Mount Browne (Tibooburra) Closed to Prospectors - "No Exceptions"

Having come off the land myself, although not an outback station property I understand some of what others on the land go through. We had problems getting through the 1967 drought the '83 drought etc but my father never lost faith and most of all he never lost faith in people.

The vast majority of people will do the right thing. Most are honest and generous and will help anyone at anytime but as with all creatures there will always be a few rogues. A few who are selfish and will take advantage for their own sake whenever they can. A few who will lie, cheat and steal. It was at least one of this sort who stole the solar panels.

When I found out that Mt Brown woolshed was listed in the Camps Australia campsite book I became quite worried about what would happen there. I have a camps Australia book and over the last five years or so have visited many of the campsites listed therein. Almost all of the remote campsites in that book have become so degraded by selfish, stupid people they cannot be used, why would Mt Brown be any different.

And why do they become degraded? Selfishness? Thoughtlessness? Stupidity? Or simply a careless attitude about those who come behind them.

Take people out of their home and put them in an unfamiliar environment and they will do things they would never think of doing at home, because at home they have toilets, rubbish bins and all the ammenities most bush camps lack - they simply do not understand how they should behave when out in the bush.

If these people cannot learn how to behave away from from then they should stay home. If they cannot learn how to behave on this and other prospecting forums, I'm with Peter, they should stay off them. If they cannot learn how to behave when prospecting then they should sell their detectors and go fishing.

We will be visiting Tibooburra later this year as a part of a much bigger tour when we will be gathering information for caravanning and camping articles on the explorers Burke and Wills and Sturt. We will also spend some time detecting around Tibooburra and gathering information for articles there. We look forward to seeing and hearing what has happened around the district in the mean time.

Cheer, Jim

Hi Granite 2.
Yes we all should be supporting this potition.
One day might be able to enjoy a look up that way and having access to detect will make it all that more interesting.
Cheers
John and Sally

"Please don't take some of the negative comments made here to heart, at times some people tend forget their manners when writing things up to the net."
J.Porter

Mr Porter,

I believe myself and Detecta2 were the only two posters who made "negative comments" about Mt Browne. You say we have forgotten our manners. I say we stated some facts. Facts which were perhaps unpalatable to yourself or to the owners of the station, but which were nonetheless true. Perhaps you should not have commented, having never been there yourself.

In your rush to ingratiate yourself with goldfield landowners, I say YOU have forgotten your manners.

Jigalong.

Hey Jig, theres nothing left there anyway after you ran that 5000 vaccuum of yours all over the place,Ive enjoyed my trips there, special indeed, I'm sure we'll all get back there one day,if they like,we'll even take our own shower water, and take all our rubbish home wth us like we usually do in the bush, and we never leave a hole unfilled, Jig I'd say you and I could be the perfect guests, Phill

Yes Phill, you and I may have been the perfect guests.

I paid on the first day, I did not use their water or their toilets, I took my rubbish out to the dump in the paddock, because the trailer was so full, there was bags placed around it for days. I ended up taking my rubbish back to Sydney after I inspected their overful dump in the paddock.

Like you , I have enjoyed my trips to Mt Browne and to Tibooburra over the last five years. Hope to meet up with you again - maybe at Hill End sometime.

Jig.

Jigalong wrote:"Please don't take some of the negative comments made here to heart, at times some people tend forget their manners when writing things up to the net."
J.Porter

Mr Porter,

I believe myself and Detecta2 were the only two posters who made "negative comments" about Mt Browne. You say we have forgotten our manners. I say we stated some facts. Facts which were perhaps unpalatable to yourself or to the owners of the station, but which were nonetheless true. Perhaps you should not have commented, having never been there yourself.

In your rush to ingratiate yourself with goldfield landowners, I say YOU have forgotten your manners.

Jigalong.

Jig I'm not saying anything anyone said was not true or otherwise. I said people had forgotten their manners, which I stand by.

Couple of points if I may before you take it upon yourself to blast away at me again.

1st point: In this day and age thanks to the internet it seems just about anyone can say what they like, when they like, all within the safe confines of a faceless medium, if as you say there was a problem at Mt Brown why did you not take it up with them when you were there rather than splash it all over the net during a time when politically it could be seen as insensitive?

Second Point: It would seem by your original comments, you have lots of places to go and detect, that might be the scenario in your case but what about everyone else involved in this sorry debacle? As it now stands the facts are this, another good prospecting location in Australia has just been closed to detector operators which can make it very difficult for those people who have less options to get out and have the chance at finding a nugget or two, this was what was at the forefront of my mind when I read this thread for the first time and then caused me to post as the whole sorry mess unfolded.

In your rush to ingratiate yourself with goldfield landowners, I say YOU have forgotten your manners.

I 've found the vast majority of property owners I've dealt with over the years have been more than hospitable, so ingratiating myself could just be another way of being polite, however if I've offended you in stating the bleeding obvious then I'm only too happy to apologise for forgetting my manners.

There's a time and a place to air points of view, it amazes me the amount of negative comments were made when it was obvious to all and sundry a more tactful approach was required. I've lost count of the amount of places I've lost access to in the past few years, I consider the areas I now frequent to be true treasures to be protected and appreciated.

Jonathan Porter

Jonathon,

When prospectors (me) are accused of an offence which has caused the closure of an area to detecting, it is my right to point out the truth. And the truth as it turned out (and as I suggested), had nothing to do with a stolen solar panel. We are not to blame for the closure of Mt Browne to detecting.

And when it was suggested that the area was being closed because of it being rubbished, it annoyed me when I thought of the trash they have released into the countryside.

Is it bad manners to tell the truth Jonathon ? Impolitic maybe, but bad mannered ?

Your first point is laughable. Why would I stir up trouble and get us kicked out when everything was moving smoothly along. Should I have said to him four years ago "have you got insurance for me on your property ? Are we legally allowed to detect on these leases ? Are you aware you're spreading rubbish for kilometres across the plains ? Why have you come down here the last four nights to collect money but done nothing about the water supply in the toilets ? " ................ No, I kept my mouth shut and enjoyed detecting there while I could.

Your second point about me having lot's of places to detect is far from the truth. I had only two places to detect in NSW - Hill End and Tibooburra - now I have one. I had a two week trip organised for August to Mt Browne, so it affects me a lot.

We can pump up the egos of these wonderful, noble, courageous, cowboys in a savage land and plead with them to change their minds. However, my guess is that they have either been made a "better offer", or been scared off possibly by legal considerations. They are not going to change their minds, so why bother with all this tedious crawling ? They have made a financial decision which benefits them, but unfortunately leaves us out in the cold. That is their right and I accept that, but I will not be blamed for it.

Jigalong.

Well , you can all blast me..... I have thick skin.

I just think its a shame we spend more time fighting each other that we do fighting for the ground we NEED to partake in our hobby...........

To be honest, I dont care to much how big the rubish pile was or how unserviced the whole place was.... I am pretty sure the mess would have been made by the campers that stayed there anyway....
I would have even been happy to carry some out..... I guess I wont get the chance now anyway.

Jigalong wrote:Jonathon,

When prospectors (me) are accused of an offence which has caused the closure of an area to detecting, it is my right to point out the truth. And the truth as it turned out (and as I suggested), had nothing to do with a stolen solar panel. We are not to blame for the closure of Mt Browne to detecting.

And when it was suggested that the area was being closed because of it being rubbished, it annoyed me when I thought of the trash they have released into the countryside.

Is it bad manners to tell the truth Jonathon ? Impolitic maybe, but bad mannered ?

Your first point is laughable. Why would I stir up trouble and get us kicked out when everything was moving smoothly along. Should I have said to him four years ago "have you got insurance for me on your property ? Are we legally allowed to detect on these leases ? Are you aware you're spreading rubbish for kilometres across the plains ? Why have you come down here the last four nights to collect money but done nothing about the water supply in the toilets ? " ................ No, I kept my mouth shut and enjoyed detecting there while I could.

Your second point about me having lot's of places to detect is far from the truth. I had only two places to detect in NSW - Hill End and Tibooburra - now I have one. I had a two week trip organised for August to Mt Browne, so it affects me a lot.

We can pump up the egos of these wonderful, noble, courageous, cowboys in a savage land and plead with them to change their minds. However, my guess is that they have either been made a "better offer", or been scared off possibly by legal considerations. They are not going to change their minds, so why bother with all this tedious crawling ? They have made a financial decision which benefits them, but unfortunately leaves us out in the cold. That is their right and I accept that, but I will not be blamed for it.

Jigalong.

Jig I have not for one second felt you were to blame for the closure of Mt Brown, far from it, it's pretty obvious you always do the right thing when it comes to the unwritten rules and written ones, my point was why burn your bridges and make any sort of negative comment at a time when things were very much up in the air about the reasons why etc. Frieda and I received the same fax as everyone else so I spent my time talking to those directly involved such as friends who have been regulars out that way enjoying the place and dealers such as Kim from "Nuggets from Down Under", their takes were similar to mine which was focusing on the bigger picture, hence the suggestion of a collection to try and make right a wrong.

At the end of the day it seems the outcome was predetermined due to other factors (something none of us could really be sure about until it was made public on this forum) but the detector operator in me could not just give up and walk away, not when so much was at stake.

I am truly sorry you have lost a good area to go detecting, please be reassured I do not even remotely blame you for its closure. As a peace offering I'm more than happy to show you a few areas in and around Clermont that have been productive for me over the years but I can't easily replace the sweeping vistas of the Corner country.

Regards

Jonathan

PS Just for the record I detected down that way a few years back, just never on Mt Brown, so do know what you people are losing. The only other place I have ever seen butter yellow gold like it is on the Palmer River diggings.

I recon its pretty obvious that emotions run high when these sort of things happen...... its a dam shame, but I think sticking together and trying our best to keep what we still have left is a major priority..........but even a higher one is to maintain friendship with each other, life is just to short as I was again reminded recently...... I am betting there is enough gold for all of us we just have to find it

Harb wrote:I recon its pretty obvious that emotions run high when these sort of things happen...... its a dam shame, but I think sticking together and trying our best to keep what we still have left is a major priority..........but even a higher one is to maintain friendship with each other, life is just to short as I was again reminded recently...... I am betting there is enough gold for all of us we just have to find it

Well said Harb...

Fighting among ourselves will only weaken us as a group,and our real enemies but only have to observe and mop up after we are a force that has imploded...There are far too many out there that view us as destructive nuisances and just out for our own gain,and with no respect for our use of public lands.We are fortunate that those that fought for our rights as prospectors at the Eureka Stockade have given us a powerful Miner`s Right that is being surely weakened Nationally as time goes by.

Hi all. its easy to blame some one. I think the main reason for closure is pressure from mining lease holder and people tresspassing on his lease. ron allen.

Hey Jonathon,
We are making a mountain out of a molehill here - my apologies to all who have had to endure my squabbling.
Happy hunting,
Jig.

Evening All, I dips me lid to JP & Jig ,They have a bit of a verbal barny then are man enough to apologize,It shows the true side of these men.
Cheers Bruce

Nice make-up boys.I know you blokes get out back there and snipe a few tiddlers but let's keep it real..nothing to start a war over.Hey Jig..What is with the ugly avatar? Is it you or one of your rellies you dug up for his yearly mugshot to keep getting his pension? Enjoy the hobby because if you are on this site..it is just that...cheers,,dave

It's a photo of me Blueyonder, so don't be too unkind. It was taken just after I exposed a ten inch enamel plate at a depth of two metres in the dry, soft sand of a creek bed.
Jig.

My apologies Jig. That would explain the parched look.I see you eat licorice for energy..me too..cheers..Dave

I have been to this beautiful property on two occasions and been lucky enough to get a quick talk in with Charlie both times. What I got from this was that he is a well educated farmer not a cowboy. At no time did he ask for money I had to ask him what did I owe him. Answer:Dont give me the money pay at the pub the money goes to the flying doctors and other charities .At no time did I think I could dump my rubbish on that property or think they should supply me with water or toilets these people are farmers not a resort. (their water supply is their very existance) Charlies words. What
I have seen happen the two times I have been, it does not suprise me one bit that they have closed their gates. Dig holes in the cemetery not filled in, people driving all over the cemetery, quads and motorbikes tearing up the place, unfilled holes everywhere, people shooting goats, people knocking lease markers out.These people have had enough, to say they do SFA for their tena or have not picked up the rubbish that campers and prospecters have left behind is not only a kick in the teeth of the farmer but to all the campers and prospecters who love this place. I will say again they are farmers not slaves to their visitors. These people owe us nothing. So to those that want to get a bit more out of their camping or detecting trip I say head nor east to the gold coast and see what a tena gets you. To Charlie and Family Thank You.

p.s Something I have never seen is a thief digging holes and not filling them in .

Its a shame to hear storys like this, incosiderate people ruining things for others. I was recently in Tibooburra for new years and for Blackies 50th. Ive known Blackie for years as I am best friends with his nephew. Having not had my detector for long I was extremely excited to get out and have a go while I was there. Blackie told me stories about the gold that prospectors had found on his station, and the gold they hadnt... After hearing that 2 blokes had found well over 20 ounces in 4 days 7 months ago I was really keen to get out there, so Blackie drew me a map of where I should look. Due to the extreme heat during the day and the swarms of mozzies at night I didnt get to have much of a swing.

But to the point, people like Blackie at Mt. Sturt Station and owners of surrounding stations around the Tibooburra and Milparinka area are welcoming usually only charging $10 a day and allowing people to stay in the shearers quarters etc, sometimes even putting on a feast and beers if your lucky. Im not saying that alot of people do but if we dont respect these properties then this sort of stuff will happen elsewhere. Its not like they make alot of money off people prospecting on their property so its not going to affect them if they ban prospectors.

I know I'm new to the forum just thought I would throw my two bob out there seeing as I slightly know the area

why is it closed I was told mining company a leases over the hole range .
can some one tell me ./

Hi all I believe that is the case, I was up at milpariga last year &was told that is the main reason it was closed ..
Cheers all Barry..

Just wondering, has there been any change here? Is there other private areas that are still accessible, even pay per day? Cheers