172 



two men, and on the second day of their journey they arrived 

 at Mount Gambier. He ascended a gentle slope of the Mount, 

 probably somewhat to the west of the cemetery, and suddenly 

 found himself confronted by the great chasm of the Blue 

 Lake, a sight "quite beyond his powers of description/' He 

 was uncertain at the time whether Mount Gambier was in 

 South Australia or not, and so pushed on further to the west. 

 He afterwards formed cattle stations at the Mount. Writing 

 in 1854 he described the district as "now thickly settled." 



3. Previous Literature. 



1800 — Reference has already been made to the record of the 

 original discovery, of this portion of Australia, by 

 • Lieut. James Grant. 



1839 — The records also exist of the first man who actually 

 visited the area, S. G. Henty, and these have, 

 been referred to. Numerous references to the 

 locality are to be found in the records of the early 

 settlers and in the published accounts of the abor- 

 iginal life and legends, but in these there is nothing 

 of special geological interest. 



1846 — The oldest geological notes available are those pub- 

 lished by Thomas Burr, then (1846) "Deputy- 

 Surveyor-General of the Province. " These notes 

 give a brief but extremely interesting account of 

 Mount Gambier, and will be quoted from later. 



1851 — According to the Rev. J. E. T. Woods, Blandowski 

 made a survey of the Mount in 1851. His observa- 

 tions were published in the Adelaide German paper, 

 but his maps have been lost. 



1862 — In this year the Rev. J. E. T. Woods published his 

 "Geological Observations in South Australia," of 

 which Chapters VIII. and IX. are devoted to the 

 volcanoes of Mounts Gambier and Schank. His 

 observations show an extended and intimate know- 

 ledge of the area, and remain the most important 

 account yet written. 



1879 — In this year Professor Ralph Tate, of the University 

 of Adelaide, made passing reference to Mount Gam- 

 bier in his Presidential Address to the Philosophical 

 Society of Adelaide. 



1884 — The State Government Geologist, H. Y. L. Brown, 

 published a short account of the area, dealing more 

 particularly with the depth, temperature, and origin 

 of the water in the lakes. In these notes the 



