NSW Crown Land Temp permits frustration

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 16, 2022
Messages
51
Reaction score
79
Location
Sydney
Hi all,
I thought I would give this enough time to play out and at this point I think it's worth a mention.
Being a newb to the game and wanting to play by the rules, I followed due process in regards to my desire to swing over a few crown land lots. I firstly emailed NSW Crown Lands with my wish list and got a response within about two days. The response was that the request for temporary permits was forwarded on to the regional office responsible for my area of interest. In this case, the Goulbern office. Then about two weeks later I received a request from that office for screen shots from Sixmaps highlighting the intended fossicking areas within the lots. A bit weird I thought as I had already provided dp, lot numbers and descriptions of locations and I had no idea where within the lots I would be able to practice detecting. Anyway I sent in the screenshots of lots within wider areas and ignored specifying any within lot intent as I just didn't know at this point. I waited and waited. After four weeks I sent them an enquiry as to the status of my request. I got a reply the next day saying my application had now been delegated to a particular staff member. That person was also ccd by Goulbern manager and asked to make contact with me. I waited a week and directly emailed the staff member. They replied the next day saying, yes they had my application for temporary permits and they would process it in due course but to be aware that it would not happen in the foreseeable future. My application with screen shots went in on September 4 and this is now late November.
Obviously temporary fossicking permits are not a priority (fair enough) and perhaps staffing shortages and or a big workload would be contributing but it does seem a little discouraging. Has anybody had recent similar experiences or am I just having a series of unfortunate events?
 
Last edited:
it's Crown Land FFS, we the people have every right to go there if we want to, remember NSW in its wisdom stopped doing miners rights and that it seems is where we lost most of our rights,

I think the rules say if its vacant crown land you have and can access it, in theory most creeks are also crown land, excluding the banks and verges, so you can walk, pan and fish from the creek bed itself so long as you don't have to cross private property to get to the creek bed
 
it's Crown Land FFS, we the people have every right to go there if we want to, remember NSW in its wisdom stopped doing miners rights and that it seems is where we lost most of our rights,

I think the rules say if its vacant crown land you have and can access it, in theory most creeks are also crown land, excluding the banks and verges, so you can walk, pan and fish from the creek bed itself so long as you don't have to cross private property to get to the creek bed
There does seem to be some catch 22 in all of this. I would think that vacant crown land is the only crown land that temporary permits can be issued for. Otherwise it would be up to the manager of the land that has been leased out by the Crown. From a map or roadside, determining if a parcel is "vacant" is not really possible so I would think that an inquiry to crown lands as to the status of the land would be pretty simple- if it is vacant with no leases or indigenous interests then a temporary permit should be forthcoming with no hinderance, if there are leases or other management or interests then the crown says no we cant provide a permit, you will have to take this up with the managing body or party with interest in the parcel. I noticed that @mbasko had a problem with Crown Lands a couple of years ago which seemed to be as a result of staff not correctly interpreting policy but I believe that was resolved. Perhaps there is no malice but just a bit of incompetence in regard to dealing with requests to fossick?
I am getting close to just jumping off bridges with a pair of waders and walking the creekbeds but I was hoping to do some ridgeline swinging which doesnt often come with road crossings and creekbeds ha ha.
 
I'm waiting on the Dubbo office (several weeks now) to reply to a request under their area too.
The Orange office on the other hand seems to get through the process within a week.
I don't know why one Crown Lands office would be any quicker than another given they should all have people employed for that task i.e. permits, leases, work requests etc. & it wouldn't be a huge amount of time on their end to do given the basic template for the permit has been done!

In the past unmanaged/vacant crown land was ok to fossick on without any problems but in the last 2-3 years the goal posts have moved & it now requires the issuing of these Crown Lands Temp. Fossicking Permits.
I have been knocked back on some areas as they were deemed "unsuitable" for fossicking, although they are very suitable. Others I've been given permission on only to find them inaccessible, unsuitable or both - so the whole system is a bit hit & miss IMO.

Any managed crown land requires the permission of the land manager (no permit from Crown Lands is required if permission is granted by land managers).
Leased Crown Land is treated the same as private property.

You need to find out the Crown Land status from NSW Crown Lands, if unknown, as there is no way to find that out using any online means like Six Maps, Minview etc.

NSW Crown Lands would be a lot better off identifying "suitable" unmanaged lands & having a state wide permit system for those areas similar to the NSW State Forests permit. Any other possible areas could then be followed up further where required reducing their workload.
 
yes mbasko, they have really destroyed the prospecting and fossicking in NSW, it all started with the $25.00/year permits to go into the forest areas and has been added to since, the granting of the various LGA's as designated fossicking zones has not had any impact or better access either, it is obvious that NSW is just wanting to get rid of individual prospectors and fossickers, mate, it don't seem to matter who is running the show the big ship just keeps sailing in the same direction

Mod edit: Political discussion particularly involving specific political parties or politicians isn't allowed so has been edited out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I knew this was going to be an issue several years ago after a convo and beers with some high ranking NPWS NSW and State Forests fellas at Torrington....
Well Its way too late to do anything about it now after the Horse has a great lead on us 'little' people...

Remember a statement was made a year or so ago by Government of NSW that "there is only a couple of Hundred Retirees who metal detect in NSW...' That says it all... Boom, goes Prospecting and Fossicking in NSW..

Mod edit: Defamatory comments against organisations or individuals will be removed whether they are directly named or not.

LW....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It appears to me to be almost getting to the stage of fossickers saying: Why Bother! Mackka

Thats why there is so much Illegal activities in NSW Fossicking areas now Mackka...

Those who choose to ignore the rules are NOW the majority Unfortunately..

LW....
 
Last edited:
I'm waiting on the Dubbo office (several weeks now) to reply to a request under their area too.
The Orange office on the other hand seems to get through the process within a week.
I don't know why one Crown Lands office would be any quicker than another given they should all have people employed for that task i.e. permits, leases, work requests etc. & it wouldn't be a huge amount of time on their end to do given the basic template for the permit has been done!

In the past unmanaged/vacant crown land was ok to fossick on without any problems but in the last 2-3 years the goal posts have moved & it now requires the issuing of these Crown Lands Temp. Fossicking Permits.
I have been knocked back on some areas as they were deemed "unsuitable" for fossicking, although they are very suitable. Others I've been given permission on only to find them inaccessible, unsuitable or both - so the whole system is a bit hit & miss IMO.

Any managed crown land requires the permission of the land manager (no permit from Crown Lands is required if permission is granted by land managers).
Leased Crown Land is treated the same as private property.

You need to find out the Crown Land status from NSW Crown Lands, if unknown, as there is no way to find that out using any online means like Six Maps, Minview etc.

NSW Crown Lands would be a lot better off identifying "suitable" unmanaged lands & having a state wide permit system for those areas similar to the NSW State Forests permit. Any other possible areas could then be followed up further where required reducing their workload.
I vote Matt for the new minister with the NSW crown lands portfolio. An absolutely straight forward and efficient proposal for dealing with suitable crown lands for fossicking. Oh wait, it's for the public service and that requires a more convoluted approach to policies that impact the wider public. Unless you can weave brown paper bags, backhanders and outsourcing into your proposal, I'm afraid it's a non-starter. Sorry a bit cynical but I have worked at that end and seen it from the inside.
 
yes mbasko, they have really destroyed the prospecting and fossicking in NSW, it all started with the $25.00/year permits to go into the forest areas and has been added to since, the granting of the various LGA's as designated fossicking zones has not had any impact or better access either, it is obvious that NSW is just wanting to get rid of individual prospectors and fossickers, mate, it don't seem to matter who is running the show the big ship just keeps sailing in the same direction

Mod edit: Political discussion particularly involving specific political parties or politicians isn't allowed so has been edited out.
That's because mostly it's caused by red tape wielding bureaucrats regardless of the elected Government.

Just a footnote:
We do allow a fair bit of free reign on political type discussion but we won't allow discussion around specific party/s or politicians.
We need to respect that members have differing political views, in many cases, & that it is a major cause of disagreement in many forums not just here or online.
As such any reference to specific party/s or politicians will be removed without notice as per the PA Forum Rules.
 
yep that'll be a standard reason for every "PERMIT REQUEST" bloody underhanded 💩
That's not correct.
I've got around 8 active permits at the moment.
Yes it's frustrating to get knocked back on areas but as above there are usually reasons that both pre-date the permits & are out of NSW Crown Lands control i.e. the above example points directly to the Shoalhaven LEP zoning + Aboriginal Land/Native Title Claims - all of which is land that has always been off limits to fossicking in NSW. The permit system hasn't changed that but has possibly highlighted areas previously thought ok but by rights weren't/aren't.
 
Hi all,
I thought I would give this enough time to play out and at this point I think it's worth a mention.
Being a newb to the game and wanting to play by the rules, I followed due process in regards to my desire to swing over a few crown land lots. I firstly emailed NSW Crown Lands with my wish list and got a response within about two days. The response was that the request for temporary permits was forwarded on to the regional office responsible for my area of interest. In this case, the Goulbern office. Then about two weeks later I received a request from that office for screen shots from Sixmaps highlighting the intended fossicking areas within the lots. A bit weird I thought as I had already provided dp, lot numbers and descriptions of locations and I had no idea where within the lots I would be able to practice detecting. Anyway I sent in the screenshots of lots within wider areas and ignored specifying any within lot intent as I just didn't know at this point. I waited and waited. After four weeks I sent them an enquiry as to the status of my request. I got a reply the next day saying my application had now been delegated to a particular staff member. That person was also ccd by Goulbern manager and asked to make contact with me. I waited a week and directly emailed the staff member. They replied the next day saying, yes they had my application for temporary permits and they would process it in due course but to be aware that it would not happen in the foreseeable future. My application with screen shots went in on September 4 and this is now late November.
Obviously temporary fossicking permits are not a priority (fair enough) and perhaps staffing shortages and or a big workload would be contributing but it does seem a little discouraging. Has anybody had recent similar experiences or am I just having a series of unfortunate events?
There does seem to be a particular problem in the Goulburn office.
I first contacted that office in February 2022 for a temporary fossicking permit and had the same issue with the need to identifying exact area where we intended to go to rather than Finally got that sorted and received permit paperwork in July. Signed and returned for finalisation. No reply. Unfortunately the person I had been working with had left but nothing had been done to cover any unfinished work. After several more phone calls and emails explaining the situation was told that this should be easy to complete as the paperwork had already been done. Still no permit!
Finally in February 2023 I made a formal complaint to NSW Crown Lands and surprise surprise received my signed permit within two days!
The Orange office on the other hand recently sent a reminder that my temporary Permit with them had expired and would I like to renew it. A totally different experience!

Ros
 
There does seem to be a particular problem in the Goulburn office.
I first contacted that office in February 2022 for a temporary fossicking permit and had the same issue with the need to identifying exact area where we intended to go to rather than Finally got that sorted and received permit paperwork in July. Signed and returned for finalisation. No reply. Unfortunately the person I had been working with had left but nothing had been done to cover any unfinished work. After several more phone calls and emails explaining the situation was told that this should be easy to complete as the paperwork had already been done. Still no permit!
Finally in February 2023 I made a formal complaint to NSW Crown Lands and surprise surprise received my signed permit within two days!
The Orange office on the other hand recently sent a reminder that my temporary Permit with them had expired and would I like to renew it. A totally different experience!

Ros
Not good!
They need a whole of state system of administration using the Orange office as the example of how it's done.
 
There does seem to be a particular problem in the Goulburn office.
I first contacted that office in February 2022 for a temporary fossicking permit and had the same issue with the need to identifying exact area where we intended to go to rather than Finally got that sorted and received permit paperwork in July. Signed and returned for finalisation. No reply. Unfortunately the person I had been working with had left but nothing had been done to cover any unfinished work. After several more phone calls and emails explaining the situation was told that this should be easy to complete as the paperwork had already been done. Still no permit!
Finally in February 2023 I made a formal complaint to NSW Crown Lands and surprise surprise received my signed permit within two days!
The Orange office on the other hand recently sent a reminder that my temporary Permit with them had expired and would I like to renew it. A totally different experience!

Ros
I have given up hope of my request ever getting onto somebodies desk. I am feeling pretty frustrated having put in many hours to work out where a fella with a two wheeler might be able to hike in to some viable areas. I guess I will have to start researching again for areas outside of Goulbern office administration. I'll ring them up and ask where their northern boundary kicks in.
 
Top