Summary: The typical hornblendes of metabasic rocks in the Willyama Complex change from bluish-green to deeply coloured brownish varieties with increase in metamorphic grade. Chemical analyses and optical properties of 23 representative hornblendes are interpreted as showing this colour change to reflect steady increase in titanium content of the hornblendes with increase in grade. High-grade hornblendes also differ from those of lower grade in that tetrahedral aluminium in the Z sites is balanced to an increased extent by alkalis entering the A site rather than by octahedral aluminium entering the Y site. Comparison between theoretical and measured densities of Willyama hornblendes suggest that a calculation based on 23 oxygen anion provides closer approximations than a 24 (O, OH, F) calculation to their structural formulae.