Tambar Springs

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has done any fossicking in Tambar Springs and what they've found apart from Druzy Quartz?
I was having a look online and saw a few different things people have found.
Did people find stuff on private property or elsewhere?

Cheers,
rom

This general area is well known for fine stellerite and heulandite. Early on many specimens were labeled Coonabarrabran or Gunnedah, both towns a long way from the main collecting sites. There are at least three principal sites:
Garrawilla Station, Coonabarabran district, Pottinger Co., New South Wales, Australia
Glendowda Station, Tambar Springs, Pottinger Co., New South Wales, Australia
and
Mount Mitchell Station, Tambar Springs, Pottinger Co., New South Wales, Australia.

Specimens are found in large cavities in vesicular basalts with pink stellerite and red heulandite, which sometimes have attractive globular clusters of drusy quartz overgrowing them. A large amount of material has been collected by private collectors and dealers, but most landowners present have banned collecting due to some colectors doing the wrong thing by them.

https://www.mindat.org/loc-146569.html

https://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?loc=146569&pco=1

https://www.mindat.org/photo-193604.html

Thanks Dron
I would mind coming back with some of those!

The area on the hill near Premer up from the cattle yards has very good Heulandite and some other speckled specimen which I no longer remember its name.

Thanks for that Pat,

Ended up finding some Stellarite and Drusy quartz, as it was my first time it all looked good lol, but there are many that wouldn't be classified as 'good' haha.
Something speckled sounds like it would be a nice find too!

The Crystal Kingdom in Coonabarabran had some info. Basically stated the cattle stations mentioned above dont know if there on private property. Depends who you know these days i guess.

Plenty of specimens on display there too so worth a stop in

I've been sick with the flu for the last few days so no gold prospecting for me.

Instead I've been cleaning some of the druzy quartz and stellerite specimens I brought back from Tambar Springs. Here's some pics!

Crikey Dron, did you leave anything for the rest of us fossickers?

well done Dron

ray

Tambar Springs, is that where Frog Rock is located?
Mackka

Some interesting and unusual specimens there!

Hate to be a wet blanket but I have to say I would feel guilty taking that much stuff from a location. Being a family based fossicker I can't help but see how many other families would miss out if we all took this much stuff away. This is why prospectors are so tight lipped about there favourite locations. Sorry for the rant but I just feel this too much for any one person to have a use for.

I can't see the difference between someone collecting gemstones, crystals or whatever rocks your boat.
If that was gold I would be rather happy with getting that or more or whatever I could.

Wouldn't be leaving anything behind

You go Dron.

Now I know why there was a box shortage for your first drusy haul HA HA
I look like I came home with nothing compared to that lol. Mine are still soaking though. I think next time, I'll be a bit more selective and maybe dig a bigger hole lol.

StoneTheCrows said:

Wouldn't be leaving anything behind

You go Dron.

Click to expand...

STC You wouldn't have a choice LOL there were so many left behind, they were everywhere
drusy....drusy everywhereeeeee

Squint said:

Hate to be a wet blanket but I have to say I would feel guilty taking that much stuff from a location. Being a family based fossicker I can't help but see how many other families would miss out if we all took this much stuff away. This is why prospectors are so tight lipped about there favourite locations. Sorry for the rant but I just feel this too much for any one person to have a use for.

Click to expand...

Depends how much is there I guess.

I don't feel guilty about the 100kg or so of petrified wood, jaspers and chalcedonies I have from Riverslea crossing because the whole area is virtually made of the stuff (though it is destined to be drowned by the Rookwood weir - then nobody will have anything that hasn't already been collected from there).

I don't feel guilty about having probably a 20 litre drum or more of crystals and quartz pieces from Lowmead because they are so abundant (though faceting grade material is not).

I've been to places where the ground seemed to be virtually made of garnet (only a tiny fraction of which would have been even remotely gem grade).

And I certainly don't feel guilty about taking away as many sapphires as I can find on a fossicking trip.

Fossicking is by defintion hand-digging and requires many hours of sweat, toil, blisters and aching muscles and bones to often come away empty-handed. If you happen to strike it lucky by stumbling across a rich little pocket of something......I can't see too many people just leaving most of it behind.

There will always be differences of opinion as to what constitutes taking too much of something. To me, illegally bringing in an excavator and dump truck to a general permission fossicking area on private land without the owners permission and ripping out and making off with several tonnes of the material, resulting in the owner closing the site to the public was definately the wrong thing to do on multiple levels, legally and ethically. But I don't personally see anything wrong with what Dron has done. But that's just my opinion

Great post "Lefty". Sorry to " Dron" if my post came across as being nasty as that was not my intention. My whole post revolves around what people have a use for. Gold and and facet grade gems are completely different as people will always have a use for as much as they can find, especially with your talent "Lefty". I guess I just can't see the point of having a box of Druzy quartz in my garage or a bucket of crystals under my house. A half dozen display pieces of Druzy and a jar full of crystals in my lounge room is enough for me. Certainly didn't mean to offend anyone with my post. You never know Dron I may even Pm you one day for help finding some Druzy. Won't be too surprised if you don't reply though.

Cheers Squint.

I doubt that anyone was really offended and it's a valid point that taking for the sake of taking can be a bit like overfishing. But such collections often end up being gifted to lapidary clubs when the owner passes away so the rocks ultimately end up being spread around all over the place. Even though I have more material from Riverslea than I'll ever use, I might make one more trip before the water authority basically destroys the fossicking site forever. Ive found a few special pieces there over the years, including an exquisitly preserved tree branch section witn growth rings and red chalcedony growing over it and a piece of orange chalcedony with a perfect quartz crystali print left in it. As soon as the weir is complete,that will be the end of that fossicking spot. Anyone who wants any more will have to go swimming with the crocs.

My young bloke isnt really into fossicking or lapidary but one day when im just about cactus, my collection will be passed onto someone else.

I was a bit iffy about cabbing some pieces of my old grandads collection but dad rekoned that the old bloke wojld have been glad to know thag someone in the family was using the rather than taking them in a box to the dump

Hi Everyone, new member here.
Each time I visit my daughter at Tambar Springs, I come home with buckets of Quartz, some the size of bowling balls. They're everywhere on the farm and I just love putting them on display in my home.
I have read that small amounts of gold was found in the 1800's in Tambar, not fossiking for gold, but just having fun finding beautiful stones and quartz st the moment.

I've found this nice specimen (mica?)
While walking the dogs on my daughters property in Tambar Springs.