595 
gold workings of whieli are all in this old rounded drift), there is no difficulty in tracing 
similar material in cliff sections in a south-westerly direction, until it is no longer 
confined within moderate limits, but opens out into a large marine or lacustrine deposit 
to the south and south-east. 
“ On the accompanying map the extent of this particular Formation is shown 
by the distinguishing colour ‘ yellow ’ ; and on reference it will be seen that down 
the ‘Cape’ as far as the ‘Lower’ diggings, and down the ‘ Eunning Creek’ at 
far as the junction of ‘ Golden Gully,’ it may be considered as the representative 
of old-river channels ; beyond these points to the south and east it can be regarded 
in no other light than that of accumulated sediment from a vast lake or sea. 
It has been found in working that where this supposed old watercourse is narrowest, 
as at ‘Gehan’s’ Flat, ‘White’ Hill, &c., there the gold is most concentrated; but 
when it becomes broader, and the drift deeper, as on the extension of the ‘ Deep 
Lead’ to the south, the gold is found to be too scattered to pay for the additional cost 
of mining.” 
Of these drifts, Mr. Bands observes * : — “ Several alluvial leads of older date 
than the alluvium of the present watercourses occur, and have been worked for gold. 
They consist chiefly of a schistose drift, with a ‘ wash ’ of coarse quartz pebbles at the 
bottom, and are evidently the drift of old watercourses. Some of them have given 
splendid returns of gold. The principal ‘ lead’ is one running south from the Lower 
Cape, which averaged about 3 ozs. of gold to the load for about two miles in length, 
The depth of this drift varied from three feet to one hundred feet. It got wider and 
deeper towards the south. The gold was much waterworn and rounded. Leads of very 
similar character occur on the opposite side of the Cape lliver, at the Lower Cape, and 
also up Sandy Creek, near Chinaman’s Gully. The Canton and Pothole Leads, at the 
Upper Capo, have also given handsome returns.” 
The late Mr. D’Oyly H. Aplin, evidently inclined to consider the “ Older Alluvial ” 
of the Gympie Gold Field as tho equivalent of the Victorian Pliocene, saysf: — 
str.atified quartz pebble drift of older date than the existing valleys, and of which tho 
remains now occupy the summit of ridges skirting these valleys. It is well shown 
capping a series of ridges on the we.st side of the One-mile Creek, about two and a-half 
miles above its junction with the Eiver, in a large ‘pocket’ of the creek know'u as 
Maepherson’s Paddock. It forms also a conspicuous feature on the west side of the 
Six-mile Creek, near the crossing of the road, about seven miles above Gympie ; and has 
doubtless at a former period extended over a considerable area of the valley now 
occupied by the Mary and its tributaries. It consists almost entirely of rounded and 
waterworn quartz, varying in size from small gravel to boulders upwards of one foot in 
diameter, and intermixed with sand and clay. Associiited with it are beds of ferruginous 
quartz conglomerate. These deposits are precisely similar in appearance, character, and 
position to those which constitute the ‘ made hills’ of many of the Victorian goldfields, 
and which have there proved to be highly auriferous. They appear to have been 
almost entirely neglected or overlooked here, but are well worth the attention of 
prospectors, as the discovery of alluvial leads in the adjacent valleys would probably 
follow should the result of jjrospectiug amongst these ‘made hills’ prove successful. 
The gold, if any, would be in a smooth, waterworn state, and entirely free from 
quartz — in this respect, unlike that obtained from the shallow gullies in the vicinity of 
the reefs.” 
* Annual Progress Report of the Geological Survey for 1890. Brisbane : by Authority : 1891. 
t Report on the Geological and Mining Features of the Gympie Gold Field. Brisbane: by Authority : 
1868. 
