Hi,
New to the forum,but I think I'm meant to be here,the bloke on the left of the nugget holding the shovel is my mates daughter in laws Ancestral Grandad,John Deason,
My ancestral Grandad Michael McEwan, was one of the miners that helped Peter Lalor hide from the persuing red coat soldiers after the Eureka Stockade Rebellion in Ballarat,
My interest started when a mate showed me how to pan for gold in Watsons creek above Warrandyte,the first glimpse of the shiny yellow stuff got my pulse rate pumping,
The obsession got me and I built my own dredge complete with little motor and air compressor for diving, towed along on a tractor tyre tube,Watching the last few pebbles disappear from the crevices of the Goulburn river to unveil gold filled gutters were always memorable moments I'll never forget,
Then VLF Metal detectors came in 1980 and my two golfing mates and I used to drive up the Calder Hwy on a Friday night discussing how we were going to spend the money we were going to get from the nuggets we found, :goldnugget:
Sunday night driving home with a few 'Moses Levy' buttons eating fish and chips was usually very quiet,
We all eventually found nuggets, not 'Hand of Faiths' but nuggets,
What did we learn ? That patience and hard work eventually paid off,and learnt about Victoria's gold mining history,and while having a counter tea in Dunolly one Saturday night excitement went through the room as someone having tea too passed around from table to table a nugget they had found that day, I can still remember the weight of it as I looked down into my hand at the cricket ball sized shiny nugget of pure gold with no ironstone or quartz on it !
Lots of funny true stories to tell you of 1980 but alas I'm nodding off at the moment, I'll put a couple of pics on,
Cheers
New to the forum,but I think I'm meant to be here,the bloke on the left of the nugget holding the shovel is my mates daughter in laws Ancestral Grandad,John Deason,
My ancestral Grandad Michael McEwan, was one of the miners that helped Peter Lalor hide from the persuing red coat soldiers after the Eureka Stockade Rebellion in Ballarat,
My interest started when a mate showed me how to pan for gold in Watsons creek above Warrandyte,the first glimpse of the shiny yellow stuff got my pulse rate pumping,
The obsession got me and I built my own dredge complete with little motor and air compressor for diving, towed along on a tractor tyre tube,Watching the last few pebbles disappear from the crevices of the Goulburn river to unveil gold filled gutters were always memorable moments I'll never forget,
Then VLF Metal detectors came in 1980 and my two golfing mates and I used to drive up the Calder Hwy on a Friday night discussing how we were going to spend the money we were going to get from the nuggets we found, :goldnugget:
Sunday night driving home with a few 'Moses Levy' buttons eating fish and chips was usually very quiet,
We all eventually found nuggets, not 'Hand of Faiths' but nuggets,
What did we learn ? That patience and hard work eventually paid off,and learnt about Victoria's gold mining history,and while having a counter tea in Dunolly one Saturday night excitement went through the room as someone having tea too passed around from table to table a nugget they had found that day, I can still remember the weight of it as I looked down into my hand at the cricket ball sized shiny nugget of pure gold with no ironstone or quartz on it !
Lots of funny true stories to tell you of 1980 but alas I'm nodding off at the moment, I'll put a couple of pics on,
Cheers
