170 
W.H. Cleverly 
Figure 1 Map of Earaheedy Station showing numbers of australites at their find sites. Small filled circles represent 1- 
10 australites. The provenance of the Strugnell collections of 4757 specimens to the "south and southeast of 
Hegarty Bore" is shown diagrammatically by arrows. The parcels of 36 and 112 australites are in the 
Smithsonian Institution collection and are not part of the sample examined. 
them to be imported from outside the station 
because un-flaked specimens greatly predominate 
in all collections contributing to the sample. 
AUSTRALITE FEATURES AND SHAPES 
Some of the considerable variety of features 
shown by 21 of the 34 shape types in the Earaheedy 
material are shown in Figures 2 and 3. Examples of 
small bowls, of which there are 65 in the sample, 
have been shown previously (Cleverly 1973); 
likewise, for examples of the 106 aberrant 
specimens, see Cleverly (1982). Two 
circumferentially spalled specimens, perhaps 
heated suddenly in grass fires, have been figured 
by Cleverly (1990, figure 3). 
Some of the australites on Earaheedy Station 
were subjected to abrasion, especially by blown 
sand (Figures 2W, X; 3E, F). As a result of 
weathering, especially temperature changes, 
australites were degraded through a series of 
shapes (Cleverly 1986, figure 3). In this series, 
indicators II are especially well represented at 
Earaheedy (Figures 2C, M, DD; 3D, H, O). Etching 
by the chemicals in soil water to produce pits and 
sawcuts (Figure 2B-F, T, DD-GG) is also evident 
though Earaheedy Station now has a generally dry, 
sub-arid climate. V-grooves relieving residual 
strains (Figure 2U) and U-grooves (Figure 2K, O) 
are etched on the posterior surfaces of larger cores, 
and less commonly, U-grooves are etched upon 
anterior surfaces created by loss of the stress shells. 
No australite weighing more than 100 g is 
present though Earaheedy Station is marginal to 
the western of two sectors of occurrence of such 
specimens (Cleverly and Scrymgour 1978). The 
heaviest Earaheedy australite is a naturally broken 
broad oval core weighing 68.6 g or c. 73 g prior to 
artificial damage. There are 165 australites (1.9% of 
sample) of weight 10 g or more, about the same 
abundance as for Hampton Hill Station in the 
Eastern Goldfields (394 such specimens, or 1.8% of 
the 22 307 australites). 
A notable feature of the Earaheedy australites is 
the high number of them - 9043 in collections 
inclusive of the 323 left out of the sample, and an 
unknown number sold to lapidaries and mineral 
dealers. One of the excluded items is W.A. School 
of Mines catalogue No. 11597 comprising 175 
specimens rejected from a parcel offered for sale. 
Akerman (1975) identified 116 artifacts (struck 
flakes, used flakes, tools, cores) in this rejected 
material. A parcel of average constitution would 
have included several hundred additional unflaked 
australites. Amongst Western Australian localities, 
only Hampton Hill Station has a higher 
representation in collections. 
