What kind of rock is this?

The rock is going to Melbourne for ID in April, will get back to this and let you know what it was... I am guessing a rock!... LMAO

G'day TTKooAu,

You didn't say which Adelaide Beach you found this from.

The photo's you posted look very much like Ilmenite
There is a deposit of Ilmenite which is a weakly magnetic titanium-iron oxide mineral which is iron-black or steel-grey located at just off-shore at Lady Bay.
You often find it washed up on the southern beaches. You can also find nice cut-able pieces of epidote around the Lady Bay area. Have a chat to members of the Southern Rockhounds Gem club at Christies Beach to get your find identified.

Puzzle solved. We (wife and I) carried it all the way to Melbourne Museum, wrapped in a soft cloth, only to find the rock guy didn't work Sundays, so we carried it all the way back to Adelaide Museum. Spoke with a very helpful guy there. He held it, weighed it (578 gms), hung a magnet from string to see the slight attraction to the specimen. He then pulled my rock's brother from under a bench.

"Slag from an iron ore smelter....people bring them in all the time thinking they are meteorites.".........now, I have to put it out there that mine looked way more like an out-of-space object than his, but he's the 'expert'
So I asked...."How did it end up in deep sand above the high water mark at Semaphore Beach?"

He said "I don't know"

Hope this explanation was worth the wait for those of you interested in this 'find'

Please don't ask what happened to the 'rock'.... it is not a nice story

TTKooAu said:

So I asked...."How did it end up in deep sand above the high water mark at Semaphore Beach?"

He said "I don't know"

Hope this explanation was worth the wait for those of you interested in this 'find'

Please don't ask what happened to the 'rock'.... it is not a nice story

Click to expand...

They were often used as ballast in early boats, and that seems like a plausible way for it to end up on a beach.

glad the mystery is solved