III.— BUILDING MATERIALS. 



BUILDING STONES. 



The principal building stones which are known to exist in 

 this colony are basalt (locally known as bluestone), granites, 

 clay-slate stones, sandstones of various kinds, and a few lime- 

 stones. 



Basalt is spread over a large area of the country, and is 

 the most abundant of all our materials. The stone is too well 

 known to need any technical description ; its durability is 

 unquestionable, but its suitability for works of much architec- 

 tural pretension is generally doubted. The color of bluestone 

 destroys the proper effect of shadows, they are to a great extent 

 absorbed by the stone instead of reposing distinctly upon it, 

 and as a natural result the beauty, proportion, and character of 

 minute enrichments in basalt are comparatively lost, when 

 contrasted with stones of more appropriate color. While 

 suggesting the exceptions to be made in the use of bluestone 

 it must be admitted that for ordinary purposes both in archi- 

 tectural and engineering works no other material could be so 

 generally employed. For foundations it is eminently suitable ; 

 for stores, its sombre hue imparts an appearance of commercial 

 as well as of structural solidity ; for ecclesiastical buildings 

 if relieved by freestone dressings, it can be used in a cheap 

 and most effective form, while for engineering works its 

 moderate first cost and the facility with which it may be cut 

 into plain forms, leave no occasion to wish for a better ma- 

 terial. There is absolutely no waste on bluestone, the smallest 

 chippings are valuable for road making, and when we further 

 consider the abundance of the supply, and the trifling cost of 

 quarrying it for ordinary purposes, we may safely say that 

 bluestone is one of the most useful of the mineral products in 

 Victoria. 



Granite of good quality abounds in many parts of the colony ; 

 it has however been but little used owing to the great cost of 

 working it for ornamental purposes. Quarries have been opened 

 atGellibrand's Hill, near Broadmeadows,and atMill Park, about 

 three miles off the Plenty road. It can also be obtained by water 

 carriage from Corner Inlet, Mounts Martha and Eliza, and from 

 the You Yangs, by means of a short tramroad to the Geelong 



