106 me. w. J. cxtjnies ross on thb [May 1894, 



contents to those found elsewhere, a clear knowledge of the strati- 

 graphy of the district will enable one to classify the beds in other 

 parts of the colony, by establishing a distinction between those 

 belonging properly to the Silurian and those which are Devonian ; 

 and, further, to separate the latter from the Carboniferous. Under 

 these circumstances it is thought that a short account of the 

 geology of the Bathurst district may be of interest, not only to 

 Australian geologists, but to those who reside in other parts of the 

 world. 



II. Previous Work on the Subject. 



Yery little has been done, or at any rate published, in reference 

 to Bathurst geology. In the writings of the Rev. W. B. Clarke 

 and others there are a few scattered notices. The late Mr. C. S. 

 Wilkinson, F.G.S., also alluded to it, 1 and the same gentleman 

 carefully surveyed the country around Bydal, about 28 miles east 

 of Bathurst, and published a geological map and section of that 

 area. 2 The work is well done and is very interesting, but unfortu- 

 nately no detailed account of the country seems to have been 

 written. In 1891 the Rev. J. M. Curran read a paper before the 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, which he subsequently 

 published in pamphlet form. 3 The paper mainly treats of the 

 petrography of the Bathurst rocks, although the stratigraphy of 

 the district is also dealt with to some extent. Apart from these 

 papers, and one or two which the present writer has contributed to 

 the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, nothing, 

 so far as he knows, has been published on the subject. 



III. Physiography of the District. 



Bathurst, a city of about 10,000 inhabitants, is situated 140 miles 

 west of Sydney, N.S.W., at a height of about 2100 feet above sea- 

 level. It is nearly in the centre of what are known as the Bathurst 

 Plains, a tract of undulating country surrounded by hills, which 

 rise to a height of 1000 to 2000 feet above the city. The Plains are 

 about 20 miles across from east to west, and rather less from north 

 to south. The Macquarie river runs by the city and is formed by 

 the confluence of two streams — the Pish and Campbell rivers, which 

 unite to form the Macquarie about 6 miles above Bathurst. The 

 river is fed by a few creeks, one of which, the Vale Creek, skirts 

 the south side of the town and is of moderate size. The Macquarie 

 has a long course, flowing past the towns of Wellington and Dubbo, 

 to the north-west of Bathurst, and, ultimately, its waters form part 

 of the Darling system, and find their way to the Indian Ocean by 

 the Murray. Near Bathurst the river flows in a wide and deep 



1 ' Notes on the Geology of New South Wales,' Sydney, 1882, pp. 39 and G2. 



2 Annual Report of the Department of Mines for 1877, Sydney, 1878. 



3 ' A Contribution to the Geology and Petrography of Bathurst, New South 

 Wales,' Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. ser. 2, vol. vi. pp. 173-234, & pis. xiv.-xviii.; 

 sep. cops, published by Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1S91. 



