Kato and I went away to her 'happy hunting' ground during the school holidays.
Keeping it short - she was looking for more historic evidence, and a location of a 'vege patch'.
This meant two nights on site and serious target hunting along with recording of finds.
First night we were approached by a Caretaker, staff of the local campground that is still closed. (probably on JobKeeper, so no motivation to work)
In SA we are lucky and all this stuff was allowed to open a month ago.
He threw his weight around and was quite drunk, I could smell it 3m away, all ended well...
Next day we continued with our work, had a problem with BBQ's (Caretaker crap - Council had ordered them to turn them on a month ago, they did not)
But toilets were usable and clean although seats were limited.
That night we had a visit by Police at 9.30pm while settled down to bed in the Van watching, 'The Detectorists' - no camping gear, we use the van on these sort of stops.
He checked things, we had a chat, and he explained he was just the meat in the sandwich so had to attend, he was fine with us and what we were doing.
Twice I asked if he wanted us to move or anything, he was totally okay with us.
Last day.... we were back at work, and making headway, almost finished that zone, but over by the Van was a Ute (Council Ute on a Sunday)
so we went over and checked it out. The guy was good, he had been sent out to checkout 'campers' but could see no camping of any sort
and was not worried that we had slept in the Van overnight, he left with a smile.
Back to work..
About an hour later two guys turned up, chatted with the Caretaker and then went to the Van and looked it over, I gave them a wave and they came over.
Council guys, about 6' 120kg Sunnies on, and 6'3" 95kg - Mr 6'3" spoke politely, Mr Sunny's had a bad attitude and agro tones !
Leaning on my plug digger I told them to stop approaching us, expressed the the tall guy was cool and I would speak to him but Mr Sunnies that he needed
to curb his attitude, tone it and that I would not speak to him at all !
With that I turned to Mr 6'3" and smiled. He explained he was from local council and had a report of "prospecting", they could not see a single mark anywhere.
(I know who did that, Mr SAPOL had told me the previous night)
He asked for ID, I refused that as we were on public ground and he had no rights to it, but did tell him my name and that he had recorded my rego.
So we had a conversation, and basically he said we needed a 'permit', I asked about from where, who and how much ?
He had no idea of any of it.
Then I advised we had permission to use almost ALL of the private land in the area naming the owner, and if he had any preconceived idea's on that.
He knew nothing about local ownership but pressed on about permits and we needed to pack up.
I pondered this, and then agreed, sometimes they just throw around their 'weight' to satisfy a caller, so we packed up and I explained to Kato that there
was no issue, "we recorded all our work and can return to it next time"
Besides we could investigate the owner of some land on the way home.
WELL there is the TROPHY !
We found the only family to be continuously living in that place since it was first settled in 1850, Kato and I spent 4 1/2 hrs
talking and discussing Kato's interests, she now knows exactly where that 'vege patch' is located, she has seen historic pictures in the living flesh in the
ownership of this family, got the stories, history and permissions, made new friends and even found a lithograph collection that there are only 150 copies of in the world,
all from the beginning of South Australia but assembled at home in the UK by the South Australia Company.
She has invites to be taken around the area and shown the family history.
What an awesome bonus !
The person that called Council and Police, I tracked down and got him to call me, we had a good conversation and it wont be a problem in the future,
he just didnt know who we were and was doing what he thought best, I'm okay with that.
Council permits, well they need to be a well defined 'by-law' and everything needs to be available to be found by the Public, they cant just invent one - doesnt exist, funny about that !
Only 'Prospecting' in SA needs that, and by definition we were only fossicking which is quite legal in SA on Public area's, as long as you leave no visible or physical damage.
Will we return there ? HELL YEAH !! Got this place all nailed down now, LOL
Another BONUS score... Kato has been accepted to assist digitizing historical records for local Council Library, State Library and even the State Records (AG's Dept).
All voluntary roles but it will help her in her "hobby" and even future career.
So Winner Winner Winner :trophy: :trophy: :trophy:
Did she find anything detecting ?..... some lead sprue... is that important ? Yes if it matches the musket ball she had found nearly 9 months ago at the same site within meters.
:100: :Y:
Keeping it short - she was looking for more historic evidence, and a location of a 'vege patch'.
This meant two nights on site and serious target hunting along with recording of finds.
First night we were approached by a Caretaker, staff of the local campground that is still closed. (probably on JobKeeper, so no motivation to work)
In SA we are lucky and all this stuff was allowed to open a month ago.
He threw his weight around and was quite drunk, I could smell it 3m away, all ended well...
Next day we continued with our work, had a problem with BBQ's (Caretaker crap - Council had ordered them to turn them on a month ago, they did not)
But toilets were usable and clean although seats were limited.
That night we had a visit by Police at 9.30pm while settled down to bed in the Van watching, 'The Detectorists' - no camping gear, we use the van on these sort of stops.
He checked things, we had a chat, and he explained he was just the meat in the sandwich so had to attend, he was fine with us and what we were doing.
Twice I asked if he wanted us to move or anything, he was totally okay with us.
Last day.... we were back at work, and making headway, almost finished that zone, but over by the Van was a Ute (Council Ute on a Sunday)
so we went over and checked it out. The guy was good, he had been sent out to checkout 'campers' but could see no camping of any sort
and was not worried that we had slept in the Van overnight, he left with a smile.
Back to work..
About an hour later two guys turned up, chatted with the Caretaker and then went to the Van and looked it over, I gave them a wave and they came over.
Council guys, about 6' 120kg Sunnies on, and 6'3" 95kg - Mr 6'3" spoke politely, Mr Sunny's had a bad attitude and agro tones !
Leaning on my plug digger I told them to stop approaching us, expressed the the tall guy was cool and I would speak to him but Mr Sunnies that he needed
to curb his attitude, tone it and that I would not speak to him at all !
With that I turned to Mr 6'3" and smiled. He explained he was from local council and had a report of "prospecting", they could not see a single mark anywhere.
(I know who did that, Mr SAPOL had told me the previous night)
He asked for ID, I refused that as we were on public ground and he had no rights to it, but did tell him my name and that he had recorded my rego.
So we had a conversation, and basically he said we needed a 'permit', I asked about from where, who and how much ?
He had no idea of any of it.
Then I advised we had permission to use almost ALL of the private land in the area naming the owner, and if he had any preconceived idea's on that.
He knew nothing about local ownership but pressed on about permits and we needed to pack up.
I pondered this, and then agreed, sometimes they just throw around their 'weight' to satisfy a caller, so we packed up and I explained to Kato that there
was no issue, "we recorded all our work and can return to it next time"
Besides we could investigate the owner of some land on the way home.
WELL there is the TROPHY !
We found the only family to be continuously living in that place since it was first settled in 1850, Kato and I spent 4 1/2 hrs
talking and discussing Kato's interests, she now knows exactly where that 'vege patch' is located, she has seen historic pictures in the living flesh in the
ownership of this family, got the stories, history and permissions, made new friends and even found a lithograph collection that there are only 150 copies of in the world,
all from the beginning of South Australia but assembled at home in the UK by the South Australia Company.
She has invites to be taken around the area and shown the family history.
What an awesome bonus !
The person that called Council and Police, I tracked down and got him to call me, we had a good conversation and it wont be a problem in the future,
he just didnt know who we were and was doing what he thought best, I'm okay with that.
Council permits, well they need to be a well defined 'by-law' and everything needs to be available to be found by the Public, they cant just invent one - doesnt exist, funny about that !
Only 'Prospecting' in SA needs that, and by definition we were only fossicking which is quite legal in SA on Public area's, as long as you leave no visible or physical damage.
Will we return there ? HELL YEAH !! Got this place all nailed down now, LOL
Another BONUS score... Kato has been accepted to assist digitizing historical records for local Council Library, State Library and even the State Records (AG's Dept).
All voluntary roles but it will help her in her "hobby" and even future career.
So Winner Winner Winner :trophy: :trophy: :trophy:
Did she find anything detecting ?..... some lead sprue... is that important ? Yes if it matches the musket ball she had found nearly 9 months ago at the same site within meters.
:100: :Y: