OBITTJJ^S-"2". 429 



♦ 



RICHARD DAINTREE, C.M.G., F.G.S. 



Born December, 1831. Died June 20, 1878. 



Australian Geology has sustained another severe loss in the 

 death of Mr. E. Daintree, C.M.G., F.G.S., following, as it has done, 

 so rapidly on that of the Rev, W. B. Clarke, F.E.S.^ 



Eichard Daintree was born at Hemingford Abbotts, Huntingdon- 

 shire, in December, 1831, and was educated at the Bedford Grammar 

 School, and Christ's College, Cambridge. In consequence of delicate 

 health, Mr. Daintree was recommended a voyage to Australia, and 

 he accordingly set sail for Melbourne, where he landed in the latter 

 part of 1852. A taste for scientific pursuits brought him in contact 

 with Mr. A. E. C. Selwyn, the Government Geologist of Victoria, 

 whose Assistant he became in 1854; but finding that a more practical 

 acquaintance with Chemistry and Assaying, than he at that time 

 possessed, would prove beneficial to his prospects, he returned to 

 England in 1856, and entered Dr. Percy's Laboratory. Here he 

 worked from November, 1856, to May, 1857, and became a practised 

 and efficient assayer, to which he added a knowledge of practical 

 photographic chemistry. 



In August, 1857, Mr. Daintree returned to Melbourne, and in 1858 

 was appointed Field-Geologist on the Geological Survey of Victoria, 

 which had by this time been established on a firm basis through the 

 energy of its Director, Mr. A. E. C. Selwyn, F.E.S. During his 

 connexion with the Victorian Survey, for the next seven years, Mr. 

 Daintree was occupied in field work and exploration of no ordinary 

 nature. He commenced in the Western-port district, directing his 

 attention to the Cape Patterson Coal Series. In exploring the Bass 

 Eiver, Daintree underwent much hard camp life, and endured many 

 privations in penetrating the dense scrubs of that district. 



The Geology of the Bellerine District^ next engaged Mr. 

 Daintree's attention, lying between Geelong and Queenscliffi A 

 series of extensive borings for Coal, through the Mesozoic rocks, were 

 there superintended; but, although about 4000 feet of strata were 

 j)assed through, the search was fruitless. On leaving Bellerine in 

 1861, Mr. Daintree was joined by Mr. C. S. Wilkinson (now Govern- 

 ment Geologist for N. S. Wales) as his Assistant, and until March, 

 1864, they were conjointly engaged in the geological survey of the 

 country from Bass' Straits on the south, to Bacchus Marsh on the 

 north, including the important agricultural and pastoral districts of 

 the Barrabool Hills, the Annakie Hills, the Werribee Eiver and 

 Ballan district. At the end of May, 1863, a most important report 

 was prepared by Mr. Daintree, on this work, and when published it 



1 See Obituary Notice of Eev. "W. B. Clarke, Geol. Mag. August, p. 379. 



2 Eeport on the Geology of Bellerine and Pagwit, with Special Reference to the 



probable Existence of workable Coal Seams in those Parishes. By E. Daintree. 



Vict. Geol. Surrey Eeport, 1861-62, No. 43, foUo, pp. 16-23. Melbourne. 



Maps.— Sheet 23 N.E. (Portarlington) ; 23 S.E. (St. Leonards) ; 23 S.W. 

 (Point Henry) ; Sheet 29 N.E. (Queenscliff) ; 29 N.W. (Lake Connewarre). By 

 E. Daintree, under the direction of A. E. C. Selwyn. 



