386 A Western Australian Geologist — 



spent a year in the Metallurgical Laboratory of the Royal 

 College of Science On December 2, 1887, having been appointed 

 by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the post of Govern- 

 ment Geologist for Western Australia, he sailed for King 

 George's Sound, arriving in Perth in January, 1888, Here, 

 under the direction of Sir Malcolm Fraser, the Surveyor-General 

 and Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Sir John Forrest, the 

 present Premier, he was called upon to visit, and make reports 

 upon, the vast line of pi'oclaimed goldfields, from Kimberley, 

 Pilbarra, and Ashburton in the north, to the Murchison, Yilgarn, 

 Dundas, and Coolgardie Goldfields in the south. He studied and 

 reported upon the Irwin River and the Collie Coalfields; the 

 Greenbushes Tinfield, near the Blackwood River ; and was con- 

 stantly in request to advise about questions of water-supply in 

 all parts of the colony. In his Annual Report for 1890 he pub- 

 lished his first general geological description of the Colony. This 

 was in such demand and so quickly out of print that it became 

 necessary to supply in some way the much needed information. 

 This took the form, in 1894, of a Mining Handbook to the Colony 

 of Western Australia, which has had a phenomenal circulation, 

 and the same year saw the publication of a Sketch-Map of Western 

 Australia (geologically coloured so far as Mr. Woodward's explor- 

 ations had then extended). 



About 1882, Mr. E. T. Hardraan (of the Irish Geological Survey), 

 who was employed to report on the Kimberley district, discovered 

 gold there, which proved to be rich and to extend over a large area, 

 but situated as it is, in such a distant part, it did very little good 

 to the settled portion of the Colony. 



In 1887, the year of Mr. H. P. Woodward's appointment, Mr. 

 Anstey discovered gold at Yilgarn, about 200 miles east of Perth ; 

 and although the earlier finds proved to be of little value, they led 

 to the subsequent discovery of a permanent and payable field a few 

 miles further south. The next discover}'-, in 1889, east of Roeburn, 

 led to the opening up, in the north-west, of the Ashburton Goldfield, 

 where on the river of that name some rich deposits were also 

 met with, and a large quantity of alluvial gold was sent away in 

 a short time. The Murchison Goldfield followed in 1891, where 

 many rich reefs and a large quantity of alluvial gold were discovered. 



The most sensational discovery was that made in 1892, by a man 

 named Bayley, about 100 miles due east of Southern Cross. Here 

 a very large quantity of gold was obtained, and one reef which 

 has been the wonder of the Colonies. In' 1893 another (the 

 Dundas Goldfield), still more to the south, was proclaimed, and 

 Mr. H. P. Woodward was sent down there as the first Warden. 



The records of the subsequent years are all covered by the Cool- 

 gardie Goldfield, which still nearly fills the entire picture of Western 

 Australian mining affairs. From this brief account it will easily be 

 seen that Western Australia has become purely a great gold-mining 

 Colony, and, so long as gold pays, the other interests (save as 

 accessories to this one leading industry) fade into the background. 



