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Compliments of the season to all
- Thread starter bris dave
- Start date
Jonathan Porter
New member
Nice to see you too suffer from a little nostalgia Dave, this forum used to pump along pretty heavily a few years back. All the best to forum readers for the festive season from sunny hot Clermont .
Jonathan and family
Jonathan and family
Grubby, Thanks mate. I hope you continue to get among the nuggets again this year.
Jon, Thanks also. I fancy Clermont is a tad tropical at the moment. Hard yakka getting a bit of colour when the mercury is pushing 40C.
I remember Nov./Dec in the Palmer being particularly oppressive and having to knock off around 10 or 11 due to the heat.
Yes, this forum was a bit lively a few years back. I sometimes miss the debates but not the abuse.
All the best again to all here.
Jon, Thanks also. I fancy Clermont is a tad tropical at the moment. Hard yakka getting a bit of colour when the mercury is pushing 40C.
I remember Nov./Dec in the Palmer being particularly oppressive and having to knock off around 10 or 11 due to the heat.
Yes, this forum was a bit lively a few years back. I sometimes miss the debates but not the abuse.
All the best again to all here.
Jonathan Porter
New member
Yes Dave time has a way of tempering the way we act and think. In some ways I wish I could go back to the moment we all met on the side of the track up near the North Palmer, I would have loved to have gone for a run around the place with you. The palmer has a way of getting under your skin, no matter where I have been the Palmer has always been the place I compare things with. I am sure you often find yourself reflecting on your time there?
JP
JP
G day Jon,
What you say about the Palmer is exactly true. I find myself comparing a lot of what I do to what happened in that area. There is not a day goes by when I dont look at a piece of earthmoving gear being used to build roads or in a sales yard and unintentionally think of how I could use it on my old ground. Similarly, I have a new way of looking at piles of old steel "rubbish" and thinking how it could be reused to repair a shaker or add to a camp.
I also have altered the way I react to people (to the better I might add) and their actions in light of the way people up there went out of their way to help me in times of need.
Interesteing place indeed.
I havent spoken to Ray Marchant for a couple of months which I must do soon. He lost his son through suicide last year and Lucy was distraught as you can imagine. Last time I spoke they were getting on OK but Ray is getting very old now and struggling a bit. His Palmer days are behind him I think as the trip in is a little too much especially as now the road is terrible. Over 3 hours from Whites Ck to the Dog Leg Crossing!
As far as this forum goes and its history, I recall my big beef was with the action of Bush and his cronies re. Iraq. Time has proved me and countless others much smarter than I, totally correct. It was a real shame people couldnt read simple history and apply it as a tens of thousands of lives would have been saved and the world would be a much safer and prosperous place at this very moment. The abuse I copped from the likes of Joe Body on this issue was both disturbing and amusing depending on what level ones looks at it, but thems the breaks I guess.
I am looking forward to going back to the Palmer next year for a couple of weeks doing a bit of detecting with my old SD2000 mod ( yes, I still have it lol) some fishing, yabbying and a whole lot of reading. Probably help driving a digger for a couple of days to give the new bloke a hand as well. Might see you there eh? Gold is hard to find now though. The Milkman Flat boys are pretty good opperators and have been there for a long while.
Anyway, have a good New Year mate. Cya in Jan., as I am going away for a few weeks.
Cheers.
What you say about the Palmer is exactly true. I find myself comparing a lot of what I do to what happened in that area. There is not a day goes by when I dont look at a piece of earthmoving gear being used to build roads or in a sales yard and unintentionally think of how I could use it on my old ground. Similarly, I have a new way of looking at piles of old steel "rubbish" and thinking how it could be reused to repair a shaker or add to a camp.
I also have altered the way I react to people (to the better I might add) and their actions in light of the way people up there went out of their way to help me in times of need.
Interesteing place indeed.
I havent spoken to Ray Marchant for a couple of months which I must do soon. He lost his son through suicide last year and Lucy was distraught as you can imagine. Last time I spoke they were getting on OK but Ray is getting very old now and struggling a bit. His Palmer days are behind him I think as the trip in is a little too much especially as now the road is terrible. Over 3 hours from Whites Ck to the Dog Leg Crossing!
As far as this forum goes and its history, I recall my big beef was with the action of Bush and his cronies re. Iraq. Time has proved me and countless others much smarter than I, totally correct. It was a real shame people couldnt read simple history and apply it as a tens of thousands of lives would have been saved and the world would be a much safer and prosperous place at this very moment. The abuse I copped from the likes of Joe Body on this issue was both disturbing and amusing depending on what level ones looks at it, but thems the breaks I guess.
I am looking forward to going back to the Palmer next year for a couple of weeks doing a bit of detecting with my old SD2000 mod ( yes, I still have it lol) some fishing, yabbying and a whole lot of reading. Probably help driving a digger for a couple of days to give the new bloke a hand as well. Might see you there eh? Gold is hard to find now though. The Milkman Flat boys are pretty good opperators and have been there for a long while.
Anyway, have a good New Year mate. Cya in Jan., as I am going away for a few weeks.
Cheers.
Jonathan Porter
New member
Hello again Dave, I prefer to steer clear of political debates as it always leads to more trouble than its worth, don't get wrong though my philosophy is "if you don't vote then don't bitch" so to that end I am very passionate but like to keep a lower profile than most. I hear the Palmer boys have opened up a new area (very inaccessible but productive I hear). I too would like to head back to the Palmer and try my luck, after all its where I started out and is something I think about often. I have just re-read all John Hays books and it has brought back a deep seated longing for the place.
Geoff speaks very highly of his trips and time spent with you soaking in some of the Palmer sunsets, that is something I wish I had done more of when the chance was there rather than getting hung up on principals. Never the less you were in irascible old bastard and deserved all you got.
I suppose you and I were on opposite sides of the glass, I was seeing it as half full and you were seeing it as half empty, either way it was still a glass of water that had more potential. I would like to think that time has bore me out on the GP series, they truly are a good machine when they work correctly.
Regards
Jonathan
Geoff speaks very highly of his trips and time spent with you soaking in some of the Palmer sunsets, that is something I wish I had done more of when the chance was there rather than getting hung up on principals. Never the less you were in irascible old bastard and deserved all you got.
I suppose you and I were on opposite sides of the glass, I was seeing it as half full and you were seeing it as half empty, either way it was still a glass of water that had more potential. I would like to think that time has bore me out on the GP series, they truly are a good machine when they work correctly.Regards
Jonathan
Gday Jon,
Cant argue with your position on politics. Fair enough. It is just I prefer to discuss it rather than not.
As far as the new area is concerned, I dont know it as I am out of the loop these days. I suspect it will be an area they found a few years ago now more towards Palmerville which they were planning to dig and detect. Steep and hard to get to I believe. Good luck to them in that country, they deserve what they can get there.
I must contact Geoff again, I have lost contact. We had some fun cleaning up a small patch together and he was good company.
As far as the GP debate was concerned, my problem was with the first lot of the GPX's. There was faulty components in a lot of them which rendered them effectively useless. A lot of guys were sending them back after a couple of days work and Minelab probably should have done a recall. I know George had a good
Cant argue with your position on politics. Fair enough. It is just I prefer to discuss it rather than not.
As far as the new area is concerned, I dont know it as I am out of the loop these days. I suspect it will be an area they found a few years ago now more towards Palmerville which they were planning to dig and detect. Steep and hard to get to I believe. Good luck to them in that country, they deserve what they can get there.
I must contact Geoff again, I have lost contact. We had some fun cleaning up a small patch together and he was good company.
As far as the GP debate was concerned, my problem was with the first lot of the GPX's. There was faulty components in a lot of them which rendered them effectively useless. A lot of guys were sending them back after a couple of days work and Minelab probably should have done a recall. I know George had a good
Jonathan Porter
New member
I did reasonably well in NSW back in early 1996, biggest bit from memory was 72 grams with a lot of nice pieces under that. The areas we worked were all high level terraces so stick to your Palmer law and look for the deposits high up above the present day streams. Palmer gold is by far and away the prettiest gold I have ever seen straight out of the ground. Some of the pieces we found in and around Milkmans in the early days were stunning (1988 through to 1992), just soak them in a puddle of water and they gleam. I think the Palmer requires so much effort to achieve anything (even the drive in takes effort), but the rewards when they come are bitter sweet.
JP
PS Haven't spoken with Ray Marchant in years, but did come into contact with his son in law here in Clermont (he drives a digger on one of the coal mines (Gregory mine I think, but I think his wife still lives in Weipa), he mentioned the tragedy's in and around poor Rays life. Ray always asked me if I had ever been to Mungin creek, maybe I ought to head up there some day and take a peak? If you are speaking to him pass on my regards would you?
JP
PS Haven't spoken with Ray Marchant in years, but did come into contact with his son in law here in Clermont (he drives a digger on one of the coal mines (Gregory mine I think, but I think his wife still lives in Weipa), he mentioned the tragedy's in and around poor Rays life. Ray always asked me if I had ever been to Mungin creek, maybe I ought to head up there some day and take a peak? If you are speaking to him pass on my regards would you?
The Milkmans Flat area is an interesting one indeed. Lots of history and right in the middle of the richest areas.
When the boys were mining the place proper a few years back they were tossing away the top 30 odd feet and only treating the bottom 5'. While doing this they were intersecting old Chinese tunnels complete with bits and pieces of old gear. I think this was the only deep lead ground in the Palmer if you dont include the Conglomerates.
I once prospected around Rocky before I went to the Palmer years ago and had the chance of comparing the two and it was evident just how much purer the Palmer gold was. The caretaker of the field I was detecting had a bit of Georgetown gold and that was even paler still.Didnt look like gold compared to the 970-980 fine Palmer stuff.
Ray liked MunGin because an old mate of his did very well there once. As I recall he stumbled on an old Chinese camp complete with skeletons and found their gold stash. Apparently it was a substantial building for the old timers to build and parts of it were still evident. I have not been there but Ray spoke of it often.
The NSW ground I am looking at is, I believe a deep lead field with the alluvial wash in the current hills covered in thick basalt. This I understand to be the sorce of the shallow alluvials in the lower gullies.
When the boys were mining the place proper a few years back they were tossing away the top 30 odd feet and only treating the bottom 5'. While doing this they were intersecting old Chinese tunnels complete with bits and pieces of old gear. I think this was the only deep lead ground in the Palmer if you dont include the Conglomerates.
I once prospected around Rocky before I went to the Palmer years ago and had the chance of comparing the two and it was evident just how much purer the Palmer gold was. The caretaker of the field I was detecting had a bit of Georgetown gold and that was even paler still.Didnt look like gold compared to the 970-980 fine Palmer stuff.
Ray liked MunGin because an old mate of his did very well there once. As I recall he stumbled on an old Chinese camp complete with skeletons and found their gold stash. Apparently it was a substantial building for the old timers to build and parts of it were still evident. I have not been there but Ray spoke of it often.
The NSW ground I am looking at is, I believe a deep lead field with the alluvial wash in the current hills covered in thick basalt. This I understand to be the sorce of the shallow alluvials in the lower gullies.
Jonathan Porter
New member
Apparently the diggings right near the camp collapsed onto some chinamen and their mates left them there for fear of the spirits etc (stories of ghosts abound), I was camped there back in 1991 and a massive flood had gone through leaving a lot of their shoring timbers exposed. A bloke called Ned Darcy and his mother were care taking for John Vancia at the time, some of the gold they were scraping out between the slates was beautiful (bugger all fines, all shotty nuggets up to 12 grams), but the clays were so fine they had to soak the wash for a couple of days before they could pan it off. I would say that gold is still there to this day because Ned and his Mum packed up while I was there and left me with a camp full of vegies with no fences and a mob of wild hungry cattle hell bent on eating said garden now that the guard dog was gone. One night I got so sick and tired of the cattle munching and crunching I dragged out the old double barrel shot gun and let of a few rounds into the air just to send them off back up the valley so I could get some sleep. I hate full moons in the bush!!
Ned and his Mum were digging down 2 and 3 feet between the massive slate bars (deco slate too (softish red colour) not green or exposed slate) and scraping out as much pug as they could, it was amazing to see just how far the gold had migrated down into the cracks with very little grit or wash to speak of. I took a tub of clay home with me and left it for about a week soaking, when I came back to wash it off the whole thing had just about solidified, I ended up getting close on half an ounce out of that tub of beautiful water worn pieces up to 0.5 gm, yet I got my prospect well away from the hot spot, would love to dig that lot out and put it through a sluice I can tell you. I would say the water coming through the loop of the Milkmans flat area before it bypassed the turn and cut a new path must have been fairly rushing at the point so the only thing being deposited was the gold everything else would have blown free, going by the size and shape of the slates would suggest this because only aggressive water action leaves them like that.
I have a funny feeling old Ray might have found that creek up MunGin way because he told me about a couple of loads of dirt he took out of some chinese diggings in a remote area that yielded over 7 ounces (form memory it was three or four 20 litre buckets full) maybe you might be able to jog his memory and we could do a trip in?
JP
Ned and his Mum were digging down 2 and 3 feet between the massive slate bars (deco slate too (softish red colour) not green or exposed slate) and scraping out as much pug as they could, it was amazing to see just how far the gold had migrated down into the cracks with very little grit or wash to speak of. I took a tub of clay home with me and left it for about a week soaking, when I came back to wash it off the whole thing had just about solidified, I ended up getting close on half an ounce out of that tub of beautiful water worn pieces up to 0.5 gm, yet I got my prospect well away from the hot spot, would love to dig that lot out and put it through a sluice I can tell you. I would say the water coming through the loop of the Milkmans flat area before it bypassed the turn and cut a new path must have been fairly rushing at the point so the only thing being deposited was the gold everything else would have blown free, going by the size and shape of the slates would suggest this because only aggressive water action leaves them like that.
I have a funny feeling old Ray might have found that creek up MunGin way because he told me about a couple of loads of dirt he took out of some chinese diggings in a remote area that yielded over 7 ounces (form memory it was three or four 20 litre buckets full) maybe you might be able to jog his memory and we could do a trip in?
JP
That gold Ray found was from around an old abandoned plant at the bottom end of Sandy Ck. Apparently there was an old sock plugging up a hole coming from a sand pump which contained a lot of fines and the rest was got scraping around the place in general. I let a Telstra Technician wash out some rags I had in a sluice box one day for a bit of fun. He got a couple of grams and some little nuggets for his trouble and seemed well pleased.
Bloody hard to effectively wash that clay you mention. A shaker is useless and a trommel only marginally better. I have heard of one bloke working near Fine Gold Ck. leaving the clay out in the sun to dry and then drive over it to crush it into dust before treating it. Seemed to work for him, but it took weeks.
That Milkmans camp seems to have been lived in by everyone, you included. The bloody thing goes under every couple of years and I recall seeing bed sheets in a paperbark at the Christmas Ck. crossing a couple of kms downstream. Poor buggers lost just about everything. That flood was a big one and left huge piles of flood rubbish way up the banks at my place which turned into great bonfires for parties. The wood was piled 50 feet long by 15 high and 15 wide in places. That is a lot of water.
I got bloody sick of the cattle up my end of the North Palmer as well. The drongo cattleman (you KNOW who I mean!) couldnt be bothered mustering that far from home and there was not a branded beast to be found. They were breeding like rabbits and literally dying of old age. A couple of times my dog chased bulls straight through the kitchen. Ther only green grass around was at the back of the camp and this bull was going to have it. Quite a sight to see a 1000kg bull being chased through the camp kitchen by a three legged dog.
Bloody hard to effectively wash that clay you mention. A shaker is useless and a trommel only marginally better. I have heard of one bloke working near Fine Gold Ck. leaving the clay out in the sun to dry and then drive over it to crush it into dust before treating it. Seemed to work for him, but it took weeks.
That Milkmans camp seems to have been lived in by everyone, you included. The bloody thing goes under every couple of years and I recall seeing bed sheets in a paperbark at the Christmas Ck. crossing a couple of kms downstream. Poor buggers lost just about everything. That flood was a big one and left huge piles of flood rubbish way up the banks at my place which turned into great bonfires for parties. The wood was piled 50 feet long by 15 high and 15 wide in places. That is a lot of water.
I got bloody sick of the cattle up my end of the North Palmer as well. The drongo cattleman (you KNOW who I mean!) couldnt be bothered mustering that far from home and there was not a branded beast to be found. They were breeding like rabbits and literally dying of old age. A couple of times my dog chased bulls straight through the kitchen. Ther only green grass around was at the back of the camp and this bull was going to have it. Quite a sight to see a 1000kg bull being chased through the camp kitchen by a three legged dog.