ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 7 



strata, from which the water rose in the pipes and flowed from 

 them 15 feet above the surface of the ground, affording a daily 

 supply of 33,000 gallons of pure fresh water. This discovery is 

 of the greatest importance; for from the success of this deep 

 boring may be inferred the certainty of obtaining an artesian 

 and permanent supply of water within the great cretaceous area, 

 and of this naturally arid country bein^ converted into a well 

 watered pastoral district. The first artesian water in this part 

 of the Colony was obtained in the year 1881, on the Messrs. 

 Officer's Killara Station, by the Manager, Mr. David Brown, 

 who, in a bore sunk to a depth of 144 feet, struck water which 

 rose 26 feet above the surface. This bore, however, was put 

 down at the side of a " mud spring," which is a natural artesian 

 spring. There are several such " mud springs " in the district, 

 and they are considered by Geologists as further evidence of the 

 existence of vast stores of water pent up under great pressure in 

 the cretaceous strata below, but here and there finding its way to the 

 surface through natural fissures in the over-lying almost impervious 

 blue clay beds. This important water-bearing formation extends, 

 it is believed, from New South Wales northerly through the 

 western part of Queensland almost to the Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 and westerly into South Australia where, in different localities, 

 artesian water has been proved at depths of from 320 feet to 

 1,200 feet ; from the former depth it rose 60 feet above the 

 surface. At Thurlngoona, in Queensland, Mr. J. S. Longhead, 

 for the Squatters' Investment Company, put down an eight-inch 

 bore to a depth of 1,080 feet from which the water rose to a 

 height of nine feet above the surface, flowing at the rate of 

 30,000 gallons per day. Mr. Russell long ago pointed out that 

 all the rainfall in the watershed of the Darling cannot be carried 

 away by the channel of the Darling River, or by evaporation, 

 -and that to a large extent there must be underground drainage; 

 the geology of the country indicates the position of these under- 

 ground stores of water ; and the recent boring enterprises of 

 private individuals and of our own Government have verified the 



