Hi Rodney,

Yes I am aware that people have been there since the 1800s and have looked.

But I don't know of any reports on the site.

Or if the originally published drawing of the face, and stratigraphic
labelling, allows for the fossil-bearing lens to be recognised today .. or
allows for any reasoning that it was totally extracted (i.e. cannot extend
further into the hill), or if there are any other railway cuttings nearby
that show anything.

Major reason I don't know is that I haven't been there yet.

It seems that it could be a relatively very easy site to get to .. being
right near a station on a railway line with quick train from Sydney.

I tried asking from Council about it .. in case of any access restrictions
.. but could find nobody at Gosford Council who had ever heard of "Blunts
Quarry".

There is also a much bigger quarry at Gosford, near (SSE of) the Court House.

This was the sawn stone quarry of the Hawkesbury Sandstone Co.

They moved out of Gosford because of the increasing traffic congestion etc.
making it not a good place any longer for operating a quarry ... and maybe
also because they were approaching the edge of their leaseholding, but I
don't know that for sure.

And the company also changed its name from Hawkesbury Sandstone Co. to
Gosford Quarries.

I'd guess the fish horizon would be somewhat below the floor of the quarry
near the courthouse .. which quarry faces are still accessible and luxury
highrise housing has been built in that quarry too. Again I haven't been
there, to that quarry either .. and have merely seen photos of the new
housing development there.

Martin Rosser had been interested to go on the excursion to check out the
"fossil trees" that were published on originally in the creationist
journal, at Box Head in Bouddi National Park, but I don't think he was able
to make it on the day choosen.

If there is anyone interested in the fossil trees of Fennel Bay I am hoping
to do more on that this year and would like to combine effort with anyone
interested ... please see:

http://www.lachlanhunter.deadsetfreestuff.com/JB/fennell-bay1.htm

Note also the story of a connection with a Giant Goanna spirit which came
from Heaven and killed people (petrified them to what we call the fossil
trees?) as punishment for them having killed lice.

It may be difficult at this point in time to work out why killing lice is
so bad as to be a mortal sin.

But the wording is as recorded by early missionary in the area and he seems
to have been an assiduous records-maker.

He had set out to record and study the local language of Lake Macquarie,
then called Awaba Lake.

As I have written at fennell-bay1.htm, "When the missionary L.E Threlkeld
in the 1830s recorded the tradition about an
immense goanna or iguana it likely suggested nothing in particular.
Nowadays it may remind one of the Megalania".

The Megalania was three times the size of a modern Komodo Dragon and almost
certainly lived contemporaneous and in the same areas as humans and could
'punish' humans mortally (eat them for example!).

But can the megafauna be "remembered" in any way 'culturally'.

Is it possible, or proven anywhere in the world, that cultures can preserve
genuine memory/record of vanished life forms as old as the aussie megafauna?

As yet I have not seen any 'proven' cases of this sort of thing, from
anywhere.

But there's plenty of speculation about (as Googling will show *S*). And
quite likely persons like Mr Rex Gilroy and other 'cryptozoologists' are
still having sightings of the giant lizard (and UFOs too?) in the Wattagan
mountain ranges west of the Lake. Rex has probably got dinosaurs in this
backyard and finds footprints of them in the sandstone.

I wonder how many are interested in that sort of thing compared with
'orthodox' palaeontology?


Cheers,



John




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


At 06:50 PM 2/02/08 -0800, you wrote:

>Dear All,

>The Australian museum paleo staff have looked at the
>gosford site which did exist in a rail corp ballast
>quarry north of Gosford. I have been told that there
>is nothing left there, but you never know. The fish
>from the quarry was written up in memoirs of the
>Geological survey of NSW. Palaeontology Memoirs 1895?
>By woodward. the site is also brefly mentioned in Paul
>Willis book Digging Deep time.
>
>
>The fossil dealer in Gosford is Martin Rosser of
>Willyama AKA Geodiscoveries.
>
>Rodney
>
>--- "john.mail@..."
><john.mail@...> wrote:



>---------------------------------
>
>
>Hi Chris,
>
>I still haven't joined the Fossil Club.
>
>I want to but I am awful with filling in forms and
>snail-mailing anything. If you, or my secretary,
>would do that part for me I'll hand over the cold
>cash.
>
>As for Gosford I have never been to it yet myself but
>am told that it is very close to the railway station
>and that the fossil bed was near the base of the
>quarry ... I suppose just a bit above the level of
>the railway line.
>
>Who owns the quarry now and what the exposure there is
>like I have no idea of.
>
>The quickest way of determining these things would be
>just to hop on a train and go and have a look I think.
>
>I've written to Gosford Council about it but they are
>unaware of anybody at all being intereted in it.
>
>There, however, is at least one local man, Peter
>Adderley at Gosford who is very interested in geology
>- AND there is also a gem and mineral and fossil
>seller/displayer in the area (sorry I do not know the
>name) AND somebody else told me there is a woman
>locally who is interested in the question of whether
>any more fish may remain unbattered and pristine there
>at rest in their shaley bed ... but again am sorry to
>say I do not have here name either.
>
>The Mines Department (now merged with Forests and Fish
>and Ag as Primary Industries) has a service called
>"Ask Bill the Geo" ---- ask any geological question to
>the service (it's on their webpage) and the wheels may
>grind and a satisfactory answer perhaps be
>forthcoming.
>
>And regaring all your "so much more that i couldnt
>even explain to you!" sites ... if you email any views
>I'd be interested to maybe add them to the geo-sites
>directory.
>
>I think I'll be adding some more 'forms of
>ferruginisation' pics and ideas ..... sure they aren't
>fossils, but interesting to speculate on how they
>formed anyway.
>
>I'm interested in all the weird and wonderful ideas
>the public has on how geological features form.
>
>There is one man (known as Buzz) who maintains that
>the polygonal weathering found along the plateau top
>on Hawkesbury Sandstone is the actual
>preserved/fossilised skin of the Rainbow Serpent.
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>John
>
>
>
>
>On Fri Jan 18 11:50 , 'cows_300' sent:
>
>Nice Info John,
>
>Great site and Pictures, really interesting. I have
>seen so many
>different structures in the Hawkesbury Sandstone, its
>such an
>amazing formation...so much cross bedding, iron
>stains, concretions,
>spherical iron stained bedding plains and so much more
>that i
>couldnt even explain to you!
>
>Thanks for the info and a great read!
>
>When are you going to the fish quarry? i would love to
>get in there
>and have a look aswell, is it a part of the fossil
>Club? when are
>you planning on going?
>
>Regards Chris
>
>--- In fossilclubgroup@..., John
>wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>>
>> An excurion took place recently to see the fossil
>trees
>photographed in an
>> article by creationist geologist Tasman Walker.
>>
>> The site is Box Hill, Bouddi Peninsula.
>>
>> The existence of the Box Head "fossil trees"
>structures was first
>published
>> on in 2003, including a photo of them taken by
>Andrew Taylor.
>>
>> The cyclindrical objects photographed certainly look
>like
>> sideritised/haematitic trunks.
>>
>> However, many other vertical ferruginous cylindrical
>structures
>were found
>> to be present in the sandstone there and from the
>range of
>features it is
>> seen that they are definitely vertical concretionary
>structures,
>not trees.
>>
>> Photos may be see under "GOSFORD" at
>>
>http://www.lachlanhunter.deadsetfreestuff.com/JB/geo-sitesG-I.htm
>>
>> Still to be visited is Coal and Candle Creek on the
>other side of
>the
>> Hawkesbury where a fossil stump was discovered by a
>member of the
>Fossil
>> Club many years ago.
>>
>> The Coal and Candle Creek position (near the
>tidewater limit) is
>likely at
>> the same or very similar stratigraphic level near
>the top of the
>Narrabeen
>> Group and first guess would now be that it is
>another
>occurrence/exposure
>> of these vertical ferruginous cylinders.
>>
>> I do not know of any other occurrences of similar
>things in other
>parts of
>> the world .. does anybody else?
>>
>> Also planned for 2008 is a revisiting of the famous
>fossil fish
>beds at
>> Gosford. I've never been to that quarry myself yet.
>It is known
>as Blunts
>> Quarry.

<snip>