752 



NOTES on the GEOLOGY of the NORTH-WEST COAST 



of TASMANIA from the RIYER TAMAR to 



CIRCULAR HEAD. 



By T. Stephens, M. A., F.G.S. 



(Plates xxiv.-xxviii.) 



The following descriptive sketch is based upon notes made 

 many j'ears ago during a series of journeys along the North-West 

 Coast of Tasmania. These were undertaken by the writer, in the 

 first instance, for the purpose of reporting on tne prospects of 

 settlement in the districts traversed, and the possibility of extend- 

 ing the means of education to the families of the few selectors 

 who were beginning to occupy the Crown lands on and near the 

 coast. At that time there were no roads worthy of the name; 

 the only possible route, where it left the beach, was an imperfectly 

 blazed trail; the numerous rivers were unbridged and fordable 

 only at low tide, if at all; and for long distances, as between the 

 Forth and Emu Bay, and between Table Cape and Circular Head, 

 there was no shelter for man or horse, while the difficulties of the 

 route made rapid travelling impracticable. Under these condi- 

 tions, with the aid of an outline chart on a scale of one inch to 

 the mile, the traveller's only guide, there was ample opportunity 

 for noting the position and general character of the ancient rocks 

 cropping out on beach or headland with a general northerly 

 strike. Though they constitute what may be termed the bed 

 rocks of Western Tasmania, their geological age and mutual 

 relations are still unknown to science, and this circumstance 

 coupled with the fact, that, with the exception of Mr. Gould's 

 chart of a small portion of it and the sketch-plans in the reports 

 of Mr. Twelvetrees on some of the mineral deposits, no map of 

 the geology of the North- West Coast on a sufficiently large scale 



