90 
From the neighbourhood of Rockhampton, chiefly owing to the labours of Mr. 
C. W. de Vis and the late Mr. James Smith, we have obtained a rich collection of 
fossils, which not only enables us to place the strata of that district on the horizon of 
the Gympie Beds but also to add considerably to the Gympie list. 
After collecting from the limestones at Dalma and Lilymere, 3Ir. Smith came 
to the conclusion that in the Rockhampton District the greater part of the fossiliferous 
beds, including the “Annelid” beds of Thozet’s Creek, the Trilobite beds of Crow’s 
Nest, the Encrinite and Fenestella bearing beds of Fenestella Hill, the Encrinite and 
Productus Beds of Encrinite Creek, near Mount Morgan, and the Fenestella and Pro- 
ductus bearing beds of Lake’s Creek and the IVaining Wall Quarries, lie uneonformahly 
on what he calls the “ Central Queensland Shales,” of which the strata seen in the 
Rockhampton quarry may be taken as the type, and of which the Lilymere and Dalma 
limestones form a part. "lie remarked on “ the exti-eme paucity of fossils in the old 
shales, their different composition, the high angles at which they lie, their uniform dip 
and strike, and their thick accumulations ; whereas the fossiliferous rocks are generally 
thin, lie at all low angles, and dip and strike in every direction.” As has already been 
noted, Mr. Smith identified the Dalma and Lilymere Limestones with those of Raglan 
and Langmorn. In the latter district he admitted that the limestone beds are mter- 
stratified loitli and conformable to the “ Central Queensland Shales” (an observation 
entirely in accord with Mr. Rands’ deserijition of the Raglan District), so that the 
unconformability at Rockhampton, if it exists, must be a local and unimportant one. 
In the abo^e remarks it must be noted that the fossiliferous beds of Stewart’s 
Creek, Wycarbah, Rosewood, and Stanwoll (in part) are not included. 
The Rockham])ton District has not yet been geologically mapped, and I have only 
Mr. Smith’s notes and a few hasty traverses of my own to refer to. 
An immense series of limestone beds is developed on both sides of the Fitzroy 
River, from Rockhampton to near Taamba. The limestone beds crop out over a tract 
of country about ten miles in width, as measured across the strike, which is almost 
always to the north-west. On the sonth-wostern side are the limestones of Mount 
Siluria, west of the Low'er Gracemcre Lagoon, and Lion Creek. These limestones, so 
far as I know, have yielded no fossils. A peculiar structure brought out by the 
weathering of the Mount Siluria Limestone, .and supposed at one time to point to a 
coralline origin, proved on microscopic examination to be merely oolitic or concretionary. 
Some hard, greenish, fine-grained siliceous and calcareous sandstones, associated with 
the limestone, yield, however, abundant encrinite stems. This limestone and the 
associated strata dip at high angles to the south-west. Limestones in the same line of 
strike are seen crossing Limestone Creek, which falls into the right bank of the Fitzroy, 
from three to four miles above its junction with Black Gin Creek. Limestone beds are 
also seen striking to the north-west from the south end of Lilymere Lagoon. The 
strike of these beds, if produced to the south-east, would pass through the Murray 
Lagoon, about a mile north-east of which is the Rockhampton Quarry, in beds 
of hardened sandstones and shales, dipping to N.E. at 70°. These strata have 
yielded some undistinguishable plant-impressions. Between the quarry and Murray 
Lagoon are the comparatively soft grey sandstones and shales which form the gentle 
elevation known as the Athelstane Range. The “ Rocks” above the Suspension Bridge 
consist of hardened or jasperisod slates, &c., which dip N.N.W. at 30°. On the left 
bank of the Fitzroy from nearly opposite the mouth of Lion Creek, limestone beds are 
traceable almost continuously north-westward for at least a mile or two north of 
the Long Island in the Fitzroy. Intercalated with the limestones near Ramsay’s 
Creek, Beliuore Creek, and the Long Island, are hardened slaty rocks and hardened 
