The Reid's Mistake Formation represents the stratigraphic interval that separates the Lower and Upper Pilot Coals within the Boolaroo Sub‐Group of the Newcastle Coal Measures. At Swansea Head it consists mainly of intercalated cherts and claystones with minor amounts of sandstone. The cherts, which frequently have a vitroclastic texture, are composed of chalcedony and analcime with or without feldspars and clay whereas the claystones consist of chalcedony and mixtures of mixed‐layer clay minerals. The intergradation between these rock types indicates that the entire sequence was derived from a common source, either acid volcanics of the New England fold belt or, more likely, contemporaneous ash showers. The detritus apparently accumulated in a flood basin environment where the climate was arid giving rise to saline conditions and the breakdown of the volcanic materials to clay minerals and chalcedony. During protracted periods of desiccation however, sodium ions were concentrated and the pH rose accordingly, sufficient to promote conversion of the clay minerals in the uppermost layers to analcime.