64 . Unexplored Districts of Victoria. 



Square Miles. 



5. — Tertiary rocks, including the 

 Murray tertiaries and those occur- 

 ring on the seaboard - 28,000 



6. — Country of which nothing is 

 known at present relative to the 

 rock formations - 17,831 



86,831 



The total 86,831 square miles, equals the area of the colony 

 as commonly given. 



A large proportion of the . area of which the geological 

 structure is unknown, consists, probably, of Silurian rocks 

 and granites. It lies mostly to the eastward of the meridian 

 of Melbourne, and includes nearly 3,000 square miles of 

 country east of Beechworth and north of Omeo, and a great 

 tract east of the Snowy River. It includes also a great part 

 of the counties of Dundas, Normanby, and Follett, and 

 portions of the counties of Heytesbury and Polwarth, which 

 lie to the west of the meridian of Melbourne. All these 

 areas are very interesting from the very situation of them 

 and one in particular, that east of the Snowy River, is 

 worthy of attention for it has very often been stated that it 

 is rich in minerals and metalliferous ores. 



Of the three important divisions, namely the palaeozoic 

 sandstones and slates, the basalts, and the tertiaries, it is 

 sufficient to call attention to their distribution. The first 

 appears as a great band some fifty or sixty miles in width, 

 stretching right across the colony, from east to west, and 

 situate mostly between the parallels of 36° 30' and 27° 30'. 

 To the north is the wide extent of tertiaries through which 

 flows the Murray, and to the south we have 10,000 square 

 miles of basaltic and volcanic rocks, nearly all occurring west 

 of the 145th meridian. 



First, with regard to the schists and sandstones: It is 

 not necessary to inform you that only six hundred square 

 miles have been opened up by the miner, and that the 

 remainder has been but partially prospected. It is true that 

 a considerable area was hastily examined by numerous 

 exploring parties during a portion of the years 1860-1, but 

 though their labours led to the discovery *of the Crooked 

 River gold-field, some of the tributaries of the Yarra, and 

 the Londonderry rush, besides opening up to some extent the 



