Current Information on Hill End

raymondj wrote:Hey
Have been reading this post with interest... growing up halfway betweem Sofala and Hill End why wouldnt I.... Marco u make it sound like the wild west... mate I have alot of friends there and I think that u may b exaggerating just a tad. I go there about 3 - 5 times a year and I dont think things have gone belly up in that short of time.

Ray, I also recommend Hill End to a lot of people taking their first trips out there. I usually give them some contact details for the pub and the museum. I'm currently doing some photographic work there over the next few months and there's actually a LOT of people heading out to Hill End over the next few weeks as the weather is warming up now. I routinely send families out there and this is something I wouldn't do at all if I considered it dangerous.

I've actually avoided discussing some of the less savory experiences and events there because they were either isolated incidents or they might put people off from what might otherwise be an enjoyable trip. Those here who know me personally will remind you that I don't lie. So consider my comments above to be correct. Anyone accusing me of telling tall stories is genuinely unfamiliar with the area or has another motivation. With so many prospectors (some of them admitting so here on the boards) carrying firearms whilst prospecting in NSW, perhaps your comment about the Wild West is accurate. In the end, the scariest person out there is probably going to be me. Cheers!

nero_design wrote:
Ray, I also recommend Hill End to a lot of people taking their first trips out there. I usually give them some contact details for the pub and the museum. I'm currently doing some photographic work there over the next few months and there's actually a LOT of people heading out to Hill End over the next few weeks as the weather is warming up now. I routinely send families out there and this is something I wouldn't do at all if I considered it dangerous.

I've actually avoided discussing some of the less savory experiences and events there because they were either isolated incidents or they might put people off from what might otherwise be an enjoyable trip. Those here who know me personally will remind you that I don't lie. So consider my comments above to be correct. Anyone accusing me of telling tall stories is genuinely unfamiliar with the area or has another motivation. With so many prospectors (some of them admitting so here on the boards) carrying firearms whilst prospecting in NSW, perhaps your comment about the Wild West is accurate. In the end, the scariest person out there is probably going to be me. Cheers!

Having lived there and being a regular for 35+ years makes me genuinely very familliar with the area. My girls have safely camped there with me since they were under a year old. In all that time the only unsavoury incident I can recall is the Magpie crapping in my coffee cup last weekend. Admittedly, I didn't drink it so it could well have been savoury, I have no idea what the Magpie ate

In all that time, I've never met a gun toting prospector, well I never saw evidence of one and have never had call to feel worried or threatened.
I know 11 families there Marco, none related, all having lived there for years and none made up of "3 main family lines" My own family stems back from the original gold rush in the area and are burried in the local cemetaries stretching from Bathurst to HillEnd to Mudgee to Stuart Town.
Yes I do have another motivation, and that is to give an accurate discription of the area based on actual experience not on "what I've been told".
Those here who know me personally will remind you that I look like Brad Pitt and can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Don't go to Hill End,

The locals are mad, savage dogs wander around everywhere, your camp is not safe there, the showers are cold in the camp ground, the pub has lousey meals, serves warm beer and shuts early. The local don't give you any tips on spots to try and the Hawkins Hill miners tell boring stories of how much gold there not getting.

The ground is incredibly noisey and full of trash, the EM is always bad and all the gold is gone, none left, zilch, zero and no one finds nuggets of any size... hopeless.

Try somewhere else if you want gold.

Tributer

Now thats telling it like it really is! Tributer knows more about the place then all of us put together

Stuff that! im off to Hargraves! & they dont even have a pub!

Heading out there tomorrow to do a bit of scouting for the up & coming NSW meeting.
Sounds good but what i really mean is im in need of a gold fix that only an once will cure.

see ya Sat night dude!! good luck and leave me some of that gold that's not there

never did any good at Hillend on Sunday, unfortunately I never got 11 bits for just over 5 grams and never saw a bit over 1/2 oz pulled out between us.
Was a bugger sleeping in trees to avoid the local constabularies 4x4 and the myriads of hooligans intent on mayhem

Could have been worse tuna!

At least the yowies never ate you.

Well i have to say that in all the years Ive been to Hill End and Windeyer camping on my own ive never been threatened or felt unsafe, our 4wd club regularly goes around this area and ive never heard of anything happening, ye sur there are the young hoos getting on the turps etc but not to anything i would consider unsafe. I did get abducted by aliens out there once and was probed and I fell in love so if zark from the planet eon calls let me know


Cheers

Rabs

hey Rabs..myself, Narrawa and probably a few others wont be at that lawless, goldless cesspit not pulling nuggets again this weekend....feel free to not come and not join us mate!

Hey Madfish..

Is old Nick Harvey still getting around Hill Emd.... he used to drive the school bus years ago... He was also a mad shooter... used to go hunting goats for eating with him

dont know sorry Ray, never heard of Nick though I know a Micheal (mick)????, aswell as a Janet and Karen..my brother married one of the Harvey girls.

Mick died a few years back from Micheal J Fox disease...not sure what it's called

Anyone ever do any good detecting at the old stock route at Windeyer

Rabs

I remember Nick Harvey, he use to write for the gun magazines, i spent some time shooting up there when i lived there but goats were not much sport, now pigs were some much more fun.

Spent a day with Ted Abbott the week before last though, he's a tin pan, & has some good info that im not going to share.
Man has to have some secrets.

Hey Narrawa..

So old Nick is still kicking... good to see... as I said earlier I'll b up that way in a couple of weeks around Crudine Creek area between Sofala and Hill End... Will give a shout when and if anyone is around would b nice to catch up and say Hi .. as for the secrets Narrawa... I'll show u mine if u show me yours...

Madfish...Wasn't it Parkinsons Disease

ahhh..Nick Harvey from the shooters mags..I didn't realize he was a HE local I thought he was Bathurst. As far as I know he went belly up a few years ago though I could be wrong. It would be his neice my brother wed

Nick Harvey is still going strong and writing for the shooting mags so he hasn't gone belly up .
Mark

good stuff. told ya I could be wrong ..Milton Harvey and Mick went belly up

Spent a few rounds at the local rifle range with Nick & Neil, but trees became more of a hunt, specially when using an old sharps.

Both from HE over the last few weeks in flogged ground, but dont tell the locals.



Now show me yours....

Hmm I would like to go hunting at Hill end , hunting for Narrawa , have a few high tech GPS tracking devices to test out lol.
Well done nice specimens and what camera did your use for the pic's
Mark

Mark, i use the Panasonic Lumix Dmc TZ7, this yrs model, small point & shoot style with a 12x zoom.

To hunt me would be futile, looked for but cannot be seen, listened for, but cannot bhearrrd, twacked, but weave no twace.

Those pics are a few weeks old now but iv been meaning to replace them with fresh ones, just have to find them, maybe this weekend.

PS.The top one is a 39grama.

Tributer you say all the gold os gone from hill end mate but are you only refering to detecting as i was planning on hiking along the turon river near hillend panning till i found some good stuff and setting up my sluice is there gold in the river still i would think there would have to be but im fairly new here mate also what are the locals like is it safe to leave my car out of eye shot for a few hours and maybe tent just dont want anyting stolen not that i overly think it will but after reading here im a bit dubious

Show Me The Gold wrote:Tributer you say all the gold os gone from hill end mate but are you only refering to detecting as i was planning on hiking along the turon river near hillend panning till i found some good stuff and setting up my sluice is there gold in the river still i would think there would have to be but im fairly new here mate also what are the locals like is it safe to leave my car out of eye shot for a few hours and maybe tent just dont want anyting stolen not that i overly think it will but after reading here im a bit dubious

Hi show me the gold
There are always plenty of people panning in golden gully and the likes
They always find colour
It gets replenished when it rains heavy
So will never run out unless they remove the source
It's fairly safe car wise
I normally have my swags set up off the side and all my gear outside
But my gold gear is always locked up and with me
I disappear from dusk till dawn and dawn till dusk
But I'm always deep in the bush
And often many klms away from the car
But I tend to think outside the square
And don't meander through the diggings
Unless I want to find some gold after fruitless days
My advice would be to get away from the main areas
Test pan isolated areas
Which about 30 come to mind as I'm writing this
Not that I'm a real paner
But I can and know we're to look
Follow the gullys from the ridges down to the creeks methodically testing
When you find a spot with good colour
Bring in your bigger equipment
Ps if I my health was better I'd meet you out there and show you a couple
Of spots with potential
Maybe someone else might be there when you are
And be able to give you a hand
If you don't ask you won't know
Also a bloke out there does panning lessons
Can't remember his name
If you ring the museum or call in you can get his details
Good luck
And hope to see you post some of your finds from HE

thanks for the info mate and your spot on the remote areas are where i wanna go im looking at heading out there over xmas for 10 days hope fully i can get deep enough to find some awesome spots but yeah if i find anything it will be up there

@ Narrawa awesome display pic dude how did you get it to do that

19:31:04

tried to view the utube videos an there not avalible antone else have they problem

dogbox wrote:19:31:04

tried to view the utube videos an there not avalible antone else have they problem

This is a fairly old topic, so maybe they have been taken down, it's hard to say as I don't know which ones you are referring to.

cheers dave
ADMIN

The Panning Lessons are by Ted Abbott  tel  02 6337 8251.  I met him at the Goanna Muster about a month ago -- old timer but clearly knows the area.  Just putting it into this thread, even though the topic is old.  cheers.

someone posted many posts and years back that the company "Hill End Gold" has a "blanket" mining lease over the whole area

A quick look at the company info shows this is FALSE and not officially claimed by them on their website (sorry cant post link to area sketch map) or their ASIC and ASX paperwork which often has better sketches and gps coordinates.

They have several exploration and production leases in the area in a line running generally north south midway between Orange and Bathurst up towards Mudgee but certainly not a "blanket" lease over "the whole area" unless you were referring to specific features such as the Hawkins Hill feature or very near Hargreaves