Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

314 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. DOLGELLY BORE, NEW SOUTH WALES. 4,086 feet deep. Temperature, 130 degrees Fahrenheit. tainable ; but in Australia, which is largely un- explored, their nature must be to a large ex- tent the subject of inference. There are a few comparatively small examples in Victoria and in Western Australia ; but the main artesian area of the continent is of immense extent, forming an irregular triangle, and covering a large part of Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia, and occupying 376,000, 83,000, and 110,000 square miles respectively of these states. It is the largest artesian basin known in the world, except that of Dakota in America. The topography of this eastern part of Australia shows a range of mountains parallel to, and 50 to 200 miles distant from, the coast of the South Pacific Ocean—a comparatively narrow coast belt, receiving moderate rains ; and, west of the range, plains more or less arid. This artesian area commences at the east shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and taking in the greater part of Cape York peninsula, trends south- wards, and, as regards its eastern boundary, keeps about 200 miles from the outline of the adjoining coast. At Dubbo, in New South Wales, the boundary turns westwards, and, pursuing an exceedingly irregular course, extends to the 133rd degree of east longi- tude in South Australia. Bearing north-east in a still more irregular line, the outline passes near th© town of Cloncurry, in North Queensland, and continues thence to the Gulf of Carpentaria. This area, very scantily pop- ulated, comprises more than half of Queens- land, nearly one-fourth of New South Wales, and about one-eighth of the enormous terri- tory of South Australia. The basin has been proved to have been, in the beginning of things, a vast fresh-water lake, and subsequently for the most part an extension of the Gulf of Carpentaria expanding southwards into a large inland sea. Such at least is the opinion of Professor David, of the Sydney University, and of Mr. E. F. Pittman, Government geol- ogist of New South Wales. To Professor David, by the way, as one of the Shackleton expedition, is due the credit of leading the CAMBRIDGE DOWNS NO. 2 BORE, 110 MILES WEST OF HUGHENDEN, QUEENSLAND. Output, 400,000 gallons per day.