COAL MEASURES OF N.S.W. AND ASSOCIATED ERUPTIVE ROCKS. 267 



Macrotceniopteris, Thinnfeldia, and Pecopteris occur throughout 

 the whole group, while in the Sydney District a species of Estheria 

 is very abundant in the lower beds of the Narrabeen Shales. 

 Remains of Labyrinthodonts have been obtained from the horizon 

 of the Wianamatta Shales by Mr. W. B. Dunstan, from a Railway 

 cutting near Bowral, and a large number of fossil fish as well as 

 Labyrinthodonts have been collected by Mr. Charles Cullen, Col- 

 lector to the Department of Mines, from the top of the JSTarrabeen 

 Series, from a railway ballast-quarry near Gosford. 



In the Sydney and Dubbo Districts this group is not known to 

 contain any payable seams of coal though at South Creek, near St. 

 Mary's, the Rev. W. B. Clarke describes a seam of coal in the Wian- 

 amatta Shales, which inclusive of bands, is about four feet wide. 



In the Clarence District however there are several seams of 

 coal in this group, one of which at least is likely to prove pro- 

 ductive. The relation of these Clarence River Coal-measures to> 

 the Mesozoic rocks of Sydney and Dubbo was obscure until Mr. 

 C. S. Wilkinson made the important discovery that the well known 

 Hawkesbury Sandstone of Sydney was developed in the Clarence 

 district. He is of opinion that there are certainly several seams 

 of coal in the Lower Clarence Series, below the Hawkesbury 

 Sandstone, and probably also seams in the Upper Clarence Series. 

 Some of the coal-seams in the Clarence District will probably soon 

 be worked profitably for local purposes, such as for the supply of 

 fuel for the river steamers and for the su^ar mills. The coals so 

 far discovered are splinty steam coals, containing a good deal of 

 ash, and poor in volatile hydrocarbons, but rich in fixed carbon^ 

 so that they are almost smokeless. 



The coal-fields of Ipswich Burrum and Broadsound in Queens- 

 land are the equivalents of the Clarence Group, and in Victoria 

 it is perhaps partly represent by the Mesozoic Coal-measures, con- 

 stituting the Carbonaceous Series of Wannon, Cape Otway, and 

 South Gippsland. 



The absence of productive coal-seams from the lower division of 

 this group in the Sydney District, may be partly due to the con- 

 siderable development of contemporaneous tuffs, which in places 

 contain scales and films of metallic copper. The diamond drill 

 bore at Cremorne Point, on Sydney Harbour, now being put down 

 by the Department of Mines under the superintendence of Mr. 

 W. H. J. Slee, f.g.s., has already passed through some of the 

 upper tuff beds in the chocolate shales of the Narrabeen Series. 

 The depth of the bore on November 29th, 1890, was 1230ft. 3 in. 

 The following is a generalised section : — 



To 943 ft. 4 ins. — Grey sandstone and shaly sandstone. 

 ,, 1112 ft. 1 in. — Chocolate Shales. 



,, 1230ft. Sins. — Various coloured shales with chocolate shales 



intermixed and beds of gritty tuff. 



