Northwest Basin is one of seven sedimentary basins situated in whole or in part within the great state of Western Australia which covers an area about one-third the size of the United States. The basin, which has great artesian water flows, is 400 miles long and 175 miles wide, with a population of possibly 2,000 persons, the business of whom is mainly sheep farming. The formations range in age from Carboniferous to Recent, of which by far the most important are Permo-Carboniferous, Mesozoic, and Oligocene strata. Except in the Oligocene the greater part of the stratigraphic section is sandstone. No important impervious cover rocks are known and no positive seepages or other evidences of oil or gas could be found. Dips are high in the Permo-Carboniferous of the eastern ma ginal area; they decline to low monoclinal dips in the central areas and are again fairly high in certain coastal ranges of Oligocene age. Aside from the structure, however, no favorable fundamental conditions could be found. The basin is believed unfavorable for the existence of oil or gas in commercial quantity.