THE DENILIQUIN OR BARRATTA METEORITE. 



By Aechibald Liteesidge, E.C.S., &c., Header in Geology and 

 Mineralogy in the University of Sydney, late University 

 Demonstrator of Chemistry, Cambridye. 



HiSTOET. 



"We are indebted solely to the energy and perseverance 

 displayed by our Astronomer Eoyal, Mr. H. C. Russell, for tbe 

 discovery and preservation of this most interesting meteorite. 

 Grreat praise is due to Mr. Russell for the care vpith which he uaa 

 investigated its history. His account of it is as follows : — 



" "While at Deniliquin on the 9th April, 1871, on my way overland from 

 Melbourne to Sydney, I learned from Mr. Thomas Eobertson that a meteorite 

 ■was to be formd at a station 35 miles north-west of Deniliquin. He very 

 kindly took me ihe next dRy to the station, which is called Bairatta, and is 

 the property of Mr. Henry Ricketson, who treated us with great hospitality, 

 and gave me the meteorite. We found it lying in the j'ard close to the gate, 

 where it had evidently been for years as a curiosity. Many small pieces, 

 fragments of larger ones which had been broken off as specimens, were 

 collected near the stone, and weighed altogether 2 lbs. The weight of the 

 specimens so taken it is difficult to estimate, hut probably in the aggregate it 

 was less than 10 lbs.; the weightof the solid part is \\.5 lbs., so that originally 

 its weight niust have been irom 150 to 157 lbs. 'J'here had also been 

 two other pieces found with the larger piece. The smaller of these, weighing 

 about 4 lbs., had been for years at the homestead, but was lost. The other 

 piece, estimated to weigh between 60 and 70 lbs., had been taken to the 

 Editor of the Pastoral Times newspaper at Deniliquin, and there lost. The 

 total weight, therefore, of the tl:ree pieces originally found together must 

 have been nearly 2 cwt. 



" Barratta station is situated on a vast plain, on which no sign of rocks can 

 be seen ; under the surface there are a few small stones, but the largejst I could 

 find only weighs 2 ounces. The homestead is surrounded by a few stunted 

 trees, from 30 to 35 feet high. The only man at the station at the time of my 

 visit, who professed to have any personal knowledge of the fall of the 

 meteorite, was a stockman named Jones, who had been there for many years. 

 His account was as follows :— About dusk one evening in the month of May, 

 ten or twelve years since, I was standing in the yard and heard a great noise 

 as if a stcrm were coming over the plain ; looking up I saw a large body like 

 a bush on fire, and making a loud hissing or roaring noise, coming from 

 south-east. It passed very obliquely just above the trees on the north side 

 of the homestead, and I then lost sight of it behind the trees. 



" The next daj^ some fencers who were camped about lour miles north- 

 west of the homestead, came in and said they had seen a thunder and light- 

 ning stone fall into the ground near their camp. They said it frightened 

 them considerably, because they saw it coming directly towards their camp, 

 but after that it went into the ground, they walked down to see it, and found 



