8 
Sedimentciry Ftormalions 
In consequence of the absence of Murine Tertiary deposits in 
New South Wales, and the occurrence of a more complete series 
of the strata in the sections of the Carboniferous formation, there 
has arisen a difficulty in collating the gold-deposits with those of 
\ ietoria; and, in this respect, at present the Upper deposits in 
the former province have not been assigned with much precision 
to the epochs adapted by Mr. Selwyn for the latter. And it also 
follows that his view of the distinct ages of Pliocene auriferous 
and Miocene noil-auriferous gravels cannot he tested in New 
South Wales, it indeedit has not already been tested by the 
actual discovery of gold in the so-called Miocene deposits them¬ 
selves, as they occur in Victoria. 
So far as is at present known, gold in Victoria is derived 
chiefly from the Lower Silurian formation; but researches con¬ 
ducted forme at 1I.M. Mint in Sydney prove that it exists in 
almost every distinctive rock of New South Wales. In this pro¬ 
vince the alluvial deposits aro not so extensive as in Victoria; 
hut this probably arises from the fact previously mentioned, of the 
strike being in Victoria transverse to the direction of the Cor¬ 
dillera, by which means the currents which distributed the 
drift had a wider area of gold-bearing materials to denude than 
in New South VV ales, where, I conclude from numerous examples, 
the principal currents were to northward, so that in that province 
they would coincide with the direction of the Cordillera, and not 
accumulate the deposits in such low-lying extensive regions as 
those of the Murray Districts. The same objection would obtain 
on the supposition of gradual waste and accumulation from less 
powerful agency than that of a general rush of water. It is not 
however to be doubted, that there is an enormous amount of gold 
yet untouched in numerous places in New South Wales, not only 
in the quartz lodes (or reefs) but in gullies and plains where 
alluvial gold diggings will yet be discovered. 
Dr. Duncan, in an elaborate paper on some of the Fossil Tertiary 
Corals of Australia Q* Proceedings of the Geological Society” August, 
1870), suggests Hie propriety of discarding the divisions into 
Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene of the Australian Tertiarics, and 
of substituting the general term Kainozoic, since he considers 
them merely as successive deposits of one continuous epoch. But; 
as proved by my own researches more than twenty years ago, 
much of the gold in New Smith Wales is derived from iron pyrites, 
in granite and in hcri. s- of Sedimentary origin consisting of 
siliceous matter cemented by iron derived from decomposed 
pyrites; whilst it has been shown by Aplin, Daintree, llacket, 
Wilkinson, and others, that much gold in Victoria and Queens¬ 
land is due to the intrusive agency of felstones, elvanites, and 
diorite. The dykes or reefs of quartz in the Silurians are there¬ 
fore not, as once supposed, the exclusive sources of Australian 
