§21 
Mr. (now the Honhle.) W. O. Hodgkingon, in his “Diary of the North-'Westerri 
Ixpedition, 1S76,”* refers to Desert Saud.stone capping .slates at the head of the 
Templeton. 
Mr. A. r. Gregory, in travelling down the Nicholson in August, 1856,t noted 
near the head of that river “ country consisting of steep sandstone ridges covered with 
Triodia and a few stunted eucalypti,” leaving little doubt that the Desert Sandstone 
fragments extend to the extreme western boundary of the Colony. In fact, Mr. Gregory, 
who among Australian Explorers, stands conspicuous for accuracy and power of observa- 
tion, had no he.sitation in recognising the Desert Sandstone far to the west of these 
limits. 
On the divide between the Burdekin and the Lynd, in Lat. 18° 50' S., a low 
tableland of ferruginous Desert Sandstone is seen on the north side of the Townsville 
and Etheridge lioad. The saiuLstone lests directly on granite. On the same road, near 
Doughboy Creek, sixteen miles south-east of Grey’s Creek, are cliffs of about fifty feet 
in height, of soft, red, ferruginous sandstones and conglomerates, the pebbles of the 
latter being mainly of the brown and yellow Devonian Sandstones. The cliffs are the 
edge of a tableland of Desert Sandstone, which extends south-westward nearly to the 
Broken River. Other fr.agments of the Desert Sandstone are seen to I’ight and left of 
the road a few miles west of the “ Continong ” Gold Mine. 
In his Report on the “Geology and Mineral Resources of the Upper Burdekin,”;]; 
Mr. Maitland describes, as follows, certain str.atified rocks in the valley of the 
Burdekin : — 
“ Throughout the district, at all elevations, there occur isolated fragments of 
reddish-coloured sandstones and conglomerates, which are provisionally regarded as being 
of Desert Sandstone age. Nowhere were they found to contain any fossils, nor was there 
any great thickness of them visible in one section. 
“ The first exposure of these rocks is met with in the country drained by the 
heads of Oakey Ci'eek, at an altitude of about 2,300 feet above the level of the sea. 
Here the rock consists of an angular quartzose grit, which further south passes into a 
hreceiated conglomerate. 
“Lower down the creek, near its junction with the Burdekin, a series of well- 
Mgh horizontal conglomerates and grits is crossed by the track from Kangaroo Hills 
Station to Donnybrook ; a conspicuous escarpment of a higher member of the series 
can be traced by the eye for a considerable distance east and west. 
“ Near the head of one of the branches of the Douglas River a similar series of 
S'ligular grits and conglomerates is seen to overlie the granite. The area occupied by 
these rocks is small. 
“ The road from the crossing of the Burdekin, near Greenvale Station, to the 
Malley of Lagoons, is flanked on its western side with tables of red sandstone, which 
doubtless belong to the Desert Sandstone system. In the vicinity of the Valley of 
Dagoons Station these rocks form well-marked escarpments, running up to the heads of 
minor gullies, which empty themselves into the lagoons with which the eastern bank of 
the Burdekin is studded. In one place these rocks are seen to consist of brecciated 
conglomerates made up of large sub-angular fragments of quartz and mica-schist set in 
® reddish-brown sandy matrix. These rest upon the upturned edges of the quartzites, 
schists, &c. 
* Brisbane ; by Authority. 
t Journals of Australian Explorations — by A. C. Gregory and F. T. Gregory. Brisbane: James 
Beal, Government Printer : 1884, p. Ifi9. 
$ Brisbane : by Authority : 1891, 
