During the Mullins Harbour - Wedau Reconnaissance (South Eastern Papua) carried [out] in 1953 by Mr. J.E. Thompson, Senior Geologist of the Bureau of Mineral Resources, a section was sampled along the Middle Nigo-Nigo River. Of a number of samples sent to Canberra for petrological and palaeontological examination only eight proved fossiliferous. The following is a list of samples examined listing lithology and microfauna determined by the author and the age assigned to each.

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Part I. deals with Devonian coral faunas from the West Kimberleys, the East Kimberleys, and the Carnarvon Basin of Western Australia. Of the 30 species described and illustrated from the West Kimberley's, 22 are from the Pilbara Limestone, and of these fifteen are from the main (lower) part of the Limestone of Givetian age, but there are five from the Atrypa beds of Teichert which the Bureau of Mineral Resources equates with the upper part of the Pillara Limestone and which may be late Givetian or possibly Frasnian; one Disphyllurn occurs in Atrypa beds referred by Teichert to Oberdevonstufe (Frasnian). This Pillara Limestone fauna (lower and upper) is dominated by Disphyllum with Hexagonaria, Thamnopora, and Alveolites also important. The overlying Mount Pierre Group, of Frasnian (Oberdevonstufe I) and early Famennian (ll and III) age, and the Bugle Gap Limestone (IV), have a strikingly different fauna mostly of small slender solitary corals. A new genus of Rugosa, Catactotoechus, type, species C. irregularis sp. nov., is described and figured. The East Kimberley corals are the Upper Devonian Palaeosmlia contexta sp. novo and Syringopora patula Hinde. From the Carnarvon Basin only four species are known, all from the Gneudna Formation; the genera to which they belong are those dominant and characteristic in the Pillara Limestone of the West Kimberleys, and in upper Givetian and early Frasnian faunas elsewhere, so that the Gneudna Formation Is probably of this age; the lack of identical species between the Carnanon and Kimberley Basins may be due to differences of province rather than time. The Western Australian Givetian coral faunas contain no species in common with those of eastern Australia, and many of the genera characteristic in eastern Australia, such as Endophyllum,, Sanidophyllum, and Heliolitcs, are absent in Western Australia. Part II deals with fragmentary coral material from the Silurian limestone, near Kiandra, southern New South Wales, including Halysites brevicatenatus sp. nov.; only two species are identified with previously described Australian forms, but the age indicated is probably Wenlockian, possibly Ludlovian.

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A critical study of the relevant literature reveals that the Australian records, which claim the intermingling of the Glossopteris flora (Permian) with the Thinnfeldia-Taeniopteris flora (Triassic), are either incorrect or unreliable. In Australia, the two floras are therefore still satisfactory guides for the separation of Palaeozoic from Mesozoic rocks.

Collenia is a name for calcareous structures in rocks of Upper Proterozoic (Algonkian) time and of world-wide distribution. It is described as the calcareous secretion of primitive microscopical algae, which themselves are never preserved. A number of similar forms are described under various names, and for brevity, they are all commonly referred to as "Cryptozoon" or "Stromatoliths", or even as "calcareous algae". [Previous studies, and recurrent opinions and interpretations of the subject are summarised and discussed. Conditions for the extensive development and thickness of the reefs are outlined. Recommendations for further study are given.]

A reflection traverse was shot across the centre part of the Giralia Anticline in the Carnarvon Basin of Western Australia, in an attempt to verify the unconformity between Mesozoic and Palaeozoic sediments shown by a previous traverse across the northern part of the anticline. Shallow seismic events recorded were of good quality and correlated very well with surface geology. They also indicated two faults in places where steep dips in surface beds might, by analogy with the northern end, be expected. Deep events were in general of poor quality and inconsistent. However, over approximately a mile of the traverse, they were of good quality and indicated nonconformity with the shallow events.

Report on the activities of the administrative and technical sections in the Katherine-Darwin area, to May, 1954. A brief account is given of geophysical operations. The results of prospecting and development work are summarised.

A review of volcanic activity in the Territory of Papua-New Guinea, and the Solomon and New Hebrides Islands, 1951-53. Observations are recorded for each of the individual localities under review.

There are many modern and ancient opinions on the origin of dolomite, and the general opinion on the geological and geochemical side is that the origin of the dolomites is not yet clear enough. That there are different sorts of dolomites is generally agreed. [Five different kinds of dolomite are defined and described. The possible origins and formation of dolomite are discussed.]