The Northern Australia Development Committee (a Committee composed of representatives of the Commonwealth and the States of Queensland and Western Australia) has recommended that a series of regional surveys be made in Northern Australia with the object of providing data which will enable development of the region to be planned on a scientific basis. These surveys are being made under the direction of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. From June to September 1946 the writer accompanied the C.S.I.R.O. party which was engaged in a reconnaissance survey of the Katherine-Darwin region. Christian, ecologist and leader of the party; Mr. G. A. Stewart, soil surveyor; and Mr. S. T. Blake, botanist. The area examined consists of 27,000 square miles in the north-western portion of the Northern Territory, west of longitude 133° east and between latitude 12° and 15° south. (See Plate 1 for locality map and reference to Australian map grid.) The primary object of the survey was to determine pastoral and agricultural possibilities. A geologist was attached to the party mainly because the area to be surveyed had been very incompletely mapped and the existing geological records did not provide an adequate background for the soil and pastoral work to be undertaken. The primary function of the geologist was, therefore, to provide this background for soil interpretation, but it was also intended that he should gather as much information as possible on the stratigraphy and mineral possibilities of the area. During the course of the investigation it was found, that geological mapping provided the essential framework into which much of the other scientific data could be fitted, and a fairly complete investigation of the stratigraphy and geomorphology of the area became essential. An account of the stratigraphy and geomorphology are submitted in this report with a reconnaissance geological map of the region. This geological map is the result of the combined work of the party and could not have been completed without the full co-operation of the other members and particularly of Mr. G. A. Stewart. An area of approximately 27,000 square miles had to be mapped by a series of traverses in a period of approximately four months, and the geology of the areas between these traverses had then to be filled in from available geological maps and records, and from aerial photographs which covered only parts of the region investigated. (See Plate 2.)

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This report describes the results of a micropalaeontological examination of rock samples from the Lesi and Oiapu structures, Papua.

Black sand on beaches in Knocker Bay, near Black Point, and at Record Bay, Port Essington, has been noticed from time to time by Captain F.E. Wells, who mentioned these occurrences to the writer. Opportunity was taken during a recent visit to the locality to secure a sample from the beach at Record Point. The presence of black sand on a narrow beach between Black and Reef Points was confirmed by observations from the ship through binoculars. The locality, general geology of the area, and the occurrence of black sand at Record Point are described in this report. The results of the laboratory examination of the sample are recorded.

This report outlines the geophysical survey work completed in the Peak, Coronation, and Mopone areas, in the period to September, 1949. The results and findings of this work are described in the report.

This report describes the results of a micropalaeontological examination of rock samples from Pidinga.

This report gives an overview of the bauxite resources of the Inverell district, New South Wales, including, in particular, those deposits held or examined by the Australian Aluminium Production Commission. A description of each deposit is given, which includes information on the geology of the area, grade of bauxite, and production figures. Figures are given for the proven reserves of economic bauxite in the district.

The Tennant Creek Mining Field occupies an area extending some 70 miles east and west and 40 miles north and south. Over this area are scattered a large number of small mines and prospects and it is sometimes difficult to bring a field such as this into perspective so as to obtain some idea of its true valuation. The following notes are designed to help in this direction. The output and nature of the orebodies, and the respective positions and productivity of the major deposits, are discussed in this report.

At the end of 1945 the area dredged by the Bulolo Gold Dredging Co. Ltd. was 831 hectares. At that time 307 hectares remained to be dredged and of this 227 hectares contained soil which has been shown by soil analysis to be reasonably good. Resoiling would not be practicable on about 70 hectares of this area, as the Company plans to dredge this section twice, first with shallow and then with deep-digging dredges. Similar soil exists on 3-400 hectares classified previously by the Company as marginal ground, but which, since the increase in the Australian price of gold, is now probably quite profitable. This makes the total area that might be suitable for resoiling about 500 hectares compared to 1,281 hectares that either has been dredged or to which for other reasons resoiling is not applicable. Revenue to the Administration from the gold produced at Bulolo is over £1,000 per hectare from royalty alone and as most of the area has now been worked it seems questionable whether resoiling is worth further consideration at this stage. No provision was made for resoiling in the terms of the original mining tenements, but the Company's officials have expressed willingness to co-operate in carrying out the wishes of the administration. It has been considered impracticable now to resoil the areas that have been dredged or to rebuild the existing dredges for mechanical resoiling, but if the Department of Internal Territories considers that the matter should be pursued further, the Company might be asked to consider removing soil from the dredge path by bulldozer or other mechanical means and replacing the soil on the flattened out tailings after the dredge has passed; also to provide details of the economics of carrying out a similar scheme on the areas in which values were previously considered to be marginal.

The possibilities of finding evaporite deposits in Queensland were investigated by C.L. Knight and E.K. Sturmfels on a reconnaissance trip from 10th July until 5th August, 1949. The localities where indications of evaporite deposits were found or from which they are reported, are classified on the following pages according to the geological formations, and their position is shown on the accompanying map.