Rheola Victoria

[Carmo]

Hi Guys,

I've only just joined and looking for a bit of a point in the right direction.
We drove from Gawler SA to Vic to pick up our Puppy and passed through a town called Rheola in Victoria. Was an interesting little place full of what looked like gold diggings in some sort of national park?? please correct me if I'm wrong.?

Are you allowed to use metal detectors in these places or are permits required etc. It it worth a shot or have m,any many many people already exhausted such spots.?
Just looking for somewhere close to have a crack with the kids closer to SA as possible.

Hoping to meet some people out doing it to learn and watch how its done.
Are there any such trips for beginners to learn the ropes.

We have a 4x4 and a camper trailer so looking to plan a few weekends away and build memories for the kids.

So far reading a lot of the posts on here the information and general chat is a great read..! and to the few that have replied with such detail to my previous posts. I cant thank you enough. I'm very great full for your effort.

Cheers guys.!

 

[Jaros]

Hi Carmo, this is the ist paragraph about Rheola in Wiki:
Rheola is a locality in central Victoria, Australia. Originally called the 'Berlin Rush' or 'Berlin field' after gold nuggets were found. It is part of Victoria's 'Golden Triangle,'[2] which contains some of the world's richest gold fields. Some of the gold nuggets found in these fields include the Welcome Stranger, Hand of Faith, and the Blanche Barkly. The Viscount Canterbury, Viscountess Canterbury and Precious were all found in the gold field at Rheola.[3]

Sounds promising ,doesn't it.

 

[MJB]

Hey Carmo,

I'm not familiar with Rheola but if its a National Park it will be a NO GO area for prospecting. State forest on the other hand is open as long as its not on the exempt list.

A little google search will provide most answers for you but mostly the kind people on this forum are more that willing to steer you in the right direction.

Got me interested now

Cheers

 

[loamer]

Rheola. Crown land in the area is available to prospect. If you do some research you need to be aware it had many different names and it wasn't until 1876 (after the major alluvial rushes) that it got called Rheola. Some of the better places are on private land- which unless you know the locals or can sweet talk your way onto their property is most certainly out of bounds. There are maps available for the area. Of note, some of the bigger nuggets were/are on layers of hard red clay, not bedrock. Bigger coils for deep nugget hunting is common around this area amongst experienced prospectors. Its very much a big coil, go slow and listen to faint signals territory. You have to be patient. The mullock heaps, because they are close to tracks and roads and easy to access really have had a going over as you probably spotted, they are very well worn from lots of detecting.

Naming History
Alexander Celland, discover of the Berlin Goldfield, birth place in Scotland was a small seaport called Bervie or Inverbervie
As is common, many different spellings of the name existed
Burling Rush
Berlin Rush
Berlin Goldfield
Berlin Diggings
Burrlyn
Byrr-lyn
Berleen
Berlin
Many of the inconsistancy are blamed on mining registrar error and corruptions of the name.
In 1876 the local parliamentary representative Mr B. J. Davies, Member of Avoca, took the suggested name of Rheola from Mr W. Johns (during a meeting in Inglewood). The name Rheola has Welsh origins.

 

[Carmo]

MJB we had just finished watching season 2 of gold rush before our trip back through this town haha..! had me hooked.

Loamer, thank you for that information, yes there's not much point driving from SA to Vic for a no go zone. Just the town stuck in my head so I thought I would ask the people who would know.
Thanks for the information.
I read when i was there that the bigger nuggets were excavated from depths from 12-18 feet. somehow my little pick and shovel wont be enough to get onee out the ground haha.
Thanks.

Jaros, cheers mate, i did a little research on the area and read that too. However i couldn't find any details on weather it was a legal place to fossick?

I'm still new to this so i will learn how to find places we are allowed soon hopefully and understand it better.

Cheers guys

 

[loamer]

There are many areas around there you can detect Carmo, you just need to get the modern maps for the area. There are some tricky spots that look like private land that are not and land that looks like crown land and is not. John Tully does decent modern maps for the area - about $20 - in colour. He is usually pretty spot on with crown/private land. Rule of thumb? No fence - its crown land.

You raise an excellent point - when people see the word 'shallow' they can think detectable. You are 100% correct - 12- 18 feet was considered shallow! by the old timers. Nice to see some-one has researched vic nuggets. Thats why its big coil country on a PI detector. VLFs - forget it - too mineralised, hence the mongrel red clay. Small coils - maybe snag some tiddlers.

 

[Carmo]

Steady on Loamer haha, now your getting carried away with experienced talk and making no sense to me PI detector/VLF :/ I'm slowly and i mean very slowly learning the tools but have not yet had time to study the different types of detectors and their uses. Its something that interest me a lot though. But what you just mentioned is kjbsdbjkbvjkbsdvhjbjhvb basically that haha sorry mate.
Would you be kind enough to briefly explain the difference if possible? Im guessing one type targets deeper grounds and other more shallow?

Thanks mate

 

[loamer]

Sorry mate - have a look at this website and its associated links. There is a compare metal detectors link there as well.

http://www.gold-prospecting-wa.com/vlf-metal-detector.html

yep - it can be confusing. As you will notice - it can be an expensive hobby in time and $$

 

[Carmo]

Thankyou,

I know all about expensive hobbies... Im a mad keen fisherman have 2 boats, i love 4wding and camping so have a camper trailer (have a wife not so much a hobby but still an expensive time) might aswel just do it all mate you only live once. The more I can show my kids of this great country the better. I feel gold searching will be another great way to mix 4wding, fishing and gold searching.

Ill have a good look through that link now.

Thanks mate

 

[loamer]

Here is a portion of Tully's Rheola map. The white areas are private, the green bits crown, historic reserves are usually protected, recreation areas - be very very careful - the locals frown at getting there reserves dug up. Cattos Paddock - very rich, now all private land.

 

[Carmo]

Thanks mate, awesome map!!
So crown is ok to fossick but private not unless permission is ok etc.

 

[loamer]

yes mate. there are exceptions. see http://www.energyandresources.vic.g...requently-asked-questions-about-miners-rights

this will give you the OK list of state and national parks.

 

[goldtruck59]

Was in Rheola the other day. Had a sniff around. Pretty little place had morning tea the oval reserve.\
Rheola Hill reserve is impossible to get to(for us dummys). We drove around for half an hour trying to find the tracks and gates to tullys map and were not successful.
The Berlin Rush was huge but these days not a lot of it or much else is accessible to detectorists.

 

[Carmo]

Bugger mate sorry to hear you couldnt find the spot.
Its a shame, i couldnt believe the amount of diggins on the side of the road it was hectic back in the day by the looks of that.

 

[casper]

yes mate. there are exceptions. see http://www.energyandresources.vic.g...requently-asked-questions-about-miners-rights

this will give you the OK list of state and national parks.

and this one is on that list http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&r...=dO4zqoYJePkujUOsn6zwjA&bvm=bv.76477589,d.dGc

casper