108

COLONIES ANGLAISES—NOUVELLE-GALLES DU SUD.

Class I.

Mining andMetals,

Assays, made at the Sydney Branch of the Royal Mint, of 48 Specimens of New South Wales Gold, from theCollection exhibited in the Australian Museum, prior to transmission to Paris.—December, 1854.

Locality and Distinguishing Marla.

[The marks correspond with those on the Specimens sentto Paris, and also with those now deposited in the AustralianMuseum.]

Western District.

Pure Goldin 1000 Parts ,the Alloybeing chieflySilver.

External Character of Specimens.

Tambartora, No. 1.,, ,, 2 .

Dirt Hole Creek . .

Dirt Hole Road Creek

,, ,, 4. Hayes* Flat .

,, ,, 5. Golden Gully.

,, ,, 6. Bald Hill’s Creek . • •

,, ,, 7. Oaky Creek.

,, ,, 8. Lower Turon . • . . .

,, ,, 9. Macquarie River , . . . •

,, A 1. Upper Pyramul.

,, A 2. Lower Pyramul.

,, A3. Junction of Pyramul and Macquarie

.. W.

X.

Turon River (Sofala). Erskine Flat .....,, ,, Green Wattle Flat . . .

Meroo River (Avisford).

Little Oaky Creek • .

Big Oaky CreekNuggety Gully ....Golden Point ....Paterson’s Point. El. .

,, E2 . .

A. Devil’s Hole CreekC. Nuggety Gully

,, ,, E. Richardson's Point .

,, ,, F. Gifford's Point . •

,, ,, G I. Deep Crossing Place «

Burrendong. Long Point, (Macquarie, below junctionOphir Creek*)

,, Devil’s Hole Crtek. “ Dry Diggings”

,, Mookerawa Creek.

Ophir Creek.

Brown’s Creek, 22 miles south of Bathurst . , ,

945*90952*45950*10942*65947 O0946*00944*55946*10947*30

922*85

948*75945 10944 55946*45923-80916*05

926*10931*60956*40929-50925-60923*05957*95961-40958*45949*65952’15

917*00

942*80

940*60

932*35

Dull gold, in rounded grains like coarse sand.

Light and brilliant, small grain gold, with small nuggets.

Bright nuggety gold, presenting very irregular shapes ; littlewuterworn.

Larger waterworn nuggets, dull in colour.

Bright scaly gold, of uniform character.

Bright gold, consisting of small elongated and flattenedpieces, with irregular nuggets.

Small nuggets or grains, moderately waterworn and darkcoloured.

■ Brilliant, light, scaly gold.

Dull scaly gold, with small rounded nuggets.

Rough-grained gold.

Dull scaly gold, of uniform character.

Nuggety gold, showing marks of crystallization; moderatelywaterworn.

Rough-grained gold.

Small rounded nuggets of dull colour.

Small nuggets, moderately waterworn.

Scaly dull-coloured gold.

Fine scaly gold, of uniform character, not bright.

Scales and rounded nuggets.

Bright scaly gold, with waterworn nuggets.

Small waterworn nuggets, light and bright.

Light and brilliant small scales.

Ditto with larger scales.

Dark-coloured scaly gold.

Nuggety gold, with marks of crystallization. 1

Dull, dirty scales, nnd waterworn nuggets.

Nuggety gold, much waterworn.

Dark, rough grains, mixed with blackish impurities.

South-Western District.

Adelong Creek. No. 1. 5 miles below source

,, ,, 2 . 8

,, ,, 3. 11 miles from source

,, », 4. 25 ,,

>i », 5.

936*85

946*45

945*20

948-60

932*00

Rough nuggety gold.

Nuggety, smaller, and more waterworn than hist.Fine granular gold, light in colour.

Fine, bright, scaly gold.

Southern District.

Araluen. A 1. Major’s Creek, Southern Arm . . . ,

,, B 1. Bell's Paddock.

,, Cl. Major’s Creek, Western Arm . . . .

,, In broken granite, 10 feet below surface . . .

935*10

895*90

949*20

915*05

Bright granular gold.

I)uil granular, with rough nuggets.Dark-coloured, rounded grains, larger than last.Bright granular gold. •

Northern District.

Hanging’Rock (Nundle). A. Oakanville Creek . . .

,, A 2. Same Creek 3 miles farther

down.

,, ,, B. Cordillera Gold Company’s

property on the River Peel,, ,, C. Gully leading to the Peel,

north of Oakanville (’reek.

Bingera. Nugget weighing 4 oz. 3 dwt.

936*80937 60

906*65

930*15

874*25

,, No 3Rooky River .

894*45

943*70

Rough nuggety gold.

Rough scaly gold.

j> Small dark-coloured nuggets, moderately watenvurn.

A porous, spongy kind of nugget, containing dusty impuritiesin the pores. •

Small rounded grains and nuggets of brightish colour.

Very small granular gold, light and brilliant.

The Coal Fields.

Paper communicated by the Rev. W. J3. Clarke.

The coal of New South Wales is connected with deposits,respecting the age of which there has been some differenceof opinion; but, as their actual position in the geologicalscale has been assigned in this Catalogue ( p. ÜÎ) to 100),there is no necessity to enter further upon the question.

The extent of these deposits, and the consequent probableabundance of fossil fuel, is, however, a subject of such vastimportance to the present and rapidly-increasing interestsof the colony, that it must not be neglected in these pages.A general outline of the carboniferous regions is, neverthc-less, all that our limited space allows.

In the year 1847, the author of this notice stated (in evi-dence before a Committee of the Legislative Council), thathe had then obtained acquaintance with the existence ofthe carboniferous formation over from 17,000 to 18,(MM)square miles ou the eastern side of the colony, between

32 degrees and 35 degrees south. Since then, his ownexperience has been much enlarged during his explorationsof Australia; and, coupling his present actual knowledgewith the information derived from other explorers, he isnow enabled to state that, compared with its gold-fields,the carboniferous portion of this territory is of infinitelygreater value.

It has been said of North America, that ‘*no part of tboknown world oilers so great a development of carboniferousrocks.”* It now may bo said, that whatever be the realage of its coal-beds, Australia presents a close parallel withthat rich coal-bearing region.

] On the east coast of New South Wales, the carboniferousformation presents itself with little interruption, exceptfrom extensive dykes of trap (of which the basaltic dvkesstrike N.E., and the greenstone dykes, which arc well ex-emplified on the coast of Newcastle, strike N.W.), from

* Marcou. Gcol. Map of U. S.—Boston, 1853, p. 32.