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Aboriginal Name. —“ Meroan-gauge ” of the Illawarra blacks, according to 
the late Sir William Macarthur. 
The late Sir William Macarthur exhibited the following in the Paris 
Exhibition of 1855, and the London Exhibition of 1862 :— 
“ Acacia umbrosa, aboriginal name ‘ Meroan-gauge,’ diameter 15-20 inches, 
height 40-60 feet.” 
He had two trees under this name at different times, viz., one with “ Large 
pinnate leaves. Common at Illawarra.” This is A. data. 
The second was “ A handsome specimen, w ith very broad leaves. Wood 
yellowisli-brown, close and light.” This is A. binervata , which is the true synonym 
of A. umbrosa, as pointed out by Bentham in B.E1. ii, 391. 
Timber. —The timber is pale coloured, and appears to be of very little merit. 
It is soft and perishable. 
Bark. —It is occasionally used for tanning. A specimen of bark of this tree 
was analysed (JProc. H.S. N.S.W., 1888, p. 271), and yielded 20T1 per cent, of 
tannic acid, and 362 percent, of extract. Height, 50 feet; diameter, 8 inches. 
Flaky and somewhat rugged on the outside, but often blackish and stained with 
lichens, on account of its habitat (gullies). This sample reminds one of that of 
A. decurrens when young. This is a tree of local distribution, and were it more 
abundant it would come into notice as a tanner’s bark, since the sample examined 
(obtained from Springwood, Blue Mountains) was hardly up to the average quality 
obtainable. 
Two samples of this bark were received at the Technological Museum, May, 
1890, from Kanimbla Valley, Blue Mountains—one from a large tree 30 to 50 feet 
high, diameter 15 inches, the other from a small tree. 
The bark of the larger tree contained much scaly material on the outside, of 
a dark-brown colour, which, being deficient in tannic acid, detracts from the value 
of the bark. The thickness of this bark is 1 inch, half of which represents the 
inner bark, which is fibrous, very astringent, and of a light colour. Analysis of 
this bark (a fair section of outer and inner being taken) was made in June, 1890, 
and it was found to contain 28 5 per cent, of tannic acid, and 5115 per cent, of 
extract. The liquor is of too dark a colour to be first-class, but would be improved 
by removing the outer scaly bark before grinding, if that were possible. 
The bark from the younger tree was solid, slightly scaly on the outside, and 
£ inch in thickness. When powdered, it was hardly to be distinguished from some 
specimens of decurrens bark, being light-coloured, and altogether a promising bark. 
Analysis shows this to contain 311 per cent, of tannic acid, and 55 35 per cent, of 
extract. 
