Donnybrook, WA

G'Day All,
Hey has anyone been prospecting down around Donnybrook and If so have you found any pieces of gold. I'm going down there this week to scout around and look for any signs and maybe do some prospecting later in the year. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Kev

G'day Bigkev,
gold and ghosts Vol 1 says there may be something south to southeast of the town. apparrently their should be some old mine working down that way and the author said to try the creek gullies.

cheers and good hunting
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the mines at donnybrook are all on private property one of which is an apple orchard /cider brewery which you can go on to see whats left of the mine . There is also a shed with the old mines machinery in it and a few notes on the walls sort of like a museum . Donnybrook is not a nuggety area the gold was fine in the quartz like thin fern leaf veins not much weight to it .

I would say dont waste your time as i went there with the same idea .

Hi Kev,
My husband Brad is from Donnybrook so we know the area very well. We have had a look around the old Donnybrook Goldfields, some of the area is in thick Bush roughly south west of the town. Its got heaps of open shafts, which arent secured in any way so caution is needed when having a visit. And as always heaps of rubbish! There is also the old Goldfields Orchard & Cider factory, which is a commercial little area that is worth a day out. Very touristy, I think you can have a go at panning for gold there. I dont think the Donnybrook field was very profitable at all in its hey day, and whilst we did find a Very small specie of fern leaf gold it was nothing to get excited about. There had been rumor of an old timer out in the forrest in the Preston Valley many, many years ago making a living from gold from the creeks that wind their way through the forrest. Again we have had many drives out into the area looking for evidence of old campsites, but the best we found was an old hitching post, where horses may have been secured. The forrest is very thick out there and on our last visit (about 5 years ago) CALM had blocked most of the access roads into the area.
We now live in Cue where the chances of finding gold are alot higher.
Anyway go have a look around, its a lovely place to visit, very friendly.
Shell

Hi all,

well there ya go. extremely helpful having some ex locals with the information you require and I have just learnt something new.

cheers
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Hi has any body got the directions of the old gold feld area in donnybrook not on private property, name of roads ect would love to have a look around David.

G&G vol 1 doesn't say much but if you try Tengraph, it sometimes does show the old areas.

I have been thinking about heading out that way when my detecting arm gets itchy, but I know an old fella who went up there a few times, said not worth the effort.
What area do you live in? There is a Prospecting shop in Bunbury - The Prospectors Pick, (Excuse me if I seem to be advertising) who ran a course up that way not long ago. Maybe drop in and see them on your way out there, I am sure they could point you in the general direction of where they went.

Diver

Dont waste ya diesel mate... one word shizza!





Pete in WA

There is actually an article in one of the old GGT volumes.If I find it I can send you a copy.If someone knows the month and year of GGT its in let me know .It'll make it a lot easier to find.

Hi I remember Tom Wenman wrote an article about the area, and he contributes to a few different Gold Forums, not sure about this one. Maybe do a search? He wrote the article in GG&T.
Shell

Just thought I would add to this thread even though its old.

I spent the day down in Donnybrook today detecting, didn't find anything. I focused on the bush area around the Queen of the South mine located at 33° 36.092'S 115° 49.068'E.... Mindex shows this mine had 572 ounces taken out of it. (Au: 1899-1903 322.05 t 17.8 kg 572.7 oz)

There are at least 10 deep shafts there and many are around 8 meters deep! and all are completely exposed. This place is extremely dangerous, the shafts are everywhere and its really easy to fall in one, some you can hardly see because of vegetation. I would not recommend anyone going here alone, if you fell in no one would ever find you.

Clearly there was some gold there once or they would not have dug those massive shafts.

The place if very steep and too has too much vegetation, gets annoying after a while. Also lots of rubbish.

PM sent to biggest Kev

Thanks Alastair for taking the time to share your recent visit to the mines at Donnybrook, read a story few years ago where some people were panning in a creek near Donnybrook and were finding fern gold this is what got me interested in the area, but now I prospect in the Murchison area more chance of finding gold up there.
Hey Akko I didn't get your PM would you mind trying again, thanks.

Cheers Kev

hey Kev, message sent again.
Off to Sandstone shortly so hope it gets to you.

Tom Wenman has 2 books out, Geo Tourist & Fossickers Guide Margaret River Region, and There's Gold in Margaret River. Both books have mud maps. The Geo Fossickers Book is gemstones and Gold, a great little book. Hope this helps

Hi Goldie,
Thanks I will have a bo peep for those books, I have heard of gold being found in the Margaret River, I knew of a spot years ago where the river ran through a rocky area and tried to find the spot couple of years back but could not find the track into the area, thought CALM may have blocked off access.

Cheers Kev