Summary of observations on earthquake phenomena made in Tasmania during 1883 and 1884

During the last eighteen months Tasmania has been visited by so many earthquake shocks, that general interest has been excited and favourable opportunities afforded for studying some of the phenomena connected with them.
It is hoped that interest in these observations may be thus stimulated, so that any shocks which occur in the future may be more carefully observed and recorded, and we may hope that in time many of the questions which remain for solution may be satisfactorily answered, and others on which one has to speak with great caution may be completely established.
The great interest, indeed, of our earthquakes, in a scientific point of view, is the occurrence of such a large number of slight shocks close together in a country where they were previously very rare.
In the month of February, 1884, nearly one hundred shocks and tremors were felt at St. Mary's, and in some months of 1883 and 1884 this number has been exceeded. Similarly numerous are the reports from Gould's Country and Moorina, so that since April 12, 1883, when the first shock was recorded at Gould's Country, over one thousand distinct shocks have been felt, besides many which must have passed unnoticed.