PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 
56 
[May  1893.. 
Society  in  1888,  and  two  years  afterwards  read  a  paper  ‘  On  some 
Water-worn  and  Pebble-worn  Stones  taken  from  the  Apron  of  the 
Holt-Fleet  Weir  on  the  Paver  Severn/  Quite  recently,  Mr.  Marten 
gave  evidence  before  the  Royal  Commissioners  on  Water  Supply  as 
to  the  practicability  of  constructing  storage -reservoirs  in  the  Upper 
Thames  Valley.  He  died  on  November  3rd,  1892,  in  his  66th  year. 
Edward  Hammond  Hargraves,  late  of  Sydney,  New  South  Wales, 
was  born  at  Gosport  on  October  7th,  1816,  being  the  third  son 
of  John  Edwards  Hargraves,  then  a  Lieutenant  in  the  Sussex 
Militia.  E.  H.  Hargraves  was  educated  at  Brighton  Grammar 
School,  and  afterwards  at  Lewes.  When  14  years  of  age  he  went 
to  sea  and  had  to  ‘  rough  it  ’  on  board  a  merchant-vessel  for  nearly 
three  years,  ultimately  landing  in  Australia  in  1832.  After  a  few 
more  years  devoted  to  a  roving  life,  we  find  him  engaged  as  a 
rearer  of  stock  In  Eastern  Australia,  where  he  appears  to  have  been 
not  unmindful  of  the  geological  features  of  that  district,  which  was 
afterwards  to  become  the  scene  of  his  celebrated  discovery  of  gold. 
Not  being  very  successful  in  business,  he  sailed  for  California  in 
1849,  in  the  hope  of  making  a  fortune  by  gold-mining.  His  ex¬ 
periences  in  that  region  quickly  convinced  him  of  the  similarity  in 
structure  that  existed  between  the  auriferous  rocks  of  California 
and  certain  districts  in  New  South  Wales  with  which  he  was  well 
acquainted.  Mr.  Hargraves  accordingly  returned  to  the  country  of 
his  adoption,  and  on  the  4th  February,  1851,  set  out  from  Sydney 
for  the  region  where  he  expected  to  find  gold.  On  the  12th  of  that 
month,  having  arrived  at  Lewis  Ponds  Creek,  he  succeeded  in 
proving  to  his  companion  that  they  had  been  walking  on  gold, 
since,  after  a  few  washings  on  a  small  scale,  it  was  clearly  demon¬ 
strated  that  the  alluvium  was  auriferous,  and  subsequently  a  con¬ 
siderable  quantity  of  gold  was  obtained  by  the  party.  Ultimately, 
Mr.  Hargraves  was  instructed  to  point  out  the  gold-field  to  the 
Government  Geologist,  whom  he  accompanied  to  Ophir,  a  place 
since  then  well-known  in  the  annals  of  Australian  gold-mining. 
Not  many  weeks  elapsed  before  the  usual  rush  of  prospectors  ensued, 
and  the  once  lonely  spot  suddenly  became  populous. 
Some  of  us,  perhaps,  are  old  enough  to  remember  the  controversies 
which  took  place  forty  years  ago  with  reference  to  the  first  discovery 
of  gold  in  Australia.  The  disputed  claims  of  Sir  Roderick  Mur¬ 
chison  and  the  Rev.  W.  B.  Clarke  to  the  honour  of  the  scientific 
discovery  are  matters  of  history.  Although  there  had  been  accidental 
