If you want add a bit of sparkle to your life, grab a sieve and shovel and head for the Sapphire City, the gem-rich northern NSW town of Inverell.
Almost 70 per cent of the world's sapphires come from Australia, and almost 70 per cent of the total output comes from NSW - predominantly the alluvial and volcanic deposits of the Inverell area. With those kinds of odds, it's no wonder seasoned fossickers become a little fanatical.
It takes relatively little money to go prospecting. In fact, the techniques have not changed greatly over 150 years. You only need a pick, a shovel, a couple of plastic buckets, a selection of sieves and plenty of patience.
But what rewards your efforts bring if you happen to be in the right place at the right time! Who cares if you're as dusty and dirty as a pioneer after a day's digging through layers of sediment? This is a holiday worth the hot, hard work.
Inverell has three free sapphire-fossicking areas where anyone is welcome to try their luck. They are Pindaroi Lake, Bukkulla; Fraser Creek, Nullamanna; and Swanbrook Creek, Swanbrook Road. All the fossicking areas have water but no staff on site. Equipment must be hired from the Inverell tourist centre. Detailed maps, also available from the tourist centre, show exactly where the fossicking areas lie.
Poolbrook Gems Fossicking Park is another prime sapphire area of virgin wash - soil that has not been processed. This park is on private property about 26 km from Inverell at Nullamanna. You need to first visit Kottage Kaya, 8 km from Inverell on the Nullamanna-Emmaville Road, to pick up sieves and get detailed directions from Louise Walburn, one of the park's owners. Louise also gives first-time fossickers some instructions on what to look for.
Sapphires in Inverell are known as party stones, because they come in many different colours rather than just the standard blue. Inverell has green, yellow and the very rare pink stone. So rule number one is don't discard anything.
Inverell has many other good gem fields if other stones take your fancy. The Stannifer Creek Area is good for crystals. Tingha Sands on the Copeton Dam Road from Tingha and the Conrad and King Conrad Mines at Howell are also good areas to explore. At Conrad and King Conrad Mines you can also take part in tours of the old mine site.
Inverell Lapidary Club leases an area at Elsmore for fossicker to search for tin, crystals, citrine and quartz. The Elsmore district is where Joseph Wills first discovered tin in Australia.
The Staggy Creek Fossicking area on the Copeton Dam Road, about 28 km from Inverell, is a dry-fossicking site. This means you have to fossick dry or take water along. This area is well known for tourmaline, diamonds, quartz and topaz.
Wallangra, a dry area 65 km north of Inverell, is known for tourmaline and quartz. It is a free area but equipment should be hired from the tourist centre beforehand. Inverell Pioneer Village also has a small fossicking area for visitors and equipment can be hired on site.
The sapphire industry is on show from the ground up at the Dejon Sapphire Centre, a small fossicking area that displays sorting, faceting and cutting stones and offers quality sapphires for purchase - just in case you failed to find any yourself. The Gem Centre has the largest display of local sapphires on display, to make you want to try harder next time.
For those who have never fossicked before, the tourist centre has a brochure of handy hints for fossickers, with advice on how to sieve and what conditions to seek for sapphire sleuthing.
Though you don't need a licence for fossicking, there are certain rules to follow. Never excavate to a depth of more than one metre, never use explosives and never damage or remove bush rocks.
A page of fossickers' guidelines is available from the tourist centre. It may also be worth contacting the NSW Department of Mineral Resources for fact sheets and up-to-date publications.
Local jewellers will offer advice on the purchase of local stones, cut or uncut. They'll also be more than happy to value your rock when you strike it lucky.
Hill End Recreation Park 3 km from Hill End has camp sites available for purchase from just $1,290 all inclusive. Sites range from 80sq metres to 1 acre and an old gold digging is on the property for fossicking. I’ve left my caravan, annexe etc on an 8m x 10m site I have purchased. Site owners can arrange to let their site to travellers when they are not using it.
The development is in progress and I like the quietness and fossicking on the property and the town of Hill End is only 5 minutes away. I can't wait to go back there to my own site.
Eric from Mortdale.
To learn more about Inverell's past pop down to the Pioneers Village. This historical town showcases Inverell as it once was. You can easily spend a couple of hours here with the kids looking over things.
Melissa, Perth.
4WD
