THE MINERALS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 163 



The Evening JVeivs of Sydney for 7th August, 1875, contains 

 the following statement with respect to the original discovery of 

 gold : — " We are in a position to show that gold was discovered, 

 and we believe officially reported to the Government, upwards of 

 fifty-two years ago, viz., on the 16th February, 1823. On that 

 date, Mr. Assistant-Surveyor James M 'Brian discovered the 

 precious metal at a spot on the Fish River, about midway between 

 O'Connell Plains and Diamond Swamp, a little to the north of the 

 old Bathurst Road, and about 15 miles east of Bathurst. We 

 have now before us an extract from Mr. M 'Brian's field book, 

 which book is preserved in the Surveyor General's Office. It reads 

 as follows : — 'February 16, 1823. At 81*50 to river, and marked 

 gum-tree. At this place I found numerous particles of gold in 

 the sand and in the hills convenient to the river.' It is possible 

 but hardly probable that other persons may have discovered gold 

 before that date, and that owing to the then peculiar social con- 

 dition of the Colony, arising from the presence of a large prison 

 population, it was thought best to suppress the knowledge of the 

 fact." 



It is stated that Count Strzelecki found gold, associated with 

 pyrites, in 1839, in the Yale of Clwydd. 



With reference to the most important part which the Rev. W. B. 

 Clarke played in the discovery of gold in Australia, I cannot do 

 better than quote the words of one of England's most eminent 

 geologists. 



Professor Geikie, in his " Life of Murchison," says :— " Count 

 Strzelecki appears to have been the first to ascertain the actual 

 existence of gold in Australia ; but, at the request of the Colonial 

 authorities, the discovery was closely kept secret. The first 

 explorer who proclaimed the probable auriferous veins of Australia on 

 true scientific grounds, that is, by obtaining gold in situ and tracing 

 the parent rocks through the country, was the Rev. W. B. Clarke, 

 M.A., F.G.S., who originally a clergyman in England has spent a 

 long and laborious life in working out the geological structure of 

 his adopted country, New South Wales. He found gold in 1841, 

 and exhibited it to numerous members of the Legislature, declaring 

 at the same time his belief in its abundance. While therefore 

 geologists in Europe were guessing, he, having actually found the 

 precious metal, was tracing its occurrence far and near on the 

 ground." 



In 1844, Sir Rod. Murchison pointed out the singularity of 

 the Blue Mountain Chain of Australia (the Cordillera) to that of the 

 Ural, and predicted the occurrence of gold ; this seems to have 

 turned out a happy guess, but it cannot be wholly considered as a 

 scientific declaration. His prognostications, 1844-6-7 (appear) 

 however, to have been the first published. 



