Unusual find. 1932.

As I mentioned in a post earlier this week we spent the Australia Day long weekend up in the bush, camping, relaxing and pretending that we were taking fossicking for gold as seriously as the rest of the group of campers we were with.

We don’t usually take the search as seriously as them, we go on the group weekends away for relaxation, finding lumps of gold would be nice but we are plain old lazy…. 🙂

Recorder 30 Nov 1932 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96018207

When I found this article today I wished that finding gold was as easy for us as it was for Mr. J. Maguire in Eidsvold, Queensland, in 1932.

It would appear that for him that taking advantage of somebody elses hard work and looking in some twenty-year-old fence post holes really paid off when he found they still contained gold.

If only this sort of thing was a regular occurrence I might be able to get the Man outside to build me a new back verandah a bit faster!

I wonder if the original diggers noticed gold coming out of the holes all those years ago? I doubt it. If they had noticed the gold I bet the posts would have been hurriedly shoved in the ridiculously wide holes any old way and the job abandoned before the end!

A lazy weekend.

Well, Australia Day weekend is over. All around the country the barbeques need a clean, the beer fridges are empty, and the cars are still full of camping gear.

No-one wants to get back to real life but the kids are due back at school on Wednesday after 6 weeks off and there are probably many mums out there, just like me, who have more things to do than there are hours left.

I will be spending today (Tuesday) naming the huge amount of school books I picked up for the kids on Friday (and are still in the back of my car), finding school uniforms (that I have washed and put away carefully. So carefully in fact that we may not be able to find them), and hoping that there are shoes suitable for wear somewhere in the house; the weather has meant the kids haven’t worn anything other than thongs for weeks (no Aussies don’t call them flip-flops!!).

I also have to unpack the caravan as we decided at the last minute to go off camping at Heathcote with the fossickers for the weekend.

It was a great weekend for camping, the weather was perfect and we had a very relaxing time. I didn’t do much more than sit around and read and the kids threw rocks in the nearby dam and played with the dog. Yes, we were very lazy 🙂

Even though it was supposed to be the entire purpose of the weekend only once did we do anything that resembled fossicking. We went off with a few other to a nearby creek and did a bit of gold panning. We didn’t have much success, only a few tiny, glittering flakes. We are never going to make our fortune that way!

We had more luck finding wildlife though, and without even trying.

Minutes after we arrived a yabbie was unexpectedly shovelled up by one of the group and delivered to Number 2’s gold pan. He was examined and returned to a safer part of the creek.

Soon after that Number 2 moved a clump of floating weed and a few small shrimp-like critters jumped out and flopped around his feet. These guys were also scooped up into the pan, showed around and returned to safety.

Dragonfly nymph skin.

Number 2 was also excited to find a few recently shed skins of dragonfly nymphs just above the waterline. These guys didn’t need to be cared for quite so gently and were turfed into the bushes once they had been investigated!

We also found a small frog, beetles and other wiggly water creatures whose names were beyond our powers of identification.

The most interesting discovery of the day came once we decided to go back to the caravan and make some lunch.

We were wandering back along the edge of the creek heading towards the car and came across a huge red-striped leech hurrying towards the fossickers who were still left. Eeek! He was clearly on his way to lunch as well and we were glad we were going in the opposite direction!

Even though our bug-loving kids are usually my faithful photographic assistants and happy to hold any critters for me they were strangely reluctant to touch this one…. Ok, maybe their reluctance wasn’t so strange. The leech was as wide as my finger and twice as long, we joked that it was so big we could hear it sniffing for blood and its little jaws gnashing in anticipation!

We tried to move it on with a stick, gently encouraging it to go somewhere else and safely away from our friends but it seemed intent on its meal. Oh well, everyones gotta eat. 😉 We called out a warning to the potential meals still hard at work downstream and made our escape.

Later that night no campers reported damage, so clearly the leech either had no luck in the creek or was sufficiently sneaky and managed to feast unnoticed. 😀

Panning for yabbies.

Easter at Rushworth 2012.

Over the Easter long weekend we did what many Aussies do, we went camping. In Australia the Easter weekend is traditionally preceded by lovely weather that convinces everybody that the weekend will be a lovely one and that roughing it is a good idea.

Nagambie-Rushworth Road Easter 2012

If we paid any attention at all we would remember that Easter is really the first weekend of cold and wet weather and that camping may not be the best idea. Everyone I spoke to in the lead up to it commented on the wonderful weather we were having and how nice the weekend would be. In each case I replied that it was likely to rain and asked if they could remember an Easter when it didn’t rain. None could.

Despite this we went camping out in the bush anyway. Not such a silly decision in our case, we have a lovely caravan with its own power, TV, and an internal bathroom. No roughing it for us! Even if it rains we can hole up inside, put the TV on and make a hot lunch.

As it turned out the only rain we saw was on the Friday night, and only a sprinkle. The rest of the time away was spent under sunny skies. Wonderful 🙂 The trip home however, well, that was a different story!

rushworth gold easter 2012

We stayed near the small town of Rushworth, north of Melbourne, an area that was part of the gold rush in the mid 1800’s and is still popular with those seeking their fortune today. Although we had no luck finding gold over the weekend, others in our group did, including this lovely little piece, modelled by number 2 son, that was bought over by the finder for the kids to have a look.

Man of the House went off with his metal detector a few times over the weekend but had no success. All he found were the standard shell casings and blacksmith nails. Not the huge lump of gold that everyone is really hoping to stumble across!

It turned out that on Saturday the town had planned an Easter Heritage Festival, complete with parade, so on Saturday afternoon we drove to town to have a look. We have been to Rushworth many times over the years and I have never seen so many people there before.

The parade started with horses and horse-drawn vehicles, many of them had walked from the nearby town of Moora for the day and were walking back for Moora’s own festival the next day.

They were followed by vintage cars of widely varying eras and conditions. Some of the cars were beautifully restored classics and others were old bone-shakers with barely a scrap of paint left holding them together. Needless to say I loved the old bone-shakers the most!

Rushworth Heritage Festival Easter 2012

There were also stalls lining the street selling a variety of things, old and new. The kids were happy to get an ice-cream cone. Man of the house and I were unhappy when we fell in love with a small row of vintage cinema seats but had no way of getting them home. 😦

It was a typical country festival and a really good event, we were really pleased we had the opportunity to go.

On Saturday night our group all gathered as usual around the campfire to socialize, have a sausage sizzle and a raffle of donated bric-a-brac. There is always a plant on the table and that is the one thing the kids always want to win. So naturally they were desperate for the cacti that turned up. Fortunately the second ticket called was one of theirs, so they were quick to rush over and snaffle their prize.

On Sunday morning the boys were very pleased to get the chocolate vampire zombie bunnies (as mentioned in the earlier post) and we sat in bed eating chocolate eggs for breakfast and read some more of the book we started at the beginning of the weekend. (It is a steam punk for kids book. They are enjoying it immensely, I will tell you all about it when we have finished) A very relaxing morning!

Early in the afternoon we had the traditional silly Easter games that we all participate in and a huge laugh was had by all. I can now reveal that I am the horseshoe-throwing-at-a-stick champion and recieved an honourable mention in the hitting-the-golfball-at-a-target game. I have no real world skill at either of these things but in my victory speech I thanked Wii golf and Wii bowling for their help in my training regime.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging around and relaxing while eating unhealthy amounts of chocolate eggs. By Monday morning we were all relaxed to within an inch of our lives and had no desire whatsoever to go home. It is school holidays and I am not due back at work until next week so the continuing employment of the man of the house was the only cause for us to return. Bugger.

We had great weather the whole time and couldn’t believe our luck. On the way home it all changed and we were poured upon for the last half of the trip back. When we got home the sky was clear and we had just enough time to reverse the caravan up our narrow driveway (no mean feat and a constant surprise to me that we succeed with me directing the only partly obedient man of the house) and the heavens opened. It rained for a moment, and then it hailed. Thankfully we didn’t stop for a cuppa on the way home! The hail was so thick that it looked as though it had snowed, and the temperature dropped dramatically. Hours later there was still piles of hail in places and here we are days later and the temperature has barely gone up! Yep, Easter is the start of the cold, cold weather.

A Disappointing Treasure. 1908.

Townsville Daily Bulletin 18 Jun 1908 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58456963

This buried treasure is a bit of a let down. What a disappointment the gift of the not-so-golden coins from the forefathers would have been to master Kitayama, especially when the truth was discovered in front of interested neighbours and friends. I am sure that the curio dealer will not be invited to any future celebrations involving unexpected treasure either.

I was a little worried though about the sanitary authorities demanding entry to the ‘chamber of secrecy’. It sounds as though they were investigating the abode of the local serial killer! I was expecting the floor to be concealing the bones of the victims not a jar of false coins…

I am glad there are no house-to-house sanitary authorities here. I am not sure the quality of my housework is up to an inspection!

The Iconic Melbourne Cup. 1922.

The Argus 31 Oct 1922 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1851638

The Melbourne Cup is an Australian icon, not just the event, but the actual cup itself.

When I was looking for an article about it and found this picture of the cup I realized how instantly recognizable it is.

Traditionally, the cup is made of  34 pieces of gold, hand beaten over 200 hours by Hardy Brothers Jewellers. (thanks, melbournecup.com)

The Melbourne Cup was first run in 1861 and ornate trophies were awarded on a more or less random basis with years when nothing was awarded at all. The cup was first produced in this style in 1919 and is the same as the one the owner of the winning horse will receive in 2011. It is currently valued at $125,000. The trainer, jockey, strapper and breeder will also recieve smaller scale copies.

Things in unexpected places….

In my searches I often find articles that tell us about everyday things found in places you would never expect to see them.

Evelyn Observer and South and East Bourke Record 20 Apr 1900 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60687732

Steven Harris was found dead in the Campaspe River and was found to have drowned. During the examination of the body a wax match was found in his heart. Not the usual thing found in a major organ and I think the heart would have trouble functioning if it had been there while Harris was alive.

The Argus 2 Feb 1923 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1873001

Kennedy from Antwerp was in hospital to have his appendix removed and when they opened him up it was found to be full of shot. They explain this by telling us he has been accustomed to shooting and eating wild game all his life. My question is, was he accustomed to chewing? I am no doctor but I really don’t think that the secret function of the appendix is to filter shot. There are a good many people in the world that hunt their own food and I haven’t heard any other reports of this type of thing.

Barrier Miner 6 Apr 1908 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45030444

Finally, a turkey was found to have 10 pieces of gold in its gizzard. I wonder how quickly the rest of the turkeys that had been feeding in the same place were evicted and gutted?

You don’t hear much of this thing these days. Do doctors find weird stuff and keep it quiet for fear of being blamed and sued? Is it just that nervous assistants are less likely to be smoking in the autopsy room or hunters are more likely to seek medical help when shot in the abdomen? Gold bearing turkeys on the other hand….I have no explanation for that.