ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

As I’m about to head off for awhile I thought I may as well post this one, it may just give an insight into the minds of lunatics like me that spend their lives chasing gold.
The Holy Grail for gold prospectors is to find a virgin patch, which can vary from a few grams to (rarely) hundreds of ounces.
Now should all the stars align themselves correctly and you actually do stumble onto a patch we can become quite paranoid - Terry


A GLINT OF GOLD – The patch

For fifteen days I’ve searched out here without a speck to show,
with heat and flies tormenting me, perhaps it’s time to go.
But something urges me to stay - a feeling if you like,
a nagging sense of being close to making soon a strike.
For somewhere in this lonely place and not too far away,
but hidden just within the soil, I’m sure the nuggets lay.

And then a premonition - I suppose that’s what you’d say?
now made me change direction and then go the other way.
I’d worked my way along a ridge and checked out all the creeks,
while searching through rough country, like I had been now for weeks.
But suddenly I had the urge to cross an old bush track
and look at rocky places where the stones were shiny black.

The signal was so loud and clear it took me by surprise
and now my pulse was racing and I soon forgot the flies.
There laying on the surface was a shiny piece of gold,
embedded in white quartz, perhaps a gram or two all told.
Excitement quickly surfaced at the prospects for this find,
it’s out in virgin country without mines of any kind.

I started looking all around, with hopes that there’d be more,
I’d faced this same dilemma out in other spots before.
I now detected carefully, all senses on alert,
while hoping for a signal from within that rich red dirt.
But after searching likely ground that looked a perfect match,
I had this awful feeling that I’d found a one piece patch.

I must have spent an hour or so while checking out nearby,
but not another thing was found - my hopes began to die.
Reluctantly I then moved on, my spirits somewhat down,
continuing to search near all the likely spots around.
Then just before the sun had set I found a piece at last
then two more bits were found close by - my heart was pounding fast.

I moved my camp that evening, then quickly hurried back,
and brushed out all the wheel marks where I’d turned in of the track.
I didn’t bother with a fire - although I’m out of sight,
for lights are seen from miles away by sharp eyes in the night.
A restless sleep then followed dreaming of those shiny stones,
I’m sure a patch is close at hand - I feel it in my bones.

I clambered out at first light and began the search again
and started near a quartz flat where the other three had lain.
Then crossed an ancient creek to where an island had once been;
once more those black and shiny stones could now be clearly seen.
I’d taken just a step or two before a piece was found,
and signals then came thick and fast for gold lay all around.

Forgotten were those fruitless days of tramping miles in vain,
when doubts began to creep in then, of finding gold again.
Excitedly I dug each piece and hardly had to move,
before I found the next one; I was really in the groove.
Some signals yielded more than one, and often three or four,
bright shiny golden nuggets - I was on a patch once more.

Although the gold was small, it was the richest patch I’d seen,
with nuggets in their hundreds; all were beautiful and clean.
I worked from daylight until dusk, behaving quite absurd,
by diving under cover at the slightest sound I heard.
Exciting days drag into weeks without an end in sight,
I’ve found a golden spot here and the future’s looking bright.

*****
© T.E. Piggott

Fact or fiction, Terry? It's just a shame gold prospecting has to be such an anti-social activity, but by it's nature, I guess that's the way it is. I reckon if I was out in the middle of nowhere the last thing I would want to to is hide myself away! Sounds like you know what you are doing, though.

Hey Terry that was good and very interesting - what is the connection between black stones and gold???? We had lots of white quartz on our 2nd property plus the Chinese had mined on our land way back when??? - the old winch thing was still over the shaft..and also the remains on a stone fireplace. We also had geologists???? who had flown the site and reckoned there was gold there and wanted to come and explore and then all their interest seemed to fizzle out and we were getting excited about some roads maybe going in. But I have never heard the black stone bit...funnily enough I did pick up a couple of what appeared to be highly polished black stones out there, still have them here, but only kept them because they looked and felt nice.They just look like rounded black pebbless/stones with grey striations through them.

Purely curious. That property has since been sold but it was out the back of Inglewood

Terry...There's a couple of blokes up at Sofala who have worked out how to make a fortune out of gold prospecting. They take holiday parties of dudes and show them how to pan in the river...for a fee. Not much gold left in the Turon River as far as anyone knows.

Sounds very addictive Terry Is there actually anyone out there to be looking for your campfires and wheel tracks though? I imagine it would be a worry being so isolated and having a stash of gold on board - you'd be forever worried about being mugged or worse.

Heather

I dig it, man!

keats

Hi Stephen
At first glance it may appear I'm a miserable so and so, but over the thirty plus years that I have prospected for gold I have helped a lot of people, mostly those who have just started out and need a little encouragement, and around the old patches we're not too fussed about what anyone else does.
But when you're prospecting for a living and have spent weeks if not months looking for a new patch you want first crack at it for yourself, It can mean the difference of a reasonable year or a poor one as prospecting is a very costly business. There is an unwritten law among the professionals that if you come across some one on a new patch you leave it to him.

Cheers Terry

G/day Maureen,
The black stones mentioned in this poem are ironstone that has been tumbled and polished over the eons in the creeks and rivers and are one of the best indicators of alluvial gold. The stones come in all sises, the ones where this patch was found were from tiny pebbles through to pieces as big as a football. In other places I have found gold where the stones were all quite small but still highly polished. Your place sounds interesting, if the Chinese were there there is a very good chance there was alluvial gold perhaps in deep leads. If I ever get over your way I'll bring a detector and offer to split anything found with you. or better still hire a detector and try yourself, mind yo a little experience is a help.
I'm thinking of splashing out and getting a laptop to take up, I have a sort of plan to one day do a book of short stories mixed with a few poems, just and idle thought at moment .

Terry

Hi Neville,
There are several blokes who do what they call Tag-along Tours. the going rate used be $1000 for anyone detecting and $500 if you just came along for the ride, for that you would be taken to various places to have a try. In the early days most did ok, but I suspect it's a lot harder these days, most of those on the tours come from over east

Hi Heather,
Yes there are still lots of people (many of them from over east) especially during the cooler months. That's why we tend to be in out of the way spots to try and get away from the mob, but even then the odd one gets out there there. We have had a lot of trouble on our lease.
But you are right you either love the life or hate it, it depends on whether you can handle the solitude or not, but it can be quite addictive as you suggest.

Cheers terry

Thanks for the offer Terry but my ex sold the property - but someone else might strike it rich .. I suppose in retrospect we probably should have had a go ourselves but never had the time. The property was a soldiers settlement block accessed through a big property out there called Warroo which comes up on most maps of the Inglewood area. It was originally called 'Stone Fireplace' because of the old fireplace that the Chinese had built in their hut be we renamed it "Dilladerri' which means heavily timbered in the local aboriginal dialect. It was purchased by the Humane Society International as a wildlife conservation park and has several species of endangered vegetation on it.

Thanks Matt,
I've always said that I'm the only sane person in that outback asylum mate.
The omens aren't that flash the bloke who was supposed to be doing some dryblowing for us appears to be getting cold feet. The trouble is that our lease is in such a remote area, ah well it looks like more tramping and trying to find another patch.


G/day Keats,
I'm hoping there will be a bit of digging this trip as well.


Cheers Terry