543 
there can be no doubt that the valley has been carved out of a once continuous cake of 
sandstone. In this valley the hot spring which gave rise to the auriferous deposit of 
Mount Morgan subsequently broke out, as will bo seen iii a succeeding chapter. 
In describing the Cania Grold Field * Mr. Hands writes : — 
“ A very conspicuous feature of the neighbourhood is the two long and lofty 
lines of sandstone cliffs, which at the Cania Diggings are some six or more miles ajjart ; 
but further down the creek, six or seven miles towards Cania Station, they approach one 
another, forming high precipices on either side of the creek, and leaving only a narrow 
gorge through which the road to the station passes. 
“ The cliff on the left-hand side, going down the creek, is perpendicular and 
almost continuous for over twelve miles, and is never much more than a mile distant 
from the Three Moon Creek. About two miles from the Township, where it must be at 
least three hundred and fifty feet high, it has the appearance of the walls and battle- 
ments of an old castle, giving to the hill the name of the “ Castle Mountain.” The cliff 
on the opposite or right-hand side of the creek is only perpendicular for short distances 
here and there, and generally presents more of a sloping face. 
“ These cliffs consist of a white gritty sandstone, in parts stained red or brown 
with oxide of iron. Every few feet, or even oftener, there are layers of a coarse grit, 
or bands of rounded pebbles of white quartz, varying in size from one-quarter to three 
inches in diameter. These bands serve to show the original stratification of the mass, 
which is overlying the older rocks unconformably, dipping 5 degrees to S., 15 degrees 
E. False-bedding in this sandstone is very frequent. The sandstone is very cavernous ; 
the face of the cliff has weathered, and where there has been least cohesion between 
the particles of sand large caverns have been formed. 
“ These cliffs, standing perpendicularly, as they do, two or three hundred feet 
high, and opposite to one another, bear witness to the great amount of denudation 
which has taken place, for the whole country round about must have been formerly 
overlaid by this formation ; its horizontality points to the fact that there has been but 
little disturbance since its deposition.” 
Mr. Hands estimates the altitude of the base of the Desert Sandstone in this 
locality roughly at 1,400 or 1,500 feet. 
In Mr. Rands’ Report on the Albert and Logan District,t he writes of the 
Desert Sandstone as follows : — 
“ This formation, which at one time covered the greater part of Queensland, is 
met with towards the heads of Nerang Creek, near Mr. Nixon’s selections. It forms 
the summit of the ranges between Mudgeeraba and Nerang Creek, and between Nixon’s 
Creek and Back Creek. 
“ The thickness of this deposit is about one hundred and fifty feet, some distance 
clown the ranges ; and increases to three or four hundred feet towards the heads 
nf the creeks. It stands out in bold perpendicular cliffs, full of small hollows or 
Caves. At its base the deposit is a conglomerate, composed of rounded pebbles and 
houlders of basalt, similar to that met with in the neighbourhood. Some of these 
houlders are over 15 inches in diameter. Higher up, the rock consists of granular 
siliceous sandstone, with thin layers of coarse quartz pebbles. 
“ The formation here certainly appears to be an ordinary sedimentary deposit, 
8'nd not of volcanic origin, as suggested by the Rev. J. B. Tenison Woods in a paper 
read lately before the Royal Society of New South Wales.” 
* Report on the Goldtields nf Raglan, Calliope, Milton (Norton), and Cania, &c. By William H. 
Hands. Brisbane : by Authority : 1886. 
t Brisbane : by Authority : 1889. 
