Blackwood Victoria information and questions

[ironrock]

G'day everyone; just looking for some general info in regards to the area. Have read that it's almost impossible to swing a coil, what kind of foliage are we dealing with here? is it mostly ferns or something else?, Leeches ouch; have experienced them years ago in the Grampians, walked down a creek and when i came back up, had about 10 of the bastards on my socks, are they mainly down in the creek areas, or can you cop em anywhere in this area?
I am mostly chasing big gold so will be using 25dd coil, but i think i might be dreaming in this area, what can u guys tell me?
And i am thinking, as i am not at the best of health,it might be a place to avoid, at least going there on my own, again your opinion guys?

 

[stevewilko]

Hi Ironrock

Quite a few years ago I started with detecting, concentrating on Blackwood, being somewhat nearby to practice, to get to know my detector and smaller coils.

There are Blackwood Prospecting Maps, a Barnhams publication, to give you greater insight.

North of Blackwood on the Trentham road (going north) you can take Yankee Road to the right and get into various areas with lesser vegetation that will accommodate the larger coil. You will see diggings immediately on your right. The tracks right there will take you into steep vegetated country quickly.

Keep going along you will traverse Long Gully and you can stop and explore north and south in relative open space there.

Continuing on Yankee road you can turn right again onto Albion Track to take you south to Albion Reef. This is a large open area with extensive gold nugget and quartz mining history. There are a number of low hills adjoining with deep shafts in the areas going west down towards Long Gully again. Great history of gold finds by panning there as well.

On the east side of Albion track (at the reef) it is highly vegetated and an increasingly steep gradient to Nugget Creek.

Going further south you will approach lower lands with diggings - I didn't detect down there there, but overall in this area I found artefacts, a 1935 threepence and lots of lead.

Golden Point at the back of the Blackwood town is also a good historical gold finds area.

Be careful from here as the Lederderg / Wombat State Forest region is a Melbourne water catchment area, closed to detectorists in many areas facing the East (towards Melbourne) although there is plenty of area to detect approaching Blackwood from the South, on the West of the Blackwood road. I haven't got my reference books or maps with me today.... but I have had a whisper of good gold coming out of those grounds still today.

Have fun, ahh the life....
Cheers stevewilko

 

[ironrock]

G`day Wilko, yeah mate i have the book of Blackwood/Trentham, yep just checked, is the Barnham publication, i really need someone to answer the Leech problem, did u experience any in your time there? i'm thinking to just detect from top down to half way down the slope and avoid hitting the bottom of the gullies, it's probably very deep ground at the bottom anyways?

 

[stevewilko]

No leaches in my experience.
Long gully is always (?) running water.
Albion down hill is not deep ground although at the confluence of the low hill gullies you can read limited taller grasses.
Back on Yankee going East there is testing 4wd tracks (Blackwood Back Rd), going north there takes you towards Blue Mount the origin of the gold deposits. All hard steep ground. My bus wouldn't go there.

 

[Swinging & digging]

Big Leeches ( Tiger Snakes ) are out up there with the weather warming up.
Big coils in heavy vegetation are very difficult as well as steep terrain, if your not physically up to it
will be very hard going.

 

[ironrock]

Wilko mate; i'm driving an x-trail, i'm not really confident going on rough tracks with it, so i will most likely stick around the Yankee rd and creek and maybe give Nuggetty creek a crack, thanks with your info as you have been some help, so good gold to you sir!

 

[ironrock]

Swinging, thanx for your input, yeah bloody snakes just another thing to worry about, looking on google earth there definetly looks like some clearer area's( most likely pounded area's) i think i will come down and at least have a look, with that veac crap, might be last chance, could be national park by early next year?

 

[deepblue]

G,day Ironrock,
I think that you may have overlooked one important detail the gold around yankee area was fine gold from the reef and no nuggets of size were ever found there. You may be swinging a big coil for no return on your efforts. There are other areas that are more suitable for large coils then Blackwood. After detecting there for many years I never from anything bigger then a couple of grams.
Hope this helps DB.

 

[ironrock]

DB, thanx for the reminder of Yankee creek, i have read the whole Barnham map/guide a while back, but at least for me, i tend to forget alot of the info that i have gathered, so again thanks for that, i do know of one person who has scored a couple of 5+ oz nuggets from that area, at least that is what they told me? so who knows ,in this game trust is hard.
Snakes and leeches have me crappin, so i might have to go plan B?, heading down Sunday morning, so will think about it a little more.

 

[deepblue]

You might be better of trying Nuggety Creek diggings where a few larger nuggets have been found. Only the track in is a nightmare, it was the last time I drove in, only 4wd access possible. The gully is very steep in places and the gold is very patchy make sure you have all the correct gear and let someone know where you intend to be.
cheers db

 

[Dignit]

Hi ironrock
Do a forum title search on Blackwood-Trentham area. There is a thread with 5 pages of info. There are photos and maps in the 5 pages.
Also do a title search on just Blackwood and youll find quite a number of other posts about Blackwood.
Ive been there and Stevewilkos description is accurate.
I plan to get back there one day.
Good luck.

 

[stevewilko]

" - There are other areas that are more suitable for large coils then Blackwood. After detecting there for many years I never from anything bigger then a couple of grams.
Hope this helps DB - "

I agree, I think other areas for you ironrock...

 

[ironrock]

Dignit, have read every post i could find on the area's, i think i'm probably not ready to hit that area actually( gear wise), i will see what happens in the near future, and if it happens that i can get down there someday, it will not be by myself, i think i would be just asking for trouble.
Eventually if i can get to meet some of you guys, we could maybe organise a trip out there?, so after just reading my manual again for my detector i realised i was'nt getting the absolute best out of my detector, so now i'm going to hit some hammered ground again, with a good chance of snagging a decent lump i believe!!!
Thanks all for your help and advice!!

 

[Jamesgold]

Hi everyone newbie here. I know a lot of people pan amd detect in Blackwood any pointers?? Or any facebook groups?

 

[DiggerDaddyMack]

Hi James Geovic is great for maps.
Great tips on main page. Good luck out there.

 

[Jaros]

Welcome James.

 

[AK47]

James,

Blackwood is a tough area to find gold (it's there, but hard to get to). There's a couple of books by Stephen Barnham on Blackwood that are worth looking in to. Most prospecting shops have a copy. This should get you started.

Good luck!

Andrew

 

[Jamesgold]

Thanks for you help guys.
Was out today didnt some panning and found some yellow

 

[Aaron_mills]

hey mate I was wondering if you could give me a bit of an idea of where you went I have been up there a couple times but haven't found anything :Y:

 

[Solid Luck]

Oh..My favourite spot. Climbing up and down some very steep terrain.
Lot's of good nuggies out there.
Search the forum.