Victorian Government Response to Victorian Environmental Assessment Councils (VEAC) Investigation into additional prospecting areas in parks

[dwt]

Damaging waterways? I wouldn't give then any ammunition to use against us, floods and mother nature do a fine job all on their own thanks. Keeping in mind though that yes please backfill and make good your diggings large or small, just pointing out that it takes quite a massive effort to even compete with the scale nature has and always will in the river course and gullies. Dwt I'd be keen to discuss your ideas further, bins and cleanup especially with a proud inscription of the donor would be a fantastic idea, I'm sure there's a few details to iron out but it gets my attention. Taking a pro active approach will always be better than reacting. Contemplating a family friendly day was also something i was contemplating to raise out profile in the broader community. I'll expand on this latter with you personally.

COPY THAT!!!! 8)

 

[RottenRon]

Hi Guys,

The cleanup idea is one I floated on 27th Feb. Here's a paste of part of that post.

"On that note, maybe a working bee while the creeks are dry. Could get us some real good positive publicity. You know the drill. Along the lines of Clean up Australia, but called "Clean up a Creek". Organize a working bee. Pick up rubbish, fill in the odd hole, make safe undercut banks. Hell, would Parks Vic allow us to clean up log jams?

Show of hands might be interesting. Spread the word."

Here's a link to that thread. My post was number 31.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5080&p=2

The point I'm trying to make here is, unless we get decent support for a "Cleanup Australia" type program, it will run out of legs very quickly. The fact that there was little to no response to the idea when I brought it up was a worry.

It seems however that a few more people have some interest in this idea here on this thread.

So on that note, if everyone who is interested in something like this, either to participate or organize, PM me and I'll knock up a bit of a register.

If we get reasonable numbers, we can arrange a couple of meetings and invite Rita from the PMAV to compare ideas and come up with a strategy. The plan then might include putting together a small delegation and consult with other stakeholders, Park Rangers etc. to see what might be reasonably undertaken and indeed allowed.
At the very least, shovelling some holes and picking up some rubbish should be a minimum, but we may as well get some value for our efforts in the form of some positive publicity if we can.

Like I said, if anyone is interested, PM me and I'll start the list. If we get the numbers, we'll see where we go from there.

Cheers, Ron.

 

[G0lddigg@]

great concept guys you need to go throught the local council and state pars. I know un creswick parks they are leaving the trees blocking the creeks on purpose....guess why. .. because they want to stop cyclist both dirt bike and mountain bikes from using the tracks. I reckon it wouldnt be too hard to organize could probably get a local butcher to chuck in some snags bit of advertising at the local libraries amd the Courier. if you sell it as an educational day out about prospecting and looking after the bush I reckon thered be some numbers.

 

[dave14110]

I am & have been in absolutely mortified by these changes. People should not do anything wrong in the 12 month review period. But after that if they stop us and sluicing is illegal. Well all I can say is there will be lots more people doing the wrong thing.
In fact I kind of see it like this if we can get in trouble & possibly face fines & loss of equipment car etc. we may as well make it worth while & put a dirty big dredge in the river, at least the gold collected would more than pay for the eventual loss when caught.
Waiting patiently & all alluvial prospecting on hold. As far as I am concerned it is not worth alluvial prospecting under current laws. We have been banned from do what our ancestor's fought for during the eureka stockade.
I also have a doubt on whether they can legally stop us from or change the conditions to our miners right that we have already purchased. It like buying a ticket for anything, they should offer a refund as we can no longer do what it was originally purchased for. Also not sure if they can legal change the laws anyway & many laws contradict other laws on prospecting.

 

[lee panhead]

G,day guy's n gal's ,RottenRon is on the ball here we need to get something started with the hands, i went out to camp ground 2 at slaty creek yesterday with the young fella and managed 2 garbage bags full just from about 200mt of creek , it's like a toilet out there , 1 bloke & his 6 year old just isn't enough .Cheers.

 

[dwt]

howdy guys n gals,not long just got in from my clean up morning from a local detecting spot and i would have to say "SANTA" is going to be really PI##ED!!!

with all the crap loaded up i headed into the waste transfer centre,expecting to pay the usual $10 i explained to the boys there as to what i had been doing they quickly examined the rubbish agreeing that it was old, charged me $4 to toss it....thanks guys....
And as for the IDIOT throwing his xmas crap out in a spot people go detecting!!! well lets just say he left more identifiable rubbish on the ground than what i posted.......BA BARRR

PS......i forgot to say,SANTA when you read this because i know your still out there,its not the little kids fault there daddy and mommy are a##hole's,so dont punish them, AND where in the bloody hell is my purple dragstar i asked you to get me 30 years ago...... HUH, I MEAN COME ON, IT DOSNT TAKE THAT LONG TO SHUV IT DOWN A CHIMNEY......

 

[G0lddigg@]

doesmt5 it piss us off..... so much of this going on in ballarat parks me and a few other locals put up signs saying smile for the cameras

 

[loamer]

Good work my friend!! We found a dumped shed up near Tarnagulla full of asbestos last year - thankfully the Shire did the bizz for us.

 

[kleinman98]

This is actually a great idea. What about teaming up with one of the local volunteer fire services in your area and have a park and playground detecting day (surface finds only) to help clean up parks and playgrounds and all spendable coin finds donated to the fire service.

 

[lee panhead]

Awsome work dwt , looks like i need to get a ute just to beat that effort .

 

[charlie123]

This dissrespect, or lazziness saddens me, last weekend at grabben, i picked up 3 full plastic bags of rubish, the only thing i left was dirty cloth, matress, this is a joke, and i know it's not our forum doing it, it is mostly the localls, giving us a bad name

 

[kleinman98]

Good on ya guys.

 

[RottenRon]

G,day guy's n gal's ,RottenRon is on the ball here we need to get something started with the hands, i went out to camp ground 2 at slaty creek yesterday with the young fella and managed 2 garbage bags full just from about 200mt of creek , it's like a toilet out there , 1 bloke & his 6 year old just isn't enough .Cheers.

Well done Lee, and thanks for the support.
Keep you photos and any evidence you might have that might identify the grub.

If anyone is interested in an organized cleanup program, like I said PM me. When I see that we have enough support, I'll have all interested parties on a register.
The plan would be to arrange a meeting, see who has useful connections media etc. so that we might take advantage of any positive publicity we may generate.

If I can, I'll see if Rita from the PMAV is interested in attending. I've only had a couple of phone conversations with her and came away very impressed with her efforts and knowledge of the issues we face.

If you embark on cleanup missions of your own, take photos, record places and dates. The info may be useful to bolster support for our cause from the broader community.

Remember, join the PMAV if you haven't already done so. Having support behind a common voice can only make that voice stronger and harder to ignore.

Cheers, Ron.

 

[dwt]

it would be good if we could get some type of reusable rubbish bags that could indentify us and what were trying to do,the cost of purchasing rubbish bags and then having to cough up more to dump it, i was just lucky today to have someone agree that the rubbish looked old enough to say that it had been laying around for a few months,would not be hard for people to abuse this sort of idea and or system, im thinking a trip into dpi or parks throwing the idea at them that prospectors around are trying to set a good image for ourselves and others and what can they do to help us out in avoiding rubbish dumping fees,its expensive enough driving around cleaning up other peoples rubbish without coughing up for tip fees......... 8)

 

[dwt]

Awsome work dwt , looks like i need to get a ute just to beat that effort .

I do believe i have just been thrown down a challenge,better get my game face on :lol:

 

[Goldtarget]

Its every where that's even remotely of the beaten track. Whipstick also got the asbestos treatment, but i think that's a solid suggestion, depi joint cleanup, I'd be much happier picking up general refuse if there was a cheaper way to dispose of it. I've found often that if its not hazardous it can be quickly forgotten about. It definitely heartens me to see so many not just care but are actively helping out. Many hands as they say.

 

[loamer]

The Newbridge tip is open Sundays - yes you have to pay. We generally haul in a trailer of crxp from the fields once a month, mainly mattresses, TVs and bloody couches. What is disturbing is the amount of tyres being dumped. I was up at the back of Dunolly recently - its is like an open tip. The Shires can only do so much. Back burning is getting rid of a lot of rubbish which is a bonus I guess. Solution? There are some procedures in place for certain 'hot spots' for dumping and the summer fire-bug 'watching' by various methods has also uncovered some dumping and fire-wood thieves. Just an ongoing process. What I do like though is the way the various Gold Clubs and Prospecting Tours clean up their camping sites when they leave and most of the time get a big wrap from Parks Vic and the Shires, that's why they never have any problems. My old Dad would have cut my knackers off if he ever spotted me dumping rubbish to the extent that he counted my durries at the start of the day and counted the butts in my pocket at the end. :lol:

 

[dwt]

Too true there mate

 

[EternalChase]

Everything mentioned is great! My suspicion though is that it is not prospectors dumping TV's, Tyres, Couchs etc. - we may have got a little off topic.. If we want to help clean up this type of dumping, it is still important that "prospectors" get the recognition for cleaning this rubbish up. Which includes taking photographic evidence of the work we are doing and having it documented in a database. This will help to promote the useful nature of a prospector being out in the sticks where they can help remove rubbish as we're going.

Keeping in mind that the change in legislation is really talking about the reduced use of water processing related prospecting equipment, not detectors. In addition to this, it is talking about the environmental impact we are supposed to be having on the waterways - not really trashing us for dumping rubbish whilst out there. This does not take away from the proposed "clean up Australia" program idea from dwt. This is brilliant! Let's ensure we stay focused on the cleaning up of areas we are digging though, and keep the clean up of those holes full proof from scrutiny by the greenies...

Ron's suggestion of getting a register together is a good idea, as well as getting our PMAV President involved so that we can tick all of the requirements boxes for running a clean up program. Good publicity might be exactly what we all need, however no point doing all the hard work to the find out we are the only ones who know about it!

 

[nuggetino]

I hear you on the dumping Loamer. The unsealed road I live on seems to be a dumping hotspot and it angers me as to how often it occurs. I'm so annoyed that I'm seriously considering setting up a hidden camera as these idiots are always dumping rubbish in the same spots every couple weeks. Handing in the SD card to authorities and hopefully they'll clear up some of this scum.