BRITISH COLONIES—NEW SOUTH WALES—SYDNEY.
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be'ween 31 degrees 30 minutes south, to at least, 33 degreessouth ; and in two principal parts of this coast line, valuablecoal-seams occupy the cliffs washed by the ocean, aboutNewcastle and the north of lllawarra. The position of theformer is very advantageous for all the purposes of com-merce ; the latter has some disadvantages, owing to thedifficulty of approach to the cliffs from seaward, which, intime the ingenuity of science will overcome. The countrymore immediately connected with Newcastle, in whichworkable coal-seams exist, may be considered as occupyingan area of at least 200 square miles, in which there is aknown series of four or five seams, making an average offrom 19 to 20 feet of coal ; but, owing to the extremelycomplicated variations in the accompanying sedimentarydeposits, the numerous local derangements, and the separateaccumulations of the coal, it is extremely difficult to cometo any positive determination as to the actual amount ofthat fuel iu existence. The seams which are prominent fromthe Williams’ River to Lake Macquarie die out in the midstof the sedimentary deposits north of the Uawkesburj 7 .
Coal-seams, however, are found in the county of Glou-cester, associated with the Newcastle plants, and in onelocality (though of limited extent, and in the midst ofigneous rocks), the writer measured a seam upwards of 60teet thick.
On the parallel of 32 degrees, from the coast to the 149thmeridian, the lower members of the carboniferous forma-tion crop out from beneath the coal-seams, which on theright banks, and in the beds of the Hunter and Goulburn,rise from below the escarpment of the 11 awkesbury rocks,presenting workable coal of varying thickness and extent,at the following localities Four Mile Creek ; Hexham,base of the Myall Range ; Wollomhi; Morpeth; Maitland;Wallis Creelc ; Anvil Creek; Purrendurra ; GlendonBrook; Tolga Creek on the Paterson; Leamington; Wol-lon; Jerry’s Plains; Sadleir's Creek; Foy Brook; Fal-brook ; ltavensworth; Maid-Water Creek; Muswell Creek ;Edenglassie; Piercefield ; north of Bengala; at Gill’s Cliffand Coyeo on the Page ; near Murrurundi and Ilarbcnvale ;Kingdon Ponds; Mount Wingan; near Scone; and at thejunction of the limiter and Goulburn, as well as above onthe latter river, near Gummura. Coal-beds also occur onthe Talbragar and Cudgegong Rivers.
South-east of these localities, coal appears at the foot ofMould York, and at Bowenfells, near llassan’s Walls ; onthe rivers Cox and Wollondilly ; on the Nattai ; at Barra-gorang ; on Black Bob’s Creek ; to the west of the SouthernHanging Rock; at Balangola Creek, west of Arthur’sLeigh; in the deep gullies about Bundanoon, Mcryla, andthe Kangaroo Ground ; below the plateaux, of which theseams a‘;ain crop out on the face oi the lllawarra escarp-ment, above Jamberoo and Mullet Creek ; and belowMounts Kembla and Iveera, lower seams, to the amount offour or five, occupying patches of cliff along the coast fromnear Waniora Point to a great fault ten or twelve milesnorthwards, northwards of which, at Gara, the beds ofshale connected with the coal rise at an angle of 4 degreesfrom beneath the II awkesbury rocks, which thence, to thenorth of Brisbane Water, occupy the coast*
The strike and joints of the rocks in this region, lead tothe conclusion that the coast line merely intersects obliquelythe general area or basin, which has thus its minor axisalong the llawkeshury ; the Newcastle seams finding theirprolongation about the Werriberri Creek on the Warra-gamba River, and the Bullai seams having had their north-ern prolongation many miles in advance of Newcastle, in atract destroyed, or below the Bea,—all the evidence col-lected by observation leading to the inference that thiseastern Coal Field is only a portion of a once much largerarea, distinctive portions of which are occasionally thrownup by the sea on the beach rocks and sands.
Judging from the enormous development of the llawkes-hury rocks on the western slopes of the Cordillera, wherethey occur in patches at very great elevations on the sum-mits of the older formations, or on the plains from thewestern end of the Liverpool range to the parallel of 26degrees south, it may be fairly concluded that there is nopresent possibility of calculating the actual amount ofavailable coal on that side of the colony. Seams of coalare known, however, to occur in this area, on the Castle-rcagh; near the Nundawar Ranges ; on Reedy Creek, nearWarralda, whence the writer procured t Cannel coal ; and onthe Condamine and its afiluents.
A considerable portion of the counties of Clarence, Rich-mond, and Rous, is occupied by a similar formation, andworkable coal exists therein, both on the Richmond andClarence Rivers.
The Moreton Bay district is also covered in wide areasby this coal formation, and workable and valuable coal-seams exist on the Bremer and Brisbane Rivers, and alongthe shores of the bay. As on the coast and on MountKeera, so here the coal-seams are accessible by adits, andon the Brisbane the steamers can load by lying literally atthe mouth of the mines, as is the case at Lake Macquarie.This phenomenon is characteristic of the coal of New SouthWales. It is due to three principal conditions: 1. Thegenerally nearly horizontal planes of some of the seams ;2. The elevation of the coal country above the sca-level ;and, 3, the persistent nature of the joints ■which traversethese elevated beds, at right angles to the bed planes, thusoccasioning continual escarpments, in which the out-crop-ping seams appear on the faces of cliffs, or in more or lessaccessible ravines. That more coal exists than appears iscertain, from the fact that in deep gullies there are oftenblocks and drifted boulders of coal, which have fallen froma higher position.
To the northward of the areas already mentioned, thecarboniferous formation extends over vast regions, in whichcoal undoubtedly exists The writer has reported (Report X.,October 1853) the formation on the Condamine as occupyingprobably 20,000 square miles. He calculates also, fromsuch data as are available, that on the M‘Kcnzie it occupiesan extent of 40,000 square miles; and on the Robinson,20,000 square miles.. It is quite impossible that such enor-mous regions can be deficient in the providential supply offossil fuel for the wants and demands of the coming era.The country between the Condamine and the parallel of32 degrees, occupied by similar beds, cannot be loss than15,000 square miles. And if we take into account the factsstated by Sir T. L. Mitchell, in his history of the explora-tions of the far interior, and the existence of the same car-boniferous formation, not only in various parts of thelittoral districts of Victoria, but especially in the GrampianMountains, westward of the 143rd meridian, it becomes ma-nifest that there Is no country in the globe occupied to solarge an extent by one formation, America excepted, asAustralia ; and, with trifling exceptions, nearly the wholeof the enormous areas occupied by these carboniferous bedsbelong to New South Wales.
The Newcastle Coal Field.
The following note is abridged from information furnished
by W. Keene, Esq, Government Examiner of Coat
Fields.
Newcastle lies at the mouth of the Hunter River, about7 0 miles north from Sydney ; and steamers, keeping updaily communication with the capital, ascend the river toMorpeth, a distance of 30 miles. All this district is car-boniferous, and several thick scams of coal are worked, atvarious places on the right bank of the river, between New-castle and Morpeth.
The Australian Agricultural Company, in the year 1825,commenced operations at Newcastle on a large scale; sankpits, erected steam-engines, and made iron tranrways fortransport of the coal to the water-side—and they nowemploy about 200 workmen. Notwithstanding this, andthat there are other Companies and individuals at New-castle working for coal, their united labours were unequalin the last year to supply the demand. Ships were there-fore subjected to great inconvenience from delay in loading,and the price of coals rose from 9s. 6^/. to 40a. a ton. Atpresent, in consequence of improvements, the collieries cansend to the water-side 2000 tons of coal a day more easilythan they could have sent 500 only three months ago. Therice is therefore reduced to 15a-.; and there is reason toelieve that, in future, all demands can be supplied at arate which will not exceed, but probably fall below, thepresent price.
Ships of a thousand tons have loaded at Newcastle—andthere is no port in the southern hemisphere which offersequal facilities for loading coal, of various qualities, forsteam navigation, the smelting of metals, smiths’ work, anddomestic purposes. Merchants who send their vessels toNew South Wales may therefore be sure that, after dis-charging cargo, another can be obtained without delay,saleable in the ports of the Pacific and the Indian Seas.
Extensive works for the smelting of copper ores are nowcompleted. They are on the coast, at Burwood, threemiles from Newcastle. Coal abounds close to the works,^and furnaces there are producing coke, in anticipation ofthe demand for the railways (from Sydney to Paramatta,and Newcastle to Maitland) now in course of construction.
1 have satisfaction in exhibiting a fine ingot ot copperfrom the Burwood Works, produced from a mixture, m ccr-
Class I.
Mining andMetals.