Newbee from Kinglake

Hi everyone, I have been reading this forum for a little while and thought it was about time to say hello. I am 37 years old and I have lived in Kinglake for 30 years. I have had an interest in Gems and Gold since I was a kid and have been prospecting around Kinglake for quite a while. After the bushfires came through here we found many old diggings and sites in the area that were long ago lost to the bush. Now the bush has overgrown and again we lost alot of the sites by forgetting to mark them on a map!
I recently bought an old minelab detector and I have really got the bug now. I go prospecting atleast 3-4 times a week(is that healthy?) mostly with my sluice and pans as I can always get fine gold from the streams around here and I am yet to find a nugget with my detector. I have a big jar full of lead slugs etc so surely I will get one soon!
I go out alot by myself and I am keen to meet people in the area that might want an extra diggin buddy and share some local knowledge.
Anyway thats me. See ya's out there.

G'day heavy metal, and Welcome to the Forum Kate here from SA

Don't know too much about Kinglake (except the obvious...fires etc) ... but I'm sure there's a lot of VIC members who can give you the 'heads up'. Interesting info about the lost mines etc. .... there's a good place to start your discovery tour! Check out the internet ie Gold Kinglake using Google.

Anyway, just wanted to drop by and say G'day!!

Hi Heavy metal and welcome to the forum.
I am sure you have learned a lot reading the posts here.
I wish i can go detecting 3-4 times a weeks.
Good luck and happy gold hunting.
GoldEN

Heavy Metal ... here's a few places to start researching the history of gold in your area ... make short notes and correlate against a map of your area ... you might be surprised at what you find!

http://www.filmnortheastvictoria.com.au/region/index.php?town=kinglake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinglake,_Victoria
http://www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/melbourneplaygrounds-info.php?id=21322
http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/44585/StAndrewsCaledonia.pdf

Download Google Earth, and get a copy (generally around $10) of the Gold Waypoints for VIC ... again, you will be surprised at how much has been already mapped. I don't see any mapped mines/diggings near Kinglake, but there are a few sites to the west and plenty to the south.

G'day Heavy Metal and welcome to the forum... Very interesting to hear about those lost mines/diggings in your area... Hope you find out more about them...


Cheers.

Mike.

Hey Heavy Metal,

Good to see there is a few people out there prospecting in areas that isnt the triangle lol.

I am a complete noob, will be out this weekend for my 2nd weekend for a swing around Newstead (mates property and close to where I can hire a detector ata good price). Stuck hireing detectors until I can save for one of my own. Once I get my own I will be heading out to different areas away from the triangle - I am from Yea origionally so will likely head back that way and everywhere in between - which likely will include Kinglake.

Good luck

Cheers
Uncle Duck

Hey there Uncle Duck, there is a small band of prospectors up here and we're always keen to meet new people in the area. We mostly go crevissing the local streams and get a bit of fine stuff. Pretty much a newbee to the detecting scene myself, still to find a nugget yet !!
Hope to see ya about.

Hi heavy metal, welcome to the forum. I lived in Kinglake west for a few years a long time ago (25 years) and when I was a teen up to no good, we spent a lot of time at the National Park near the pine plantation riding our trail bikes all over gods creation!

I remember once when on a ride we found a large poppet head made out of logs it was massive, at first I thought it was a gathering place for some colt club Then we saw the shaft was covered and locked! Never found that spot again. I think it was closer to Flowerdale not to sure. We use to ride every inch of the bush, unforchantly I never took any notice of diggings in them days but we did find some overgrown tracks that went for miles and lead to a dead end

One thing is for sure you need to be Tarzan to prospect in that Amazon jungle

I also was part of the bush fire recovery/clean up and did a 3 month stint at Flowerdale. I thought about driving through the national park to see if there was any old timer workings but with all the tragic losses in the area it didn't feel appropriate at the time.

Let us know how you go!!!
Regards Ren...

Ren wrote:

I also was part of the bush fire recovery/clean up and did a 3 month stint at Flowerdale. I thought about driving through the national park to see if there was any old timer workings but with all the tragic losses in the area it didn't feel appropriate at the time.

Let us know how you go!!!
Regards Ren...

G'day Ren my daughter and her partner lost their house at Flowerdale.... Was wondering if you may have helped clean up their block.... Their house is still getting built they hope they will be moving back in sometime this month.... Thanks for your hard work out there with the clean up....

Cheers.

Mike.

Mike54 wrote:
G'day Ren my daughter and her partner lost their house at Flowerdale.... Was wondering if you may have helped clean up their block.... Their house is still getting built they hope they will be moving back in sometime this month.... Thanks for your hard work out there with the clean up....

Cheers.

Mike.

G'Day Mike, sorry to hear that your daughter lost her house, but it's good to hear they will be in there new home soon! Please wish them well, from me Mike. I did a lot of houses on Silver Creek Rd and on Silver Parrot Rd. I got to meet a lot of really nice locals when I was there!

Regards Ren...

G'day Ren their house is on the Whittlesea-Yea road near the Hazeldene shops...
Sorry Heavy Metal for taking over your thread...

Cheers.

Mike.

Mike, all the clean up I did was south and west of the CFA. Your daughters house is north of the CFA, someone else would of cleaned her block.

Regards Ren...

You're welcome to steal my thread anytime ! Sounds to me that you're one of the real unsung heroes of the bushfires. Thank you for helping out. I had quite a few friends that lost their lives here and alot that lost their houses. It was the people like you that helped others see a light at the end of the tunnel and it will always be remembered. Thanks.
Oh and by the way, the poppet head might have been the Big Ben Mine up Exton's Rd (half way to Flowerdale). The purest gold in the area was found up there. I've been in the mine and a huge quartz reef has colapsed in there about 100 metres in the tunnel. I was only 12 years old when I went in there with a few buddies and some zippo fluid on bracken ferns as torches was our only light ! I am hanging to go back in there with the minelab but I won't go in without some extra people there and some sort of back up plan if the tunnel gives way. Oh and some decent torches !! Unfortunately the timber frames burnt down in the fires all that remains at the top in the concrete footings and the main shaft that is full to the brim with rubbish. It's a real shame that no-one in the area ever tried to preserve our mining heritage until now. I would love to talk to anyone that has knowledge of mines in Kinglake. I have personally found 5 diggings sites in the area that have no mention at all on the net and recently a friend found diggings that still had pans and shovels etc laying about and there is alot more out there that I am yet to explore.
Anyway, see ya's in the soup.
And thanks Ren

Hi heavy metal
I have just moved to Kinglake and am interested in fossicking.
If you are looking for someone to tag along I would be interested.

Piratepete wrote:Hi heavy metal
I have just moved to Kinglake and am interested in fossicking.
If you are looking for someone to tag along I would be interested.

We have a little prospecting club up here and go out quite a bit. Maybe we could meet up at one of our spots some time?
Let me know

hey hi m8 im from Seymour and i worked Kinglake and Kinglakewest and flower dale for over 10 years and i meet alot of locals that showed me some good spots i mite chatch up with ya one day and share my info i still have alto of frends from there like ricky greeen and so on my freand live up that way he survived the fires so one time i come up ill give ya a call i did some paining up ther and found gold manny years ago also know where there some mulleck heaps up neare strath creek way i wont say the rd name but you get what i mean you mite remembered i was the local fault man for the area Cheers Manny

That would be good mate. I am keen to find more gold close to home because I have been driving all the way to inglewood to get good gold. I have found some good mulluck heaps near kinglake. Strath creek sounds promising maybe you could pm me the details ?
Cheers Luke