Mem. Nat. Mus. Vict., 14 , 1944 . 
THE CRANBOURNE METEORITES. 
By A. B. Edwards, D.Sc., and G. Baker, M.Sc., 
Geology Department, Melbourne University. 
Plate IV. 
The object of this paper is to describe the four Cranbourne iron 
meteorites found in 1923, and to co-ordinate published records 
concerning them and the earlier found Cranbourne meteorites. 
The Cranbourne meteorites, including the four described here, 
comprise a group of ten closely related irons exceeding 10 tons 
in weight that appear to have been derived from the breaking up 
during flight of a single large mass of iron when close to the 
earth’s surface. This view was proposed by Walcott (1915), who 
showed that the sites of the five irons then known lay along a 
straight line trending S. 30° W. from Beaconsfield to Langwarrin. 
His conclusion is greatly strengthened by the fact that the sites 
of the four Cranbourne irons found in 1923 and the Pakenham 
iron (Edwards and Baker, 1941) found in 1928 conform closely 
to this line. 
The Cranbourne Irons 
Five of the iron meteorites were found prior to 1886. Four 
more were found in 1923, and one in 1928. 
The first to be found, the famous Cranbourne No. 1, was 
discovered in 1854 on the Carmnallam Pre-emptive Right, in 
allotment 39, parish of Sherwood, 31 miles south of Cranbourne 
township (Fig. 1). It weighed 3 5 tons, and is the largest 
meteorite to have been found in Australia. Its discovery evoked 
world-wide interest, and about sixty papers have been published 
concerning it and the other four of the group found prior to 1923, 
namely, the Cranbourne No. 2, Cranbourne No. 3, the Beaconsfield 
and the Langwarrin irons. Lists of the publications are given 
by Walcott (1915) and by Hodge Smith (1939). The Cranbourne 
No. 1 is now in the British Museum. 
The Cranbourne No. 2 iron, which weighed 15 tons, was found 
in the same year as the Cranbourne No. 1. It is the second largest 
of the Cranbourne Rons, being 37 in. x 32 in. x 21 in. It was 
found in allotment 39, parish of Cranbourne, 2 miles east of 
Cranbourne township (Fig. 1), and is now in the National 
Museum, Melbourne. 
