ABC reporters looking to interview detectorists

[clegy]

Now,..mmm,... what was that law about finding anything below the highest high tide mark, does anybody know the details of that little known fact ?

My Understanding that it is under Maritime Salvage law below the high tide mark. It's a completely different set of laws regarding what you find.
Don't understand it, just pretty sure this is the case.

When I find a ring I put a small notice on the community notice board at the local shop.

Just says "FOUND, ring at the beach/park in Yeppoon"
Contact (Insert Number) with details of location and description to claim.

Done that 4 times and had 2 phone calls. that went like this.

Punter: "Hi you advertised a found ring that could be mine."

ME " I sure did where did you loose it?"

Punter "XYZ beach/park"

ME": "Sorry I didn't find it there Thanks for your enquiry, enjoy the day and good luck with finding the ring. Just before you go if you know the location pretty close I can come and have a look for you with my detector."

Punter "No thanks its probably gone, Bye"

Reasonable measures taken, ring goes in the hoard.

Hope that helps, Just don't give any info away and it will be almost impossible for someone to guess the location and the details of the ring.

The notice is also good for drumming up a few Rescue/recovery jobs. Get more people ringing about that than the ring itself.

Clegy

 

[user 4485]

If the person accused of the crime honestly believed that the property was abandoned or that the owner cannot be found, they are not guilty.

Missed this quote before. Seems pretty grey still but if you document anything you find of value to show how you took reasonable steps to locate the owner or why you believed that it was abandoned or the owner could not be found i.e. item buried deeply so been there some time, item showed wear/aging/patina consistent with not being recently lost etc. I reckon you'd be ok. Just need to keep a record for valuables found & the what/where/how/why of what you do afterwards I guess; especially if you plan on selling them at some stage.

 

[Goldpick]

You also have to consider it is also fraud if one was to reclaim a ring or valuable item, whilst having already been paid out for an insurance claim on the same item. So considering the "grey areas" that exist on this subject, you have to wonder if any checks are actually done on the original owner to ensure they do not double dip in such circumstances?

If this is found to be the case, insurance companies may lay claim to your detected item to recover costs if an insurance claim has already found to be made by the owner.

To make a clearer distinction in the law, they should follow a similar line to what some US states have done. They allow items under $100 to be kept by the finder, whereas items over $100 will still need to go through the same 3 month wait upon receipt by the police.

You can see why a lot of serious beach hunters detect off-shore, very little chance of finding anything recently lost, and in many cases, insurance would have already been paid out on the more valuable items.

 

[rocketaroo]

be a minority of lost jewelry that was insured?

 

[Goldpick]

be a minority of lost jewelry that was insured?

Would probably be limited to the more expensive or sentimental items, otherwise not worth paying the excess or possible insurance premium increases. Household insurance also does not necessarily include items lost away from home, usually this will require separate insurance at an increased cost. If you don't have either receipts, valuations or photos, you are pretty much screwed if wanting to make a claim.

Whilst the media might like to highlight the activites of nasty detectorists "stealing" lost property, there would be a hell of a lot most concern and money lost via fraudulent activities of many, which ultimately affects the premiums that you and I pay. Detectorists are just easy targets for the media, whereas investigating real fraud would actually require some effort on their part. :|

 

[Myazma]

Show them nothing, worlds worst detectorist here sorry, only find scrap.

 

[rocketaroo]

yep, better we dont give them the chance to rubbish us.

 

[Heatho]

You'd think they could do a positive story on detecting, like the amount of trash and heavy metals we remove from the environment each year.

 

[Guest]

Yep Cadell swimming hole is now bottle-top, fish hook, lead sinker and ring-pull free. Till next 'Straya day. We are such a menace to society....

 

[user 4485]

You'd think they could do a positive story on detecting, like the amount of trash and heavy metals we remove from the environment each year.

There's not enough sensationalism in a story like that - much more in a story drumming up beliefs in the community that detectorists are finding other people's treasures & illegally keeping them.
Australian journos need to get some originality! Wasn't something similar recently done in the UK or US?

 

[silver]

You'd think they could do a positive story on detecting, like the amount of trash and heavy metals we remove from the environment each year.

There's not enough sensationalism in a story like that - much more in a story drumming up beliefs in the community that detectorists are finding other people's treasures & illegally keeping them.
Australian journos need to get some originality! Wasn't something similar recently done in the UK or US?

They need something sensational,... like, "Time Traveller Reaps Rewards of Well Thought Out Trip".,...... Well,.... I am here now !

 

[Dreamwalking]

Only thing that send unwanted thoughts through my head is ... the trail we leave behind in the forum of the finds people have made ... one ABC snoop into any of the many forums could tell them about the story they could be looking for.

 

[Heatho]

Only thing that send unwanted thoughts through my head is ... the trail we leave behind in the forum of the finds people have made ... one ABC snoop into any of the many forums could tell them about the story they could be looking for.

I've got nothing to hide but doesn't mean I'm interested in speaking to them either. I'd always make a reasonable attempt to find owners of anything that has a decent value. If I don't then I'd consider it not valuable enough or abandoned years ago and the owner impossible to find.

 

[Heatho]

You'd think they could do a positive story on detecting, like the amount of trash and heavy metals we remove from the environment each year.

There's not enough sensationalism in a story like that - much more in a story drumming up beliefs in the community that detectorists are finding other people's treasures & illegally keeping them.
Australian journos need to get some originality! Wasn't something similar recently done in the UK or US?

Hopefully when they release this journalistic tripe that people don't just start randomly assaulting detectorists because they think we are thieves based on a lie the ABC has told the public.........

 

[silver]

They can't quote anything off here as it would breach copywrite,..... Harry owns us all(in a nice way).
And so we are really all working(writing) off shore(aren't we).Double Dutch(ha).

 

[jamie]

wish i could find something to hand in and see if i get it back... one can only hope i guess lol

 

[shivan]

This was an interesting read.
Looks like we are not the only ones with this mindset, did anyone read about the world record tiger shark and the lack of response from the fishing community?
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/a...with-silence-on-facebook-20160130-gmhvg7.html

 

[Guest]

Greenies and do-gooders, yeah. The cotton-wool mob have made society so soft in the head it's sickening.. But they still go down the fish and chip shop on saturdays for their 2 pieces of Flake and minimum chips. Most of 'em wouldn't even know what they were eating.

 

[rocketaroo]

Well we dont kill anything, except a few blades of grass.....but some people think we are environmental vandals.

 

[Magilla]

This was an interesting read.
Looks like we are not the only ones with this mindset, did anyone read about the world record tiger shark and the lack of response from the fishing community?
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/a...with-silence-on-facebook-20160130-gmhvg7.html

The fishing community is vastly different to what it was 20 years ago, the great majority of fishos today would condemn the taking of that shark. Most would be happy for him to land it but to kill it just to claim a record or hang its jaws on the wall is a mentality that thankfully is just about dead.