347 
removed, while in a very wet season strata still retaining undissolved salts were washed 
by the water. Indeed the quality of the water met with in most of the deep shafts in 
the Ipswich Coal Field shows that the strata are highly charged with salts. 
The Ipswich Coal Measures fossils are exclusively the remains of land vege- 
tation or of marsh or river mollusca, wdth the exception of the Insect-remains 
afterwards referred to, while on the other hand the strata of the Eolling Downs 
teem with the remains of marine animal life. Even the limestones of the Ipswich 
Foi-mation have yielded no trace of marine organisms. We are forced, from this 
circumstance, as well as from the saltness of the strata of the Ipswich Formation, 
to coniecture that the latter was for the most part deposited in an inland lake. It 
must be remembered that some lakes, especially such as have no outlet, are much salter 
than the ocean. 
hly Colleague casually examined the beautiful Collection of Plants made by Mr. 
J. H. Simmonds, of Brisbane, in August, 1890. Amongst the specimens he recognised 
several Insect-remains and one very beautiful JSsilieria. Tliese have since been described 
in detail, and it may be well for mo to point out that they certainly, to some extent, bear 
out the above opinions. 
The output of the Ipswich Coal Field from 1860 to 1890, inclusive, is estimated 
at 2,339,013 tons of coal, valued at £1,018,049. It is possible, however, that between 
1860 and 1883 a small proportion of the output credited to Ipswich was produced at 
the Burrum. On the other hand, it is more than likely that a portion of the coal from 
Clifton may not have been included in the returns, as the products of this colliery 
were to some extent consumed locally. 
Yield or Ipswich Coal Field. 
Tear. 
Tons of Coal 
Value. 
Raised. 
£ 
I860 to 1883 
... 814,407 
414,368 
1883 
... 98,310 
49,114 
1884 
... 114,577 
56,475 
1885 
... 180,744 
71,258 
1886 
... 189,608 
72,054 
1887 
... 193,286 
71,851 
1888 
... 254,778 
97,851 
1889 
... 217,240 
95,202 
1890 
... 276,063 
120,476 
Totals 
2,339,013 
1,04.8,649 
Of the .Timbour coal the Hon, A. C. Gregory reports as follows* 
“At the Dingo Point Well the shaft has been sunk through sevcniy-six feet of 
surface soil, then three and a-half feet of impure coal which would make a safe roof, 
when a seam of coal eight feet thick, but with five bands of shale having an aggregate 
of one foot, leaving seven feet of workable coal, under which there is thirteen feet of 
fireclay and shale, and a second coal-seam four feet thick, with three thin partings of 
clay. But the lower seam, in consequence of water in the shaft, could not be fully 
examined. 
“The dip of the coal, so far as could be ascertained in the small space ot the 
shaft, is about 3° to the 8.S.E., in w^hicli direction a dyke of basalt shoivs on the surface 
about a quarter of a mile distant. 
• Brisbane : Watson, Ferguson, and Co. : 1884. 
