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Ok thanks, that's food for thought and something I didn't think of at all. The shape of it had me convinced there was a little hole on the skinny end but I don't think there is. I'm pretty sure it's lead and it has a white coating. It's a very interesting spot and I can't wait to get back. I...

I have a much better idea of where the chalet was now. All the info was right there in the article, I just needed to re-read it haha. I'd say the wharf was at Edmonton boat ramp too. It is the most direct route down to Trinity Inlet from what was the plantation, and there aren't really any other...

Thanks for the reply mate. The timeline is roughly 1880s -1890s, so a bit further back in time. I'm thinking I need to buy a book or two to start filling in all the gaps I have.

I have 2 questions about the old Hambledon Plantation up here in sunny Cairns. Surely someone will have the answers. 1) Where is the location of the original Swallow residence? I've been driving around and trying to match it up with photos I have but to no avail really. I know the central area...

Another curious little artefact from the same site. At first I thought it might be a simple little amulet or something, but it might just be a home-made sinker.

Hey thanks for the link that really helps. It's looking like a common 4 character coin from the Ching dynasty. Now to narrow it down I guess. I found it in an area not known for gold prospecting but I saw some other evidence of mining and what I now think would have made a great safe campsite...

I found what looks like a coin, detecting around Cairns this morning. One side looks like it might be Chinese characters but it's hard to tell. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Tropix

Nah not the info I would have liked lol but definitely a nice bloke. I'm starting to get why people keep these things to themselves, and the hunt and the research is half the fun!

aah I see now I think. Nice!

Yeah, I reckon the frame couldn't be too old. But a lot of digging has been done there at some point. To be honest I don't know yet about gold. I walked around and mucked around with the metal detector and ended up taking 2 buckets of sample home with me that I'll pan in the morning. Got a nice...

Here's some photos I got today @ Freshwater Creek.

Just in case anyone stumbles on this and is as interested as I am, I think I found a worked section of the Lower Freshwater fields today. If not in the 1890s, definitely at some stage in the twentieth century. I'm not going to say exactly where it is, but let's just say I found it by coincidence...

RIP to your friend. I think I'm heading in the right direction. I'm going to do the Lake Morris walk tomorrow to try and get a feel for the area and find some more clues. The thing is there are literally hundreds of tributaries that feed into Freshwater creek. They never found a source for the...

I was a little skewed with my info, but on the right track still I reckon. The guys who originally found gold had been working for the Hambledon sugar plantation, which covered a lot of what is now Edmonton, and heading higher up into the foothills of the ranges. They had been commissioned to...

Hi mate are you still around? I know this thread is ancient but I've become fairly obsessed with searching for gold in the area. This thread has been a gold mine in itself. I've been trying to narrow down the Freshwater goldfields. From the archived documents I've gone over (mostly here), the...

Thanks for the info mate. Might be Western Creek after all.

G'day everyone, I'm itching to get out of Cairns and go find some gold, and I'm wondering about getting access to the Palmer River. I have a couple of questions: 1) would my Forrester handle the road out there at this time of the year? And (if so) 2) who do I contact about camping out there? On...

Thanks Grubstake. I've already pored over every word of that thread, and I got heaps from it. I love reading the historical acccounts. Makes me feel like I'm there with the old-timers, and I actually have Cornish ancestors who were miners and came here for the gold rush. I'm going to see if I...

G'day all and thanks for having me. Like many others here I'm sure, I've caught the gold bug and quickly become almost obsessed with this hobby, and it would be great to meet some other prospectors up here. I like to mix it up between panning and detecting, but I haven't had any real luck yet...