

 has happened in the past, will, though under different conditions, happen in the future. 

 Gold is a great magnet, and a great immigration agent, and there is a large unfixed 

 population always ready to move off on the tidings of a new discovery. We may not 

 find any more "Welcome" nuggets; but we may find many more Mount Morgans; and 





