places adjacent 111 iW flutcrtps 



Amongs! this Johns main Woken or 

 imperfect axe Wanks may l)B rfloog- 

 nised. 



Diabase ground edge wtjaS have 



been found Over moil of central and 

 western Victoria, and also well into 

 ihe Kivcrina ol Now Souih Wales, 

 and the south -eastern pail ol South 

 Australia. The slone lot these ,i\es 

 eouUI only have eonte ( tutu central 

 Vielona and no douhl nuieh of it 

 came from Mount William. 



It is not clear jusl how the stone 

 was extracted or hroken out of the 

 outcrops, although il has heen stated 

 that it was *<tUg out of the quarries 

 with a pole ol fiard wood . It is 

 notahle that no haminei -stones have 

 been found at the site suefi as might 

 have been used for touching, out the 

 stone blanks. It has been stated that 

 the nxes were finally trimmed to 

 shape, prior to the ending ol the 



edge, bv sinking oil Hakes "vvitit a n 

 old lomvhawk" This may well h;u, 

 heen so, as halleimg is "lieu obv,., 

 able on the bull end of axes as fl 

 thev hail been used loi hanimeitrn 

 It is h.itdlv hkclv howcvci Ihnt "n 

 old lomvhawk'' would be adequah 

 lor the eornparativelv hard wori 

 involved 111 making Ihe nQUgu hi. mi,. 

 Possibly the sioue was broken up MiS 

 [OUgHty shaped bv striking it agai„v 

 Rflj rjthW l.uee block or anvil slum 

 lhere & no tccord ol the quart, 

 tug operalions having been seen h 

 Hny l inopean ohsetver. 'Ihe dent. mi. 

 lor Ihe stone laptdlv tell oil with |fc 

 decline i»t the Aboriginal population 

 and ihe availahilitv ol iron, and t>< 

 <.| 1 1 : 1 1 1 > 1 ml? had ceased some tirn 

 betote 1834 when the sile was visits 

 by William Blandowski, who was ihc 

 llrst to describe it He wtote til i| 

 amongst other things, that " "had w 

 appearance similar to that of < 



iv'T^.s. - ' .. .. : $Sfo t 



- • 



Plate 1. One of tlic working pla"s amongst the diabase outcrops ,,i Mnnnt William 

 274 Vkl Naf Vol 81 



