June, 1953 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
Fifty-seven 
ted as glass meteorites, that is, that 
they come in swarms from a source 
outside the earth. 
This appears to be so for the 
following reasons: 
(a) The occurrence of each 
group in a separate restric- 
ted locality. 
(b) The general similarity of 
form types in each group. 
(c) The almost uniform com- 
position of the members of 
each group. 
There are still a few people who 
do not believe that tektites fell 
from the sky. But one may recall 
that as late as 1665 the dis- 
tinguished scientist, Robert Hooke, 
did not believe that iron meteorites 
fell to the earth from outer space! 
“On one occasion,” says Dr. F. A. 
Paneth, “a whole (French) village, 
backed by the mayor, sent in a 
written and signed statement about 
the fall of a meteorite. The Paris 
scientists were deeply shocked at 
their credulity, and simply declared 
the described facts as ‘physically 
impossible’.” 
The most striking of the Aus- 
tralites are the “flanged buttons,” 
as shown in Fig. 1. The top row, 
Nos. 1 to 6, are perfect shapes, like 
a “pudding in a saucer.” The 
second row. Nos. 7 to 12 shows the 
same Australites as seen from the 
side. The third row. Nos. 1 to 6, 
are buttons from which part of 
the flange has been chipped off. 
Nos. 1 and 2 are back side up as 
in the top row; Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 
show the front side, with flow 
ridges. No. 6 shows a small burst 
gas bubble. As already stated, the 
flanged button is the rarest form; 
lenses and lens cores are the most 
common; broad ovals, narrow 
l ovals, and dumb-bells, usually 
abraded, are fairly common. Of 
over 17,000 specimens in the South 
Australian Museum collection, 
there are only 0.6% of flanged 
buttons. 
In 1938 Lincoln La Paz, of New 
Mexico, recorded that: “Tektites 
are exhibited occasionally in placer 
(alluvial) mining camps in the 
United States. However, it is the 
author’s opinion that such speci- 
mens come originally from the 
tektite-sprinkled goldfields of Aus- 
tralia.” There may be some sym- 
pathetic magic in this idea, for the 
flanged button resembles a miner’s 
panning-off dish full of wash-dirt. 
Giving special attention to the 
Australites, we may note that they 
are all recorded from an area of 
2,000,000 square miles of Australia, 
south of a line joining Kyogle 
(N.S.W.) and I)erl}y (YV.A.). Al- 
though they appear to be strewn 
sporadically — more abundant in 
some places and less abundant in 
others — the evidence suggests that 
they could be found in any closely 
searched area within the region 
mentioned. 
Maybe they occur in clusters, as 
suggested by one of Sergeant Ken- 
nett’s keenest aboriginal collectors, 
who said: “Supposem you find 
more big fella stone, alright, you 
look around properly fella, and 
you findem mob little fella.” 
The general composition of Aus- 
tralites is as follows: SiO_- 68 to 
79%; Ah Os, 10 to 15%; FeTT, 
0.4 to 0.8%; FeO, 3.11 to 4.3%; 
MgO, 1.3 to 2.5%; CaO, 1.4 to 
3.5%; Na,0, 0.9 to 1.5%; K.O, 1.2 
to 2.5% with traces of Manganese, 
Titanium, etc. Other groups are 
somewhat similar, but with detec- 
table differences and with some 
