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A road that has been partly formed connects Benambra with Mt. 
Leinster Station, but there is no road for wheeled vehicles between the 
station and the hut. This road could be made practicable at a moderate 
cost for summer traffic; but to make a hard road would involve a heavy 
outlav. 
j 
From the marble outcrops to the sea-board the road would pass through 
Benambra and Omeo, and thence to Mossiface, near Bruthen. The road 
between Omeo and Mossiface is only made in parts, and is a rough one. 
There are severe grades, and it would require a very large expenditure 
to make it hard and smooth. In consequence of these conditions the cost 
of removing a ton of marble from Limestone Creek to the sea-board will 
average about ^5 in the summer and probably 50 per cent, more in winter, 
even if traffic for heavy material could then be carried on at all. The 
road via Omeo is the only one that could be made available, for down the 
Indi River the country is reported to be so rugged that there is no hope 
of removing the marble by a northern route. 
Marble Outcrops. 
The marble outcrops along the Limestone Creek are lenticular, like 
most of the limestones in the older rocks of Victoria, and apparently 
belong to the upper part oh the Silurian series. These lenticles vary much 
in size, ranging from a chain or two in length to 20 or 30 chains. By 
far the largest outcrop is on Stony Creek, about 3 miles easterly from 
the hut. The next largest is about i| miles in a north-easterly direction 
from the same point. 
The outcrop highest up Limestone Creek is 4 or 5 miles from the hut, 
just opposite a large outcrop of limonite that is being prospected for silver 
ore—the Austerlitz mine. The outcrop is a little more than a chain 
in length, and is unimportant. The height at this point is about 3,500 
feet above sea-level. Ten chains lower down the river the slates strike 
E. 30 deg. N. and dip 65 deg. to the north-west. The limestone and 
marble deposits in this locality are all associated with Silurian slates. 
Following the creek down from this point the next outcrop is met 
with at the junction of Annabella Creek. It is 6 chains long by 3 chains 
wide at the widest part. The marble is of a dirty-white colour, but the 
texture is good, and it might be used for many purposes. 
No. 2 outcrop of Mr. Stirling’s map comes next. It is ai few hundred 
yards above the hut, and is about 1 acre in extent. The marble is whitish 
and grey, and does not appear to be of very good quality. 
Three hundred yards N.E. from the hut is an outcrop (No. 3 on Mr. 
Stirling’s sketch map). It is narrow and of small area, but contains 
some small, and formerly beautiful caves, that have been mutilated and 
wrecked by ignorant visitors. The marble is of a light yellowish-white 
tint, and is seamed with ferruginous clayey matter, which is made very 
distinct by the weathering of the more soluble carbonate of lime. The 
general strike and dip of these clayey seams appears to correspond with 
those of the adjacent rocks. This area does not present much scope for 
quarrying marble. 
About ib miles lower down the creek is No. 4 occurrence of Mr. 
Stirling, if is an irregular outcrop lying between the Stony Creek out¬ 
crop and No. 5 of Mr. Stirling’s map. The marble is not extensivelv 
exposed. Some parts are yellowish in tint, while others are grey and 
dove-coloured. 
It is, of course, quite possible that the top of a large lenticle might 
appear at the surface as quite a small outcrop of marble; the small 
outcrop at the surface mav expand below to much larger dimensions, but 
the only way to test this is’by actual quarrying or mining operations. 
