2 
such terms are used in anonymous literature, it is impossible to interpret 
them reliably. Thus the term diorite is in places used for a greenish, 
altered, slate; the “ sediment ” at Ballarat is an igneous dyke, the one 
non-sedimentary rock in the mines; the ‘' lava ’ : at Bendigo is a basic 
dyke, whereas the “ dyke ” in the Moolort mines is a bank of boulder 
clay belonging to the Carboniferous glacial series. In newspaper articles 
we have no safe clue to the sense in which such terms are used. Another 
reason for excluding newspapers is the fact that files are not easily acces¬ 
sible. Newspapers are produced and written with a view to an ephemeral 
daily circulation; and it is probably best, in their own interests, not to 
attempt to treat them as works of permanent reference, by recording their 
articles in a bibliography. It is, however, impossible for any one to 
obtain a full knowledge of the mining history of Victoria without fre¬ 
quent reference to the press, which plays an even more important part in 
literature in Australia, than it does in England. For much of the infor¬ 
mation, which, in England, would be published in technical journals or 
magazines, is published in our newspapers; and any one, who wishes full 
information regarding anv stage in Victorian mining, is bound to refer to 
the back files of the chief newspapers. The work, however, of compiling 
a full index to the mining articles in these papers would have been greater 
than I could undertake, even had I thought it advisable. It seemed to me 
better simply to make this general reference to the excellent articles on 
Victorian mines, which have appeared in the mining columns of the Argus 
and the Age, and the detailed accounts of the progress of the mines which 
appeared in both papers, especially in their Monday issues. Reference 
must also be made, for information about the different gold-fields, to the 
chief local newspapers of mining districts, such as the Ballarat Courier, 
Ballarat Star, Bendigo Advertiser , Bendigo 1 nd cpendent, Mount Alexander 
Mail (Castlemaine), Castlemaine Leader, Creswick Advertiser, Pleasant 
Creek News (Stawell), Alexandra Standard, Ararat Advertiser , Alpine Ob¬ 
server (Bright), Bairnsdale Advertiser, Ovens and Murray Advertiser 
(Beechworth), Benalla Standard , Federal Standard (Chiltern), Clunes 
Guardian, Daylesford Herald, Southern Mail (Korumburra), Korumburra 
Times, Dunolly Express , Inglewood Advertiser , Tarrangower Times (Mal- 
don), Maryborough Advertiser , Maryborough Standard, Omeo Standard , 
Snowy River Mail (Orbost), Gippsland Mercury (Sale), St. Arnaud Mer¬ 
cury, Upper Murray Herald (Tallangatta), T Valhalla Chronicle, Wangaratta 
Chronicle , Wedderburn Express, Gippsland Miners ’ Standard (Wood’s 
Point). 
In Section IX. are included references to some of the literature on the 
history of mining in Victoria. No attempt has been made to make that 
section complete, for nearlv all the books written upon Victoria, between 
1851 and i860, contain contributions to the history of our gold-fields. The 
selection given is sufficient to tell the storv of the development of the Vic¬ 
torian mining fields. The literature on the first discovery of gold in Aus¬ 
tralia is excluded, as it relates to New South Wales more than to Victoria. 
I have also excluded notices in the scientific and mining journals, based on 
hearsay, or repeating information published in Victoria. 
I have not thought it necessary to include general mining and metal¬ 
lurgical textbooks, nearly all of which give some account of our mines, 
even when, as in Phillips and Louis’ A Treatise on Ore Deposits ,* they 
contain a general description of our mining fields. Nor have I referred 
to the various works on Victorian mining law, such as Eagleson, Sanderson, 
and O’Dowd’s A Digest of Australasian Mining Cases; t and I have not 
* London, 1884, 2nd edit., by Henry Louis, 8vo., pp. xxii, 943. London, 1896. 
t Melbourne, 1897, lxxvii, pp. 558. 
