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Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 August 1938, Page 6

What was thought to be a fossilised oyster, found in a rock by one of the men working on the Waitakere Scenic Drive near the Swanson trig station was submitted to Mr A. W. B. Powell assistant-director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Mr Powell stated that it was not a fossilised oyster, but that its shape had been fashioned by lime having been dissolved from a piece of shell and redeposited in the joint or crevice in the rock. This action had given the shell the appearance of an oyster. “Although the specimen submitted is not a true fossil,” said Mr Powell, “a number ol authentic remains of marine shellfish including specimens of the giant oyster, now extinct in New Zealand waters, have been discovered in the rocks adjacent to where it was found. Some well-preserved fossils, approximately 30 million years old, have also been found in the cliffs at Muriwai, in the upper part of the Henderson creek, and at Huia. As the area is largely volcanic, however, fossils are not very common, as the facilities for preservation are not as likely as in the case of sedimentary deposits,”