Art. XXX. Notes on the Palaeozoic Formations of New South 
Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. By J. Beete Juices, M.A., 
F.G.S. 
[From the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, Vol. iii.] 
The Palaeozoic Rocks of the neighbourhood of Sydney, New 
South Wales. 
The county of Cumberland, in which the city of Sydney is 
situated, and parts of the adjacent counties, are composed almost 
entirely of a palaeozoic formation of great thickness and extent. 
The principal materials of this formation are certain shales and 
sandstones, with a few associated beds of coal. In the close of 
the year 1845 I made a short excursion across a portion of this 
district, in company with the Rev. W. B. Clarke. We carried 
with us a mountain barometer, and by taking the means of the two 
sets of observations made in going and returning, got such an 
approximate estimate of the heights of the ground and the thick¬ 
ness of the rocks, as to enable us to construct a section with a 
sufficient approach to accuracy to be relied on for any present 
purpose. This section runs from Liverpool (a town just at the 
head of the tidal waters of George’s River, which falls into Botany 
Bay) by a slightly winding line, first S.S.W. for about twenty 
miles, through Campbell Town to Appin, and then about S.S.E. 
for about eighteen miles to Wollongong in the lllawarra district. 
Wollongong is on the coast about forty-five miles to the north¬ 
ward of Sydney. 
From Parramatta by Liverpool to Campbell Town the country is 
low, gently undulating, and composed almost entirely of black and 
brown shales, with a few thin interstratified beds of sandstone in 
their lower portion. From Campbell Town to Appin the country 
rises into bolder undulations, and on approaching the latter town 
thick beds of sandstone show themselves creeping out from 
beneath the shales. Beyond Appin nothing but this thick-bedded 
sandstone was to be seen for many miles, the ravine of the Cataract 
river showing precipices 200 feet high entirely composed of it. 
It rose very gradually in a wide gently sloping plateau, furrowed 
