Ixxxvi President's Address 



the age of these drifts all that can be said is, that they were 

 deposited anterior to the basaltic lava, which now covers so 

 wide an expanse of our western plains, and the older basaltic 

 bottom on which they rest is merely a local feature. 



Another peculiar geological feature discovered is the 

 occurrence of horizontal, undulating, auriferous quartz veins 

 traversing a broad dyke of greenstone, at Wood's Point ; 

 these have already, by their rich returns, conferred a wide- 

 spread celebrity on the principal so-called " reef " there, the 

 " Morning Star." This and other quartz reefs at Wood*s 

 Point have been made the subject of a special report to the 

 Government. 



The work at present in hand by the Geological Survey is 

 more of an exploratory character. One party of a field 

 geologist, Mr. Taylor, with a topographical surveyor and 

 three men, has just been dispatched to examine the hitherto 

 almost unknown country lying between the Snowy River 

 and Cape Howe. The party was instructed to proceed in 

 the first instance to Twofold Bay by sea, and thence to the 

 Genoa River, to examine its valley and tributaries, informa- 

 tion having been sent to the Minister of Mines, that gold 

 had been lately found in the crevices and ledges of rock in 

 the bed of that river. A letter recently received from Mr. 

 Taylor states, that gold in small quantities has been found 

 within a few miles of the river by a settler there, and that a 

 considerable extent of country east of that river is occupied 

 by drift that appears likely to prove auriferous ; and further, 

 that he has met with what appear to be silurian rocks, and 

 that granitoid rocks are also abundant. 



Another party consisting of four men, is about to examine 

 the Cape Otway ranges and district. 



There will thus be henceforward no portion of Victoria 

 of any considerable extent quite unvisited and unexplored by 

 the Geological Survey Staff, although, as regards a thorough 



