DIAMOND: OCCURRENCE IN AUSTRALIA 225 



on Cope's, Newstead, Vegetable, and Middle Creeks, in the Stanifer, Ruby, and Britannia 

 tin-washings, and elsewhere in the same district. 



All the occurrences of diamond in New South Wales, described above, are in secondary 

 deposits of alluvial origin ; recently (1901), however, Mr. E. F. Pittman, the Government 

 Geologist of New South Wales, has described its occurrence in what may perhaps be the 

 mother-rock. At Ruby Hill on Bingera Creek, twelve miles to the south of Bingera, 

 diamond has been found in the breccia filling a volcanic pipe. This breccia consists of angular 

 fragments of clay-stone, felsite, basalt, eclogite, &c., with calcite, garnet, zircon, chrome- 

 diopside, and other minerals ; it bears a very striking resemblance to the diamantiferous 

 material which fills the Kimberley pipes, the principal difference being that it shows no sign 

 of serpentinisation. 



Finally, we must mention the peculiar occurrence of diamond at Ballina, in New England, 

 where solitaiy specimens have been found in the sands of the sea-shore. The diamond- 

 bearing deposit is here exposed to the action of the waves of the sea, and the solitary 

 specimens found in the shore sands have probably been washed out of the deposit by the 

 waves. 



The output of diamonds in New South Wales, as published in the official returns of the 

 Department of Mines, amounted in 1899 to 25,874 carats, valued atd&10,349 12s. ; in 1900, 

 owing to lack of water, and the reconstruction of the mining company, there was a smaller 

 output of 9828J carats, valued at ^^5663 Is. Although a fairly considerable number of 

 diamonds have been met with in New South Wales, yet the other Australian States are very 

 poor in this respect ; it is probable, however, that there will be important finds in the 

 future. 



In Queensland, conglomerates have been observed at Wallerawang and on the 

 Mary river, which are remarkably like the diamond-bearing deposits of Mudgee and 

 Bingera ; no diamonds have, however, as yet been discovered in them. At other places 

 in Queensland, namely, on the Palmer river and the Gilbert river, the precious stone has 

 been found. 



In South Australia about 100 stones have been found in the alluvial gold-washings 

 of Echunga, twenty miles to the south-east of Adelaide ; it was here that the octahedron of 

 5yV carats, previously mentioned, was found. In Victoria a few diamonds were met with 

 in 1862 in the Owens and in the Arena goldfields ; a larger number of stones were found in 

 the Beechworth district of the same State, upwards of sixty crystals, none however exceeding 

 1 carat in weight, having been collected. Diamonds have also been stated to occur in the 

 neighbourhood of Melbourne, in association with ruby, sapphire, zircon, and topaz. 



Finally, from Western Australia also, a certain number of diamonds have come, 

 small crystals rich in faces having been found near Freemantle, in a sand containing zircon, 

 ilmenite, rock-crystal, red, yellow, and white topaz, and apatite. More recently, in 1895, it 

 was reported that diamonds had been found in the north-west of the State, at Nullagine, in 

 the Pilbarra gold-field ; many leases have been taken up, but so far no important finds have 

 been made. From 230 tons of auriferous ore treated in 1900 only twenty-five small 

 diamonds were obtained. 



Tasmania has recently been added to the list of diamond-producing countries. 

 According to newspaper reports, a large number of stones were found at the end of the year 

 1894 in Corinna, one of the richest goldfields of the island. The reported occurrence 

 caused a rush of thousands of diamond-seekers into Tasmania from the Australian 

 mainland ; many companies for the exploitation of the deposits sprung up, but apparently 

 with no marked results. 



p 



