PHEEACE. 
GEOLOGY. 
The material for the present Wort has been accumulating ever since my arrival in the 
Colony in 1877. It was, however, only in the year 1881 that the idea occurred to Mr. R. 
Etheridge, Junr., and myself to combine our labours, so that in laying a foundation for 
future work Stratigraphy and Palicontology should go hand in hand.* The necessity for 
a Handbook explanatory of the Exhibits at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 188G 
brought forth a hastily-written remmi of the conclusions arrived at up to that date, 
which must be understood to be superseded by the present volumes. 
But for the encouragement and assistance rendered to me by my Colleague, I 
question if I should ever have finished my portion of the congenial task. I do not, of 
course, refer to my work as finished in the sense that nothing need be added to it by 
myself or others, but it was necessary, at some time or other, to gather together the 
scattered material which had accumulated, and to regard the collection as a record of 
the Geology of Queensland up to date. My labours in the field, occupying, as they did, 
often the greater part of the year, and necessary office and laboratory duties at head- 
quarters, retarded the progress of the work from year to year. Another cause of delay, 
and that the most serious, was the difficulty of what is called in legal phraseology 
“ closing the record,” as fresh material poured in from day to day, and called for the 
reconsideration of many of the results already arrived at. My lifetime, just as well as 
a portion of it, might have been spent on the work if this difficulty had not been 
resolutely looked in the face. 
To numerous Writers and many Personal Eriends my obligations for assistance 
rendered are deep and heartfelt. Their services will be found referred to throughout 
the Work. 
The highest function of a Geological Survey is to lay a basis for future scientific 
observations by accurately mapping the relations of the various formations met with in 
a given district. I cannot say that this beau ideal has been reached in Queensland. 
In every country, and especially in every new country, it becomes necessary in the 
first place to give attention to districts remarkable for the presence or prospects of 
mineral deposits. The “Reports” of the Geological Surveys of Queensland form, for 
the most part, a series of such observations, and include as much stratigraphical work 
as has been been found possible under the circumstances. By piecing together these 
isolated surveys, and adding to them such information as is procurable from outside 
* We began by publishing conjointly a “Catalogue of Works, Papers, Peports, and Maps on the 
Geology, Palaeontology, Mineralogy, Mining and Metallurgy, &c., of the Australian Continent and 
Tasmania,” 8vo. London: Stanford: 1881. The Catalogue was republished in 1882 by the New South 
Wales Government. 
