New South Wales, historical, physiographical, and economic online

HISTORICAL, HYSIORAPHICA&,
AMD ECONOMIC




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NEW SOUTH WALES

HISTORICAL, PHYS10GRAPHICAL,
AND ECONOMIC



BY

A. W. JOSE,

Author of " The Growth of the Empire," " A Short History of Australasia,"
and " Australasia."

T. GRIFFITH TAYLOR,

B.Sc., B.E. (Syd.), B.A. (Cantab.) F.G.S.

Exhibition of 1851 Scholar; Physiographer, Commonwealth Meteorological
Dept. ; Author of "Economic Physiography of Australia."

W. G. WOOLNOUGH, D.SC., F.G.S.

Lecturer in Geology, Mineralogy, and Economic Geography at the
University of Sydney.



EDITED BY

T. W. EDGE WORTH DAVID, C.M.G.,B.A.,F.R.S.

Professor of Geology and Geography at the University'-of Sydney.




MELBOURNE :
Christchurch, Wellington, and Dunedin, N.Z., and London ;

WHITCOMBE AND TOMBS LIMITED



;/



PBEFACE.

(By T. W. EDGEWOKTH DAVID, C.M.G., I?. A., L .R.S., F.G.S.,
Hon. D.Sc. Oxon, Professor of Geology, University of Sydney.)



The authors of this work, Mr. A. W. Jose, the
Correspondent in Australia of the London "Times."
Dr. W. G. Woolnough, D.Sc., F.G.S., Lecturer and
Demonstrator in Economic Geology at the University of
Sydney, Mr. T. Griffith Taylor, B.Sc., B.E., B.A. f
Physiographer to the Commonwealth Meteorological
Bureau, have travelled much throughout the length
and breadth of our land, and so, except when matters
of early history are being discussed, are able to
describe just what their own eyes have seen of this
part of the face of the earth.

The history of the coming of civilization to our"
shores, of its spread inland, of the development of our
industries, and of the rise of self-government has
already been told by many authors, to whose original
works the reader is referred for details of events

summarised in this volume.
^

The tale of how our land has taken the shape it now

presents, and as to whence have come its plants and
? animals and aborigines, is known as yet only in part.
1^ The whole truth will never perhaps be known; and yet
^ to win a glimpse of it is glorious.

' ' For all experience is an arch wherethro
Gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move."

421497



vi. PREFACE

Among those who have of late most contributed to
the physical side of this story, the name of Mr. E. C.
Andrews, B.A.,* of the Geological Survey of New
South Wales merits special mention. That author,
drawing his inspiration chiefly from the works of Prof.
W. M. Davis of Harvard University, is seeking to
apply the exact methods of physical and mathematical
research to interpret scenery as an expression of
natural forces. Professor J. W. Gregory, D.Sc.,
F.R.S.,t and Mr. Walter Howchin, F.G.S.|| in their
geographies respectively of Victoria and South Aus-
tralia have followed somewhat similar methods, as
also have the authors of the present volume in regard
to the physical geography. It has been decided not to
repeat in this book the principles of the evolution of
scenery so admirably enunciated by Davis in his work
Elements of Physical Geography; and it is pre-
supposed that the reader of the present volume has
some acquaintance with Davis 's definitions of the
various types of land forms.$

In the history of the exploration of New South Wales
it has been impossible within the allotted space to do
anything like justice to the subject.

The story of our early explorers Cook, Bass, Banks,
Flinders, Barallier, Wentworth, Blaxland, Oxley, Sturt
Mitchell, Hume, Hovell, Strzelecki, Cunningham and a

11. Physical Geography of N.8. Wales, E. C. Andrews.

12. "Tertiary History of New England," Rec. Geol. Surv. N.S. Wales, Vol.

VII.
Y3. The corrosion, nnder gravity, by streams, etc,, Jour. Boy. Soc. N.S.

Wales, 1909.

' 4. The Geographical Unity of Eastern Australia, etc.

tThe Geography of Victoria, Historical, Physical, and Political, by
J. W. Gregory, D.Sc., P.R.S. Whitcombe & Tombs Limited.

||The Geography of South Australia: Historical, Physical, Political
and Commercial, by Walter Howchin, F.G.S., with introduction by Prof.
J. W. Gregory, D.Sc., P.R.S. Whitcombe & Tombs Limited.

JThese are all well summarised hy Andrews in th first of his works
mentioned above.



PREFACE Vli.

host of others would fill many volumes. The thrilling
history of their splendid endurance and self sacrifice
should nerve us for the daily duty of working
worthily in this land so hardly won for us by these
and others of our heroic pioneers.

In editing this work I have been greatly assisted by
Mr. T. Griffith Taylor, and Dr. W. G. Woolnough;
and I should also like to express my gratitude for the
kind assistance given in the supply of photographs for
this textbook by the Irrigation Branch of the Depart-
ment of Public "Works as well as by the Government
Tourist Bureau.



CONTENTS.



INTRODUCTION



PAGE.

l



PART I. HISTOEY.
CHAPTER I. SITUATION AND BOUNDARIES

IT. DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION
,, III. THE SPREAD OF SETTLEMENT
TV. THE ABORIGINES



14
16
26
33



PAET II. PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY.

CHAPTER V. MOUNTAINS ... ... ... ... 37

,, VI. PLAINS AND PLATEAUX ... ... ... 42

,, VII. VOLCANOES AND SOILS ... ... ... 58

,, VIII. RIVERS... ... ... ... ... 71

,, IX. LAKES ... ... ... ... ... 106

,, X. COAST LINES ... ... ... ... 124

,, XI. EARTHQUAKES ... ... ... ... 144

,, XII. ARTESIAN WATER ... .'.. ... 148

,, XIII. CAVES ... ... ... ... ... 167

,, XIV. CLIMATE ... ... ... ... 174

XV. FLORA AND FAUNA 204



PAET III. ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL
GEOGEAPHY.

CHAPTER XVI. WATER SUPPLY IN RELATION TO

SETTLEMENT

XVII. COAL AND METAL MINING ...
XVIII. THE INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL FACTORS

ON SETTLEMENT

,, XIX. INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES
,, XX. TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION

XXI. TRADE AND COMMERCE
,, xxil. GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION

XXIII. CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE ...

XXIV. IMPERIAL AND FOREIGN RELATIONS ...



APPENDIX



INDEX



Table of the Geological Formations of
South Wales ...



New



231
242

257
267
296
307
320
331
342

357
361



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.



PHI. ,. P * B
Stereogram of New South Wales . Frontispiece

1. Map of Geographical Units of New South Wales . .

2. Section Along Coast of New South Wales

3. Section Along Main Divide

4. Section Along Western Boundary of New South Wales

5. Section from the Murray to Twofold Bay

6. Section from the Barrier Ranges to Sydney

7. Section from Mount Brown t:i Grafton

8. Captain Cook

9. Kurnell, Botany Bay

lOa. Sydney Cove in 1788 . . . . . . . . 19

lOb. Sydney Cove in 1911

11. Denudation of Anticlines and Synclines . . 37

12. Faulted Plateau, Kosciusko to Cooma (after Siissmilch) . . 38

13. Alluvial Fan, Shoalhaven Rivr, Tallong

14a. Residual on Peneplain, (b) Benching . . 47

15. Canon of the Grose River, Blackheath, Blue Mountains . . 50

16. Structure of Blue Mountain Canons . . . . 55

17. 'Section Mount Tomah to Richmond (after "David) .. 56

18. Deep Lead near Corowa . . . . . . . . 59

19. Quarry Face at Prospect . . . . ' . . . . 60

20. Section of Dundas Quarry . . . . .'. . . 61

21. Tondeburine Spire .. .. .. .. ..63

22. Map of Volcanic Flows . . . . . . 66

23. Soils and Geological Formations (after Jensen) .. .. 68-69

24. Diagram of Normally Developed Stream System . .

25. V and U-shaped Valleys . . . . . . . . 73

26. Upper Darling (after Taylor) . . . . 77

27. The Murray at Tocumwal (after Taylor) . . . . 78

28. Three Stages of River Piracy .. ... ..80-81

29. Map of Shoalhaven and Wollondilly Valleys .-..' ... 82

30. The Hunter River and Its Neighbours . . . . 84

31. Manning, Hastings, and Macleay Rivers . . . . 86

32. Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed Rivers . . . . 87

33. Fold Slope of Sandstones on Lapstone Hill . . . . 88

34. Monoclinal Fold and Nepean Fold-scarp Valleys (after Taylor) 89

35. High Level River Gravels of the Old Nepean Channel . . 90

36. Snowy and Murrumbidgee River Systems . . . . 91

37. Eucumbene River . . . . . . . . 93

38. Rift Valley of Snowy-Murrumbidgee Systems (Taylor) . . 95

39. Present and Past Courses of the Snowy River (Taylor) . . 96

40. Old Divide of Snowy Murrumbidgee near Tharwa (Taylor) . . 97

41. Model of Federal Capital Site at Yass-Canberra (Taylor) . . 99

42. The Canberra "Tilt Block" (Taylor) . . . . . . 100

43. The Murrumbidgee near Burrinjuck (L, A. V. Wade) . . 101

44. Filled up Estuary of the Hunter River . . . . . . 104

45. Canon near Tallong . . . . . . . . 105

46. The Blue Lake, Kosciusko .. .. ... .. 109

47. Lake Cootapatamba (Judge Docker) . . . . . . Ill

48. Dry Bed of Lake George . . . . .; .

49. Fluctuations in Level of Lake George .. ... .. 115

50. Lake George after a Succession of Wet Seasons . . . . 117

51. Map of Lake Cowal . . . . . . . . 121

52. Storage Lakes of the Darling

53. Coastal Erosion and Deposition . . . . . . 127

54. Newport, Pitt water, Part of Drowned Valley of Hawkesbury

Estuary . . . . . . . . . . 129

55. Broken Bay . . . . . . . . . . 134



12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE

56. Raised Beach. Manning River . . . . . . las

57. Blow Hole, Kiama . . . . . . . . . . 139

58. Nobby's Head. Newcastle . . . . . . 142

59. Earthquake Localities in New South Wales . . . . 147

60. Artesian Bores Coonamble .. .. .. .. 149

61. Map of Artesian Areas . . . . 1 :n

62. Enclosed Artesian Basin . . . . 151

63. Open Artesian Basin . . 151

64. Flow of Water in an Artesian Basin . . . . 152

65. Map of Main Artesian Basin

66. Temperature Anomalies in Artesian Bores . . . . 161

67. Water Trust Drains . . . . . . . . 165

68a. Sketch Map of Caves Area

68b. Section Across Caves Area . . . . . . 169

68c. Section Through Wellington Caves

69. Cave Structures . . . . . . 173

70. Rotation Model . . . . . . . . . . 181

71. Pressure Zones . . 182-183

72. Anticyclone Air Currents . . . . . . . . 189

73. Australian Isobars . . . . . . . . . . 190

74. Southerly "Buster" (after H. A. Hunt) . . . . 193

75. Cassilis Geocol . . . . . . . . . . 195

76. Isobars Leading to Eastern Rains, October 16th, 1905 . . 198

77. Contour and Rainfall . . . . . . . . 199

78. Map of Seasonal Rainfall (after H. A. Hunt) . . . . 202

79. Average Rainfall (after H. A. Hunt) . . . . . . 203

80. Red Kangaroo and Wallaroo (after Lucas and Le Souef) . . 209

81. Young Native Bear . . . . . . . . . . 211

82. Lyre-bird . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

83. Tiger-snake . . . . . . . . . . 217

84. Eucalyptus Forest, Doramble Crossing. Brunswick River,

Billinugel . . . . . . . . . . 227

85. Disc Ploughing at Goonoo-Goonoo. Tainworth District . . 234

86. Canal Regulator and Entrance to Narrandera Irrigation Canal.

Murrumbidgee River . . . . . . . . 235

87. Burrinjuck Dam . . . . . . . . . . 237

88. Burrinjuck Reservoir . . . . . . . . 239

89. Ploughing Irrigation Canal . . . . . . . . 240

90. Mining Map . . . . . . . . . . 245

91. Tin Dredging at Copes Creek. Jingha . . . . . . 246

92. Ballarat Indicator . . . . . . . . . . 247

93. Open Cut Proprietary Mine, Broken Hill . . 248

94. Bonanza (W. H. Weed) .. .. .. .. 249

95. Gold Mine Workings . . . . . . 25')

96. Coal Measure Gulf . . . . . . . . 251

97. Coal Cliff Colliery, South Coast . . . . . . 253

98. Oil Tanks of Commonwealth Oil Corporation. Hartley Vale . . 254

99. Newcastle and Harbour . . . . . . . . 255

100. Map of Industries of New South Wales . . . . 268

101. Flock of Merino Sheep. Walla Walla Station. Riverina District 271

102. Murwillumbah Bridge, on the Tweed . . . . . . 275

103. Harvesting, Tamworth District . . . . . . 281

104. Flooding Lucerne Crops, Yanco Experimental Farm . . 283

105. The Great Zig-zag Railway, Lithgow Valley . . . . 299

106. Hawkesbury Railway Bridge . . . . . . . . 301

107. Population Graph ' . . . . . . . . . . 334

108. Diagrams of Imports and Exports . . . . 354



NEW SOUTH WALES



INTRODUCTION

(T. W. EDGEWORTH DAVID, C.M.G., B.A., F.R.S., F.G.S.,
Hon. D.Sc. Oxon., Professor of Geology, University of Svdney.)



Reference to the Physiographical Map on page 2
shows that New South Wales may be divided up into
the following units :

NEW SOUTH WALES.



i i

(1) Coastal Plains. (2) Tablelands of the Main Divide. (3) Western Plains.

I







1






1 1

Southern Tableland Hunter
| Geocol wit


1
Northern
h or New
ral England
Tableland


1
(a)
Monaro
Tableland


1
(b)

Lake
George
Geocol.


| Great Cenl
( c ) Coal-field
Central Table-
land of Goul-
burn to Blue
Mountain
Area


1
The Cobar
Peneplain


1 1
The Barrier Sediments of Artes-
Range and ian Water Basin
Mt. Brown with mound springs
Peneplain and chiefly marine
cretaceous clays
overlying Trias-
Jura Sandstones


1 1
Sediments Red Soil
of the old and Black
Tertiary Soil
(Eocene) Alluvials
Sea of River-
ina



These units are also illustrated in the stereogram
of New South Wales (see frontispiece). This



NEW SOUTH WALES




INTRODUCTION 3

stereogram was prepared by Mr. T. Griffith Taylor,

the contour lines being supplied by Mr. H. E. C.
Robinson of Sydney.



THE COASTAL PLAIN.

Reference to the sketch map, Fig. 1 and the section
Fig. 2, shows that the coastal plain is narrow at its
southern end, and first acquires a considerable width
when the southern end of the great central coal-field
is reached near Jervis Bay. From the Shoalhaven
northwards to Coal-cliff it gradually thins out against
the steep escarpment of the Blue Mountain portion
of the Central Tableland. Further North, west of
Botany Bay and Sydney, the coastal plain sweeps inland
for a distance of from 30 to 35 miles to the Eastern
Escarpment of the Blue Mountains. This escarpment,
as originally shown by C. S. "Wilkinson, late Govern-
ment Geologist of New South Wales, is formed by a
strong fold with its steep face directed sea-wards, the
hinge of the fold trending nearly north and south (see
p. 56). By this fold the old channel of the Nepean
River has been joggled upwards, and the coastal plain
downwards, the total amount of displacement varying
from about 500 to 600 feet. This grand earth move-
ment has probably been partly responsible for
producing our extensive estuaries and harbours such as
Jervis Bay, Port Hacking, Botany Bay, Port Jackson,
Broken Bay and Brisbane Water, Tuggerah Lakes,
Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, Port Stephens, and the
numerous bar harbours further to the north. The soft
coal-measure rocks of the Hunter Valley give the
coastal plain its greatest extension inland of



4 NEW SOUTH WALES

about 60 miles. To the north of Port Stephens the
coastal plain becomes contracted again in proportion
as the harder rocks, older than the coal-measures,
approach the coast. A short distance to the south of
the Clarence River it again widens to fully 30 miles
where the soft rocks of the Clarence Basin form the
land. At the Macpherson Range, the boundary between
New South Wales and Queensland, the coastal plain
is once more narrowed on account of the resistance to
denudation offered by the hard volcanic rocks which
there cap the strata of the Clarence Basin.

The section, Fig. 2, shows the natural subdivisions of
this coastal plain.

LONGITUDINAL SECTION I ALONG THE COAST OF Ntw SOUTH WALES.

showing ihe position of Ihe 6reai Ceniral Coalfield ihe Myall Coalfield itK Clarence Coalfield




Fig. 2. Section along coast of N.S. Wales.

The question has been raised as to whether the coast
of New South Wales belongs to the Atlantic or to the
Pacific type.*

In the Pacific Type of coast the rocks of the coastal
region bend down towards the Pacific in long folds
conforming to the trend of the coast, or are faulted
down along old earthquake cracks running approxi-
mately parallel with the coast. In the Atlantic Type
of coast no such parallelism can be traced between the

*Por details see Geography of Victoria, by Professor J. W. Gregory,
pp. 32-38.



INTRODUCTION O

trend of the great structures in the earth's crust, such
as folds and faults, and that of the shore-line. In the
case of the New South Wales coast the older lines of
folding and faulting trend mostly in a N.N.W. and
S.S.E. direction, whereas the coast trends S.S.W. to
N.N.E. A glance at the map (Fig. 1), shows this want
of conformity between the trend of the depression or
trough, in which lies the great central Coalfield, and
that of the coast. But recent earth movements near the
coast of New South Wales have swung more nearly
into parallelism with the coast. The coast of New
South Wales might therefore be provisionally classed
as of Sub-Pacific Type, as recently suggested by
Professor Gregory.

Evidence of recent submergence is strongly marked
along the whole extent of the New South Wales coast.
In the great central coal-field it appears to have been
connected with the downward joggle of the coastal
plain, but it is also possible that some of the recent
submergence, which amounts to from about 150 feet
to 200 feet may be due to the thawing of large masses
of ice, partly in the Northern partly in the Southern
Hemisphere, subsequent to the climax of the Great Ice
Age.*



*Thus if the whole area of the ocean is about 145 millions of square
miles, and during the maximum glaciation in the Pleistocene Ice Age,
ten millions of square miles of the land was covered by ice, and this ice
had a mean thickness of half a mile, that is 2,640 feet, and if the earth's
surface for the purpose of this calculation be considered a plane, the
level of the sea might be raised everywhere by about

2,640 x 10

about 182 feet.

145

This may perhaps be a somewhat high estimate, but if reduced by one-
third, that is to 121 feet, in round numbers, the estimate may be
considered well within the bounds of probability.



6 NEW SOUTH WALES

In regard to the second unit, the Tablelands of the
Main Divide, the accompanying sketch section shows
at once its natural subdivisions.

Again the dominant feature is the great central coal-
field with the Hunter Geocol described on p. 85 of this
volume. The softness of the coal-measure rocks is
obviously the reason for the development of the
Hunter Geocol.

Mr. Andrews has suggested that the warping up of
the old peneplain of Eastern Australia to its maximum
height of 7,300 feet at Mt. Kosciusko may be due to
that area being situated just at the meeting point



ImiBiTuoiKAL SECTION II SHOWING THE Stouts OF LAKE GEORBE AND OF THE HUNTER RIVER




Fig. 3. Section along Main Divide of N.S. Wales.

between the east and west line of uplift of Victoria,
and the nearly north and south line of uplift of New
South Wales. The northern end of the Kosciusko
Plateau is dropped downwards by some heavy faults
which trend towards Twofold Bay. The highest points
of the New England Tableland are formed of the
Tertiary Volcanic Rocks, basalts, of Ben Lomond, and
the much older volcanic rhyolites, of Capoompeta.
Capoompeta is a typical Monadnock, that is, a portion of
the earth's crust that has been left in high relief on
account of its superior hardness having enabled it to
resist denudation better than the surrounding rocks.
At the extreme right of the section we see the Volcanic



INTRODUCTION



rocks, mostly basalts, of the Macpherson Range which
divides New South "Wales from Queensland.

THE WESTERN PLAINS.



LONGITUDINAL SECTION III. TAKEN FROM WENTWORTH TO NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF N.S WALES.

nnnierseciion or Lai. 29'S. with ihe Meridian of 14-3' t showing The BROKEN HILL M'SHOWN peneplain, bounded on itic soulti
tiy the Ternary Marine Basin and on tile norm Cy ine Artesian Basin of Cretaceous Rocks. resnnj on iheTnasjura Sandstones.

nmKOBT* Burner Hinges M!ffro*a



Fig. -J. Section along the western boundary of N.S. Wales.

The above is a generalised sketch section of the
Western portion of New South Wales taken on a line
approximately parallel with the general course of the
Darling River. At once it will be noticed that the
great central coal basin does not appear, its place being
taken by an extensive massif of old crystalline rocks.
On the north side are seen the sandy sediments of the
old Trias-Jura lakes capped by the marine sediments
of the Cretaceous Mediterranean of Australia. On the
south side of the massif are the sediments of the Eocene
sea which in early Tertiary time encroached from the
South Coast and spread inland as far as Arumpo.

The structure of the Cobar Peneplain on a north and
south line is very similar to the above and scarcely
calls for special comment. Both these massifs of the
Barrier Ranges and of Cobar are more or less covered
by extensive red soil formations with narrower belts
of black soil. The latter represent old silted up river
channels, and many of them are still filled with river
water in time of flood, and after the flood waters sub-
side support a luxuriant growth of Nardoo (Marsilea) .



8 NEW SOUTH WALES

The red soils are of considerable importance on account
of their great richness in plant food; they are mostly
red sands and red sandy clays, formed largely from
the disintegration of the Upper Cretaceous (Desert
Sandstones) rocks. Mr. F. B. Guthrie, F.C.S.>* and
others have laid special emphasis on this point. An
excellent description of much of this type of country
is given in the report of the Western Lands Commis-
sion, t When methods of dry farming are applied to
this vast area of red soil country the wheat yield of
New South Wales will be vastly increased.

The great importance of the Cretaceous Basin is at
once proved by the immense areas of land held by the
selectors and pastoralists under the "Bore Trusts"
(see p. 166 of this volume). In the Riverina region in
the south west of New South Wales there is a consider-
able area occupied by the sediments of the old Eocene
Sea, in which subartesian water may be expected, and
the water supply of which will be greatly improved
by the Burrinjuck and other irrigation schemes.

If we examine the three E. to W. sections across New
South Wales the following features are conspicuous:

TRANSVERSE SECTION I ACROSS N S WALES

showing the horsl of Kosciusko wiih the Faults which cause Earthquakes near Cooma .
mr. and the Plains ofRiverma. "if

KIVCRINA PLAINS



ftoriBd old penepli




Fig 5. Section from the Murray to Twofold Bay



*Journ. Roy. Soc. N.S. Wales, Vol. XXXVII. pp. li-lxv.
t Royal Commission to inquire into the condition of the Grown Tenants,
1901, Western Division of N.S. Wales.



INTRODUCTION



9



This section, from Twofold Bay across Kosciusko and
Riverina, shows first the narrow strip of coastal plain,
then the fault to the east of the Gourock Range, together
with the faults between Cooma and Kosciusko,
especially the great fault in which lies the valley of
the upper Snowy River. The Kosciusko Plateau sinks
partly through faulting, partly through warping (or
"flexing") to the level of the Murray at Albury.
Further westward the hard ancient rocks of slate and
granite are covered over by the red and black soils of
Riverina, which in turn overlie the older sedimentary
deposits of the Eocene Sea. Subartesian water is met
with in the latter.



TRANSVERSE SECTION D FROM MOUNT BROWN TO SYDNEY.

shoeing ihe H'Brown and Cobar Peneplains separated by ihe Ajluyuls of the Darling River
and the warped Peneplain of ihe Mam divide with the coal basin lying to iheEastTifil




Fig. 6. Section from the Barrier Ranges to Sydney.

This section, from Sydney to the Barrier Ranges,
shows the Barrier Ranges peneplain, the belt of shallow
Tertiary alluvial deposits of the Darling region, the
Cobar peneplain and the warped and faulted peneplain
of the Main Divide crowned on the west by the volcanic
pile of the Canobolas. To the east are the Blue Moun-
tains, with small cappings of basalt lava. Their strata
bend down sharply in a great earth fold W. of Penrith
to the inland edge of the coastal plain. This plain is
formed of strata, from 5,000 to 7-000 feet in thickness,
lying in a deep flattish basin under the Sydney area.



10 NEW SOUTH WALES



TRANSVERSE SECTION III




Fig. 7. Section from Mount Brown to Graf ton.

This section shows the structure of the northern part
of New South Wales from Mount Brown to the Pacific
near Graf ton. Immediately to the east of the gold-
bearing rocks of Mount Brown succeeds the great
Cretaceous basin covering the porous sandstones of the
Trias-Jura formation which contain such vast supplies
of artesian water. These porous beds outcrop to the
east of Moree, where they are partly capped by the