EARTHQUAKE IN VICTORIA.

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2551, 5 July 1871, Page 3

EARTHQUAKE IN VICTORIA.

s . The Wagga Wnugn ■ Express;, reports il of the late 'earthquake rervi.tly cxc. perienced in many parts of Victoria. JJ as follows :—" At twenty minutes past !(i 2 p.m., the inhabitants of the town if were startled by a peculiar rumbling te hollow sound, coming apparently from a north-westerly direction; and the after the solid earth began n violently to tremble with a short and is rapid vibratory motion. There was no c mistaking the nature of the pheno- „ menon, even by those who knew c nothing of earthquakes but by report; d and as the solid buildings trembled y aud quivered ; from roof to founds datidn, the' inmates, with one simultaneous impulse, rushed to the , doors, and in less time we take to 1 write it the whole population stood in - the streets. In the court-house a 2 woman was at the time undergoing j examination for robbery, and as the 5 case excited some interest the building ; Wascrowded. _. t The,clerk ofthe Bench » was in the act o£ reading over the ■ depositions, when the walls began to ; tremble, the windows to rattle, and the floor to quiver violently under his feet. Abruptly ceasing, he sprang from his feet, depositions in hand ; the police magistrate at : the same instant bolted from the Bench ; all order was lost, and-'act hated only by a universal desire to escape, everyone present --- police, prosecutor, and public—crowded and jostled over each other in an eager effort to reach the open air, leaving no one in the building but the prisoner in the dock, who was unable to escape. The shock consisted of a succession of sharp

but continuous vibrations, lasting altogether for about' twenty seconds, the motion appearing to proceed, as far as could be judged, from a north-westerly to a south-easterly direction. So violently were the buildings agitated that packages were toppled from their shelves in the stores, crockery was displaced and broken, clocks were stopj ped, the, ink was thrown out of the stand in the court-house, and the goods suspended in the shop windows, were all Bet bumping and clanking together. The masons working upon the scaffolding of the Freemasons' hall, now in course of erection, felt the shock far more severely than the inmates of houses. At sixteen minutes to three o'clock, Wagga time, a second but slight shock, preceded, like the first, by a dull rumbling sound, was experienced. The shock was felt at Gundagai, Yass, Adelong, GrenfeU, BurrOwa, Tuthut, and Kyaraba, and in all of these places, as nearly as could be ascertained, at twenty-five minutes to two p.m., Sydney time."