Page:Northmost Australia volume 2.djvu/31

CHAPTER LIII

WILLIAM HANN'S EXPEDITION, continued

EXCURSIONS IN THE VALLEY OF THE MITCHELL AND THE RELATIONS OF THAT RIVER TO THE WALSH AND LYND RIVERS

LOWER CRETACEOUS FORMATION ON WALSH RIVER AND ELIZABETH CREEK. FOSSILS. RICH LAND ON MITCHELL RIVER. RECONNAISSANCE DOWN THE MITCHELL. INFALLS OF WALSH AND LYND RIVERS. POOR COUNTRY ON THE LYND. ERROR IN LEICHHARDT'S CHARTING OF MITCHELL RIVER. RETURN TO CAMP 14. THE MOVE UP THE MITCHELL. ROUGH COUNTRY. TELEGRAPH LINE. CAMPS 15 AND 16. RECONNAISSANCE UP MITCHELL VALLEY. BASALT. LIMESTONE. SLATE. TAYLOR'S CARBONIFEROUS RANGE. (PERMO-CARBONIFEROUS.) ITS RELATION TO MOUNT MULLIGAN. O.K. COPPERMINE. ANGLO-SAXON GOLD MINE. GROGANVILLE. WARNER'S PEAKS (THE PINNACLES). ON FOOT TO A MOUNTAIN. FURTHEST EAST. MOUNT LILLEY SEEN TO SOUTH-EAST. RETURN TO CAMP 16.

(SEE MAP G.)

FROM ELIZABETH CREEK onwards, Hann recognised the same formation as that prevailing on the Barcoo in fact the ROLLING DOWNS OR LOWER CRETACEOUS, although he did not know it by either of these names. A large collection of FOSSILS was made by Taylor and Hann, and these were afterwards determined by Mr. Robert Etheridge, of the British Museum. Mr. Robert Etheridge, Junior, gives an account of them in Jack & Etheridge's Geology and Paleontology of Queensland, p. 393. Hann appreciated the RICH LAND of this district, which he described as " as fine a piece of pastoral country as any I have seen in Queensland," and he estimated that there were at least 500 square miles of it. As a matter of fact, the good country extended much further than Hann could see, and the whole region between his Camp 10 and the Mitchell is now held as squatting runs.

Hann made his CAMP 14 the base from which he made EXCURSIONS to determine the RELATIONS OF THE WALSH AND LYND TO THE MITCHELL, in which he was perfectly successful. Accompanied by Warner and Jerry, he rode DOWN the left bank of the MITCHELL to the south-west, and in 8 miles saw the junction of that river with the WALSH. He gives the latitude as 16 24' 39" S., the actual latitude, according to the 4-mile map, being about 16 31' 30". The "Diary" shows that the observation made must have been

380