Finding Gold in Australia

Hello everyone,

this is my first post after reading several threads on this forum. I have to say that a very nice community has built up here.
Still I have a few questions, which I could not find answers to.
Those questions are connected to the planned travel to Australia at the end of January for 5 weeks. My girlfriend and me are from Austria, and spent 5 month in New Zealand 2 years ago, where we tried some gold panning at the Arrow River (lovely location). We found gold panning could be a lot of fun, since we also enjoy the beautiful rivers and nature a lot (although we only found a bit of dust ).
Now that we travel to Australia, 5 weeks is not a lot of time compared to the huge distances, and even if you read several reports you can not get the rigt feeling for the country and the people, until you are there. Even less information you can get about beautiful rivers where you could pan for gold, and maybe even find a bit, without disturbing anyone's claim, or acting against some other regulations/laws.
So considering a rough outline of our route-
*starting from Brisbane,
*going north along the coast for a while (maybe to the great barrier reef)
*back south further inland
*Blue Mountains
*Sydney
*Melbourne

Afaik we would need a permit for each state to go gold panning? How much trouble is it to get hold of a permit? And how do I know if there are any claims in an area?

What other regulations will we have to consider? (Apart from covering holes again, and taking litter home, which we would consider common sense)

Also can you recommend any nice rivers worth paying a visit? We are into mountain and rock climbing, so it could be a bit off the beaten pathes, but with a rented car we cannot leave sealed roads...

It seems the usual way to be looking for gold in Australia is to use a detector. As a techie I would love to try one of those- is there any chance to rent one for a while, possibly around an area where you can also use them, and possibly somewhere more or less at the east coast?

The true treasure we will take home is the impressions and experience we gained during our travel. That includes getting to know people. So we would be more than happy if we could go looking for gold with you, and possibly learn panning properly ^^

I think that was all I wanted to ask. Sorry for the english, I'm no native speaker.

And thank you for your replis already

Welcome to the forum NiSim,
The first bit of advice is that you are visiting Australia at the wrong time of the year. January/ February temperatures can be scorching 35°C/45°C. This can be very dangerous for inexperienced visitors who maybe ill equipped to tackle the regions you mention.
As for finding creeks/ rivers to pan, I'll leave that answer to a member who resides on the East coast.
Yes you will require a "miners right".
Most of the prospecting businesses will gladly give you information regarding conditions of entry in their areas. They hire prospecting equipment and give instructions to newbies.
If you search through the posts on this forum you will find bundles of info which may answer many of your questions.
Good luck with your venture.

Cheers
Peter

Hi NiSim,


I'm located down south east in Victoria and can speak only of this area.

Firstly not to be negative but only to offer warning, you are coming to Aus in our summer and if you have not spent any time in Aus before it is just about the hottest time of year Jan / Feb so the number one thing for you is to carry plenty of water and stay hydrated.

As you hit Brisbane first you will find it humid and very subtropical, the further north you go the more tropical storms you will encounter and even keep an eye out for Cyclones as Feb / March is the peak season.

As you head down south you will find the heat will increase and the humidity will decrease. Prospecting in NSW & Vic in Jan / Feb will be restricted to mornings and afternoons, so that you keep out of the midday heat.

There are some great locations in NSW / ( ACT ) to try your luck and hopefully someone from up that way will speak more of that area?

As you hit Victoria I would strongly recommend you head straight to the Golden Triangle to towns such as Bendigo, Ballarat & Maryborough as these are larger towns less than 100,000 people, if it was me I would head to Maryborough less 10,000 people.

Panning down in Vic at that time of year is going to be hard as water is in less supply as the summer would have dried up allot of the small streams, but the good news is that detecting is made easy by CoilTek Maryborough hiring detectors on a daily, weekly basis. CoilTek also offer training days which I would also recommend as you have not used a detector before and I can speak from experience, I wondered around the bush for 6 months and found nothing, did a 1 day course and have never looked back, found gold on every trip since apart from 1. LOL
Just thinking about it you might be OK panning at a place near Ballarat called Creswick, I'm sure that river will be flowing all summer?

There is a great new book ( Large size ) out recently that is written and illustrated by Doug Stone, it is full of maps, locations and information and I would strongly recommend this for anyone who has a short time to spend and wants to find the gold locations quickly.

There are Prospecting shops up and down the east coast so you will be able to pick up anything you need.

Just looking at your post and I see that you are also interested in Rock Climbing so I would also suggest that you head out to Ararat and close to this area is the Grampians, great place for climbing and walking. I would recommend a short stay at Hall Gap, really nice town.


I would be happy to catch up with you at some stage during your visit to Victoria, so please keep in touch.


Hope this little bit of info helps

Peter

Thanks a lot for your advice!

Also for the weather warnings Usually we are quite heat-loving, but we barely get above 35°c in Austria, but on the other hand ists around 0°c now... will be quite a shock I guess

I checked several maps in the "goldfields" thread. There are so many maps, and I learned that some regions are better for detecting (nuggety) and others are better for panning (fine gold).
Most of the maps show historical mining areas. Are they open for detecting/panning now?
What I didn't really find an answer to is, where you are allowed to look for gold-
state forests?
national parks?
all the rest is private property I guess? but who does it belong to if there is no house for miles and miles - and probably they are not overly fond of "miners" on their property?
We don't want to offend anyone just because we didn't know better...

It is good to hear that there are plenty of mining equipment shops around. So Maryborough? Sounds good I guess the staff can help me with locations then too

And yes, Ararat and Hall Gap do sound good- Isn't there gold around Ararat too?
Do you practice rock-climbing too?

To catch up would be awesome! We will plan our journey in detail soon. Around which region would be best for you?

Btw- we are Nina (Gf) and Simon (me) =NiSim

Cheers

G'day NiSim

In NSW you don't need a miners licence for prospecting/fossicking, but you do need to know where you can go. There are a few commons, areas that anyone can go without getting kicked of.

One of these areas is Hill End in NSW not to far from Sydney, maybe a 200km inland and its usually a bit cooler there in summer as its at a bit higher altitude.

This area near Hill End is called Tambaroora and is a common, the creek that you can go panning or detecdting in is only a 100 metre or so of the sealed road, Hill End is a historic Town from the gold rush days with old stuff to see etc, there is a general store and Pub with meals etc. There are a couple of van parks/camp sites with power and showers/facilites etc.

There are a few other common areas in NSW also.

Hope you enjoy your holiday in Oz

cheers dave

Some stuff to do in NSW.

• Panning and detecting in around the Turon River at Sofala or Hill End / Tambaroora area (camping available). At Hill End area there is a fellow who does gold panning lessons.
  

Panning and detecting at Tuena area- includes Abercrombie Caves and Trunkey areas.

• Jenolan Caves in Blue Mountains with The Three Sisters lookouts and Wentworth Falls. There are also plenty of canyons in the blue mountains if you are keen for a abseiling in and hike thrill. (not really gold activities in Blue Mountains)
  
  

Bungonia Caves (camping available) not for gold but some serious caving or some light caving available. Also a gorge to walk there.

[list][*]Oallen (Oallen Ford) for some panning.

In NSW, we mainly hit "Crown" land as you don't need a permit. State Forests are allowed with a permit approx $30. Private property by permission of property owner.

I hope at the end of you trip you will be able to tell people you come from "Austria, mate" with an aussie accent!

I might suggest hittng Melbourne/ Victoria first and working your way up? I wouldn't want you to leave Australia with Victoria as your last impression! (temps are a little cooler down there and it will help with getting used to the climate. )

Good luck and after you have firmed in your "touristy" visit spots and dates, let members know where you will be and approximately when and i am sure you will get some more help out of the woodwork.

NSW National Parks will help you a lot on your quest. As for rivers? pick the bigger ones on the map as you go and check them out!!

Cheers.

Hi Nina and Simon,
And welcome to the forum.
As previous members said our summer is quite different then European one.Traveling trough Victoria is not that bad as you are usually very close to small gold towns.Western Australia and Queensland are different story.
Read little bit about Golden Triangle.Thats probably the place to go where you will find all activity you want to try.Also you will definitely met some of the members as there is lot of them who detect on a daily basis.
In Victoria you need a Miners right and you can find all information here:
http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/exploration-and-mining/prospecting-and-fossicking

Click on a Prospecting guide and it will show where you are allowed to go.Also you can purchase the Miners Right on line so you are ready to go when you arrive.One thing is no go zone and thats National Parks, but you will find all that info in the Prospecting guide and on that Site.
There are lot of private properties but you have to get permission from owners to detect/prospect.
In Victoria there is enough goldfields on Crown land so plenty places to go.There is lot of places you can detect close to the roads.
Get familiar with places you plan to visit.Planing is vital for survival here.Going bush can be one of the best experience in your life but can be also very dangerous.Plenty preparation, plenty water, sunscreen 30+ at least, hats, GPS etc.We had very wet seasons last couple years so be aware there is enormous population of bugs, spiders and snakes, mosquitoes and nasty ants. Unfortunately they are not that friendly.Lot of them are deadly.
Few of us go detecting socially and sometimes together so i am sure some of the members will catch up with you. That would be probably the best thing to do-catch up with some locals and go detecting with them.
Please do not read our comments as negative as we are just trying to tell you exactly what to expect.Australians are one of the friendliest people on the earth and visiting this country is something you will remember for life.
Hope to see you when you visit Victoria.
Good luck.

Hi NiSim,
So many questions! People are replying faster than I can respond so apologies if anyone else has already supplied this information...

All goldfields can usually be panned but not all give up nuggets. Most in Australia do, but not all. If the gold in your pan is lumpy (where it has shed from a quartz reef or was deposited by river action) and not powder-fine (where it might be leeching out of bedrock), there's always a chance of finding a nugget there but if you are in doubt, just ask another person if nuggets were found there in the town or district where you wish to seek gold. Most Australian goldfield districts have given up nuggets.


Gold producing areas on the East Coast of Australia are shaded in red with the darker areas being the most concentrated.

New South Wales abolished the license system in the early 1990s but the State Forests here in NSW have their own Fossicking License for the State Forests which has been in effect since January 1, 2008. The license lasts 12 months.

QUEENSLAND: A fossicking permit probably needs to be applied for via the Government's 'Department of Primary Industries'. I'm sure a local can direct you further. I am not familiar with the requirements for Queensland other than this.

NEW SOUTH WALES: You don't need a Miner's Right here in NSW any more... but you will need a special permit to look for gold in the State Forests in NSW. Contact the Department of State Forests to obtain a Fossicking permit for the State Forests. You will only need this permit if you seek gold in the State Forests. You do not need a permit for detecting/fossick on Crown Land, Town Commons or Private Property - though you would be well advised to seek permission to detect on someone's property. (Note: You are not permitted to detect/fossick in NSW National Parks in NSW).

VICTORIA: In Victoria, the Miner's Right is used and must be carried everywhere if you intend to look for gold there. Any detecting store can sell you a Miner's Right but you will have to sign the document in person so you will be unable to apply for one until you arrive here. The two year Miners Right costs around $30 but is only useful in Victoria.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Is a popular place for a detecting holiday but if you are visiting the area, you can get a lifetime license and this can be applied for over the phone or through the mail (see details below). Since you may not be visiting WA, you may not need this license which, like Victoria, is called a Miner's Right (Cost is $25 for life). But if your plans change, I've added the contact details below.


Map showing how Sydney (right hand side beneath copyright icon... sorry) is separated from the nearby goldfields by a 2.5 to 3 hour drive over the Blue Mountains. No gold in the blue Mountains really.. perhaps a little to be found panning at Oberon which is VERY close to the Jenolan Caves, both of which are very popular tourist attractions.

The only way to obtain a NSW State Forest Fossicking License is to contact NSW State Forests and they usually take a credit card payment over the phone before posting your license to you in the mail within about 3 days. The License is technically called a 'Special Purpose Permit' for Fossicking. It allows you to take up to 50 grams of gold and also a large volume of gemstones per day from the State Forests.

We are not permitted to detect or pan for gold and gemstones in the National Parks in NSW although the rules may vary in other states. If there is a fence around the property, then the property is probably privately owned and the fence acts as a boundary and even keeps animals in or out. You may enter a private property to ask for permission to detect or pan on that property but if they request that you leave, they you must do so. Most people will be quite friendly and after they realize you are a visitor, they will either allow you to pan or detect on their property or they will suggest someplace nearby that you can go. Most detecting supply stores for prospectors will be able to suggest nearby places to go where you can look for gold.

The other type of land you can seek gold on in NSW is called Crown Land and you can usually go onto Crown Land without the need for any permits (with few exceptions). The area that others have already pointed out to you (the Township and district of Hill End) is an amazing Gold Rush town that is small but retains many of the original buildings and diggings. You will need to hire a car to get there as there are no trains or busses from Sydney to Hill End. There is a Gold & Relics map from Doug Stone that sells for $15-$20 that you can buy which shows you where the Crown Land extends around the town of Hill End. You can find places to pan and detect on that map and other members here can suggest places for you to go to at Hill End or even other gold towns. The map also appears in Doug Stone's Detecting For Gold book which sells for $130 locally. This book also contains many dozens of other maps for other districts interstate and Australia wide. You can find these items *online and have them sent to you. (*Note: These are not my Ebay ads but I work in an industry that links me indirectly to this seller.)

Here's an example of the map for Hill End on Ebay: HILL END MAP
Here's an example of the Book from Doug Stone that also contain the same map: DOUG STONE GOLD BOOK

I can't speak for other sellers but I am affiliated with one of the stores that are linked here and we have stores in three states that can supply pans and metal detecting equipment hire. (If other sellers wish to mention their own stores and/or location, please feel free to add your own contact details for the OP in this thread if you wish.)

Hope this is helpful to you.

__________________________________________________________________

For NSW State Forest Fossicking Permits: (cost is $22 per year)
Forests NSW (formerly State Forests of NSW)
Phone (02) 6652 0111
Fax: (02) 6651 9891
Email: davidw@sf.nsw.gov.au

Mail Address:
ATTN: Community Forester, NE Region
Forests NSW
PO Box 535
Coffs Harbour NSW 2450



For WESTERN AUSTRALIA Miners Right: (cost is presently $25 for Life)
Director, Mineral Titles Division
Department Of Mines & Petroleum
Level 1, Mineral House
100 Plain Street
East Perth WA 6004
AUSTRALIA

Phone: (08) 9222 3333
Fax: (08) 9222 3444
Internet: http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au

HI SIMON AND NINA,firstly, don,t apologise for your english and grammer, you put most of us to shame. what a great adventure you both are planning. the help from this forum is, and will be outstanding. don,t worry about the kangas and giant wombats, they prefer tender meat. watch out for our beer,potent stuff. s.a. west end draught is the BEST,in moderation of course. about 15/16 stubbies you,ll be ok. watch out for snake bite, if you bite them, they don,t like it! some bad news i,m afraid there is no gold in orstralia ,the dingos got it all yonks ago. mmmm, south america looks good.. have fun eh, cheers

Hi Nisim
The last time I was in Brisbane there was rock climbing facilities along the river that can be used any time of day or night as its well lit up.Not sure if its still like that but there were lots of climbers enoying themselves.
Steve

Hi Nina & Simon,

Sorry for the late reply, have been a little busy trying to finish up work for the Xmas break end of the year.

Looks like you have received some outstanding advise from all who replied.

Once you have planed you trip let us know and we will try and meat up in Victoria?

As for locations in Vic, most state parks you can access for prospecting, a good stating point for locations if you are not into the commercial books availabe is a web site called GeoVic ( links below )

You can build your own maps of Vic goldfields, state parkes, private lands, rivers and so on, well worth a look and play

http://mapshare2.dse.vic.gov.au/MapShare2EXT/imf.jsp?site=geovic

http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/exploration-and-mining/tools-and-resources/geovic

Look forward to further posts

Peter
Mariner3800

Hello,

thank you so much for all the great advice!!
I was quite busy lately preparing for Christmas. But now there is time ahead to work through all those great advices and hints ))
I'll just mark everything on the map, and then connect the points to a nice route.
Once done I'll post another rough sketch with an approx. timetable, which will probably vary quite a bit when applied
So thank you again for all the advices, and I hope there will be some joint operations ahead

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone ))
(I'll be back in a week or so)

So finally I managed to decide where to go.
There is a physical map with a lot of places where we want to go, but google maps is quite limited to the number of destinations on your route.

So here is the rough outline of our tour:
part 1
part 2

Of course it is not carved in stone
The timetable can be found here:
timetable

So I really hope to meet you on our way.
I will have the phone with me, so I can check the forum during the travel too.
my mail: simon (dot) pirker (at) gmail (dot) com (- formatted to avoid the nasty spam bots )

Btw- I already got myself a fossicking licence for Victoria online ))

Cheers Simon&Nina

So we will be in the orange region this weekend.
si far we are very lucky With the weather
is anyone interested in going fissicking? got a pan for washing

and can you recommend a nice fossicker shop in or around orange?

cheers

Hi Simon & Nina,

Welcome to Australia and by looking at your maps I see you have been quite busy.

What dates do you think you will be starting your Part B stage of your trip ( Victorian )??

How long are you in Australia for???

Once I know the above we will organise something?

Just looking at your Map I would stay in Echuca rather than Shepparton as there is much more for the tourist to do, with a great display of early Australian History. Also A must for your travels is Ballarat and Sovereign Hill, A BIG MUST for anyone with GOLD in their blood.

Kindest Regards
Mariner3800
Peter

NiSim wrote:So we will be in the orange region this weekend.
si far we are very lucky With the weather
is anyone interested in going fissicking? got a pan for washing

and can you recommend a nice fossicker shop in or around orange?

cheers

Look up a place called "Ophir" just out of orange.....should be lots of info at the tourist centre...... the creeks out there should be flowing and it has a lot of gold history out there....some good camping as well.

Good Luck

NiSim wrote:So we will be in the orange region this weekend.
si far we are very lucky With the weather
is anyone interested in going fissicking? got a pan for washing

and can you recommend a nice fossicker shop in or around orange?

cheers

G'day Simon & Nina

I think from Orange, the nearest fossicking/detector shop is at Mudgee.
http://www.nuggetsfromdownunder.com.au/

cheers dave

Thank you for the useful hints. Lets see if the shop is closed tomorrow.
panning at a creek today that looked good east of merriwa.
nothing to be found. still a nice creek With nice crevices.

we will start the second part of the trip around the 23rd. will have time til 30th then. not sure if we will go to the grampions then.
Would be great if we could organice something )
cheers and cu soon

so we actually made it to victoria we crossed the border just a bit ago at corryong. we will just head to the golden triangle from here so we will bbe ready to do some detecting with a hired detector in the weekend.
we wnt panning south of mudgee and found a very nice river which even had a 3mm grain
but in vic i would provably want to do some detecting too.
nit sure where to hire detector. probably in maryborough for 2/3 days.
cheers

G'day NiSim and welcome to Victoria and also to the Golden Triangle. Coiltek in Maryborough is your best bet to hire a detector, but I would put your order in early as they go pretty quickly over the weekend. Also in Maryborough you will be almost in the centre of the triangle so almost any were you go there is a gold field. Here is the phone No. of Coiltek 03-54604700. Enjoy your selves while you are here and I hope you find a nice nugget to take back home with you.
Cheers
Wombat

thank you- booked a detector for fr sat sun now.
just wondering where to go. while driving here i saw a lot of private farmland and a few forrests.
will have a look at the maps again.
if anyone is going detexting in the same region would be nice if we could join.
just cannot go on unsealed roads.
cheers

hi guys, how are you liking the big OZ so far ? this is the best place/forum to be for friendly help and advice and to possibly meet with some good people. pity you did not get a four wheel drive vehicle, but there should be plenty of available areas/access for you. i am from south aust. so i can,t really help you here.always ask at prospecting stores too, they are usually very helpful, maybe tourist info. centres too. good onya for doing the trip, very gutsty. have fun, go well. cheers.