16 Building Materials. 



Quarries of sandstone, principally laminated like the flag- 

 ging from Yorkshire, have heen opened within 14 miles of 

 Melbourne — one at Bulleen, and the - other at Doncaster. 

 Neither have turned out well, the stone being too soft for 

 street paving, and the beds usually intersected by cross joints 

 or veins, which render the stone liable to crack, as well as 

 prevent its being quarried in sound large blocks. 



Very hard and compact sandstones belonging to the coal 

 formation, are found at "Western Port, Apollo Bay, Cape 

 Patterson, &c. On the coast and near to the entrance of Port 

 Phillip these stones more closely resemble those obtained near 

 Whitby, and if freed from an objection to be hereafter referred 

 to, are otherwise well adapted for general purposes, and 

 especially for street pavement, a thing particularly needed 

 in Victoria. 



The constituents of the Western Port stone are — 



Silica 



Carbonate of lime 



Oxide of iron 



Alumina ... • 



Magnesia, soluble salts and water 



81.7 



2.5 



7.2 



. 6.2 



2.1 



100 



This stone has been used in the erection of one of the 

 Melbourne Banks, and the surface commenced exfoliating after 

 18 months' exposure. 



Samples of a good hard sandstone have been procured from 

 Kilmore, about 40 miles from Melbourne, on the Sydney road, 

 but the material has not yet been tested in any building. 



Sample blocks of sandstone have been forwarded to the 

 Museum for Building Materials, at Melbourne, from the 

 silurian rocks in the Plenty District, about 18 miles from 

 Melbourne, and from Keilor, about 12 miles from Melbourne ; 

 neither are of very good quality, or likely to be usefully 

 employed, except for very ordinary purposes. 



Limestones. — With regard to the limestones it may be briefly 

 observed, that none which have yet been discovered appear to be 

 fit for building purposes of an important character. No com- 

 pact building limestones have yet been found inland ; those 

 known are found on the coast, and those at present used are 

 procured from Point Nepean, Hobson's Bay, Cape Schanck, 

 Cape Nelson (near Portland Bay). Warmambool, &c. They 

 are usually coarse sandstones with calcareous cement and 

 appear to belong to a very recent geological formation, they 

 are very porous and are considerably affected by the weather ; 



