NOTES ON THE PETRIE SERIES, SOUTH-EASTERN QUEENSLAND. 97 
possible for a palaeoichthyologist to make sufficient generic determina- 
tions to indicate the general faunal characteristics of the assemblage. 
With this in view, and considering the stratigraphical value of the 
Tertiary fossil fish from other Queensland deposits (Hills, 1934, 1943), 
an attempt is now being made to enlarge the assemblage by further 
collecting in the area.* 
In conclusion, purely on the above palaeontological evidence, which 
is still rather fragmentary, it seems that the Petrie Series is definitely 
younger than the Redbank Plains Series, and the age ■ may be tentatively 
put as Miocene. It is felt, moreover, that the ostracods at present under- 
going systematic description, and the ultimate description of the fossil 
fish fauna, may help to provide a more delicate and reliable guide to the 
precise age of the series. 
Y. THE STRATHPINE OIL SHALE. 
Oil shale was discovered in the Strathpine district on the spoil 
heap of an old well on portion 190, parish of Warner, by L. C. Ball in 
1932. This property lies just two miles W. of Strathpine railway station, 
which is fourteen miles by rail N. of i Brisbane on the main northern 
line. The well, which was sunk in 1919 on the site of a 50-feet bore hole, 
is reported to have passed through 5 feet of loose sandstone boulders, 
then 50 feet of ferrated shale and finally 5 feet of oil shale. A quantity 
of the oil shale is still available on the spoil heap of the well, and Ball 
(1932a, p. 221) has stated that it is “almost identical in appearance with 
that occurring at The Narrows, between Gladstone and Rockhampton.’' 
It has the same dark greenish-grey colour when fresh; it is weather- 
resistant but ultimately oxidises to the same biscuit colour; it is tough 
and resilient to the hammer, and it has a dark brown greasy streak. 
Moreover, it is sectile, has a low specific gravity, and burns fairly readily 
with a smoky yellow flame giving off the characteristic odour 1 of oil shale. 
A sample of this material submitted to the Government Analyst in 1932, 
is reported to have yielded crude oil at the rate of 51 gallons per ton. 
This is an unusually high yield for an oil shale of Tertiary age, and 
seemingly indicates the presence of a “pocket” of relatively rich shale, 
probably of restricted extent, as at no other place in the Petrie Series 
has oil shale of this quality since been discovered. 
The shale outcrops about one chain N. of the well and can be traced 
in a N.N.W. direction for a distance of several chains, being generally 
coincident with the strike of the beds. The average angle of dip is 45 
degrees to the W.S.W., although the outcropping beds at one place are 
almost vertical. Moreover, as the material is very much slickensided the 
presence of faulting is clearly pointed to. 
Oil shale also outcrops in steeply dipping strata associated with a 
reversed fault on the bank of the South Pine River, on portion 127, 
parish of Nundah, but is of very low grade. It has also been met with 
still further towards the south-eastern boundary of the series, in two 
bores. One, in the south-eastern corner of portion 148, parish of Nundah, 
near the corner of Beams and Lacey road, and the other in the grounds 
of Hutton’s Bacon Factory at Zillmere, on portion 5, parish of Nundah. 
In the former case, according to L. G.' Neill (1943), a 2 ft. 6 in. seam of 
* Since this paper went to press additional fossil fish material has been collected 
from the shales outcropping on the bank of the South Pine River, and the whole 
collection has been sent to Dr. E. S. Hills of the University of Melbourne, who has 
kindly undertaken its description. 
