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You should be able to find your local council by-laws with a quick google search, apparently each council has their own by-laws

City of Marion: https://www.marion.sa.gov.au/council-by-laws

This is the part I am apparently in violation of; "4.11.2 interfere with, damage or remove any tree or other vegetation;" which falls under the heading of "activities that require permission" weather or not digging a neat plug and filling the hole and making the plug flush with the ground is damaging, well I guess that's up for debate

To be fair, I think they're in violation of their own by-laws section 5.1 annoyances

"5.1 Annoyances; unreasonably annoy or interfere with any other persons use of the land"

Because they bloody annoyed me :D they wouldn't be happy if I stopped paying my council tax :p :lol:

No reply from then as of yet in regards to my permissions request.
 
You have to remember digging that plug can actually kill that area of grass That is why i recommend a screw driver to poke around feel the coin and pop it out As a member of southern detectors they teach that and suggest you dig no plugs otherwise we will ALL be stopped from prospecting
DetectingSA said:
You should be able to find your local council by-laws with a quick google search, apparently each council has their own by-laws

City of Marion: https://www.marion.sa.gov.au/council-by-laws

This is the part I am apparently in violation of; "4.11.2 interfere with, damage or remove any tree or other vegetation;" which falls under the heading of "activities that require permission" weather or not digging a neat plug and filling the hole and making the plug flush with the ground is damaging, well I guess that's up for debate

To be fair, I think they're in violation of their own by-laws section 5.1 annoyances

"5.1 Annoyances; unreasonably annoy or interfere with any other persons use of the land"

Because they bloody annoyed me :D they wouldn't be happy if I stopped paying my council tax :p :lol:

No reply from then as of yet in regards to my permissions request.
 
Plug vs no plug seems to be a hot topic among detectorists, While I haven't seen any of the plugs I've dig die, I'll have to take your word for it, though last time I did that is the reason all my coppers are destroyed but we'll let that one go.

You have your opinion and you're welcome to share it, though I'm curious to see the damaged caused by your screwdriver method when you flick up those toy cars are trucks you've been finding.

I only look for coins, I dig directly down for around a 10cm diameter plug

I'm avoiding the parks until I get a reply from the council, beach only for me this week :Y:
 
Sorry to say but if you read my post they were found on the beach not in parks.Non of my cars have ever been found in parks only money
DetectingSA said:
Plug vs no plug seems to be a hot topic among detectorists, While I haven't seen any of the plugs I've dig die, I'll have to take your word for it, though last time I did that is the reason all my coppers are destroyed but we'll let that one go.

You have your opinion and you're welcome to share it, though I'm curious to see the damaged caused by your screwdriver method when you flick up those toy cars are trucks you've been finding.

I only look for coins, I dig directly down for around a 10cm diameter plug

I'm avoiding the parks until I get a reply from the council, beach only for me this week :Y:
 
You are unlucky to have council workers tell you to move on .....

Is the park opposite / in view from locals , houses etc. ?

Sometimes a busy body might call the council & have a whinge

If its a neat park near locals , try early morning or night

You did the right thing moving on , gives Detectorists in general a good name .

Your finds are pretty good , keep at it
 
Trash said:
You are unlucky to have council workers tell you to move on .....

Is the park opposite / in view from locals , houses etc. ?

Sometimes a busy body might call the council & have a whinge

If its a neat park near locals , try early morning or night

You did the right thing moving on , gives Detectorists in general a good name .

Your finds are pretty good , keep at it

The park Is actually opposite to a primary school, obviously I started my detecting in late December and it was school holidays. Friday I took the day off work and school must be back on and I guess one of the staff members took offense to what I was doing and dobbed me in. It's public property not school property, just to make that clear. I wouldn't trespass to detect, nor would I hit a park which is all nicely manicured, or a sports field.

I moved on with no resistance and was very apologetic, the council guys actually inquired about the finds I was making in the park, so we had a little chat about the history of the area and what I had found etc. to them all metal detectors are either looking for nuggets or are hunting the beach for jewelry, so they found out about us coin guys out there. I mentioned to them I get more enjoyment finding an old penny than say a $2. They didn't realise there were people out there who hunt old coins etc

They were nice enough guys, they just had a job to do.

Hopefully I get permission from the council but I doubt it, I'll just do some research and find a council without any applicable by-laws.

:Y:
 
Ya I've seen that monster down glenelg :D I used to live right off jetty road and would see it a few mornings a week on my way to work

Not sure if it would take things much smaller than a drink can

I'm not particularly interested in beach detecting really. I wouldn't turn down a nice bit of jewelry but I'm all about the coins.

1s, 2s, pennies, their half brother, foreign coins, Silvers, and moderns I love them all equally, well... maybe the silvers abit more, but don't tell the others :p
 
I was under the same assumption too when I first saw it, but I was able to see it close up New Year's Day when I was detecting on the beach and the way it picks up things looked like little steel rods fairly decently spaced, don't see how they would get needles.

That's just my guess, I'm not actually sure
 
Council 'clean' the beach sand pretty regularly at Glenelg and if you wanted to detect I reckon you would have to know when they were sifting the sand for rubbish
to make sure you were there just before it was done. Maybe the night before.
Dont know how fine they sift it but I have never found much in that sand, as I understand it they are trying to keep needles out of it and rubbish so it must be fine sieve mesh.

Kato and I have never been kicked out of a park even by staff that were present and watching, maybe because we dont dig a plugs unless it is barren soil or else where, like tilled garden beds.

We use a 'slit' method with our hand tool plug digga, even the spade plug digga can do it.
Insert vertically, torque it sideways both sides to gain a slit, use pinpointer to locate target inside slit, put any removed/loosened soil back into slit and press down both sides of slit.
No root cutting, quick and literally cant find the spot if you walk away and return a few minutes later.

There are YouTube vids on it and the screwdriver method too.

Park Staff have spoken to Kato and watched her, then wished her luck and to remember 'No' holes - she has detected in some interesting places you would not expect.

High School is catching up on her, so less time and the other kids are more demanding too now with sports and homework.
 
flyrodder said:
You have to remember digging that plug can actually kill that area of grass That is why i recommend a screw driver to poke around feel the coin and pop it out As a member of southern detectors they teach that and suggest you dig no plugs otherwise we will ALL be stopped from prospecting

Flyrodder you are a member of Southern Detectors ?

Do you go to the Club that does Mineral and Gems displays late in the year ? and help out at the Detecting stall for kids ?
If so you may have met me and the kids, they loved that show.

Does your member name reflect that you are a fly fisherman too ?
 
Greenhornet_au said:
Council 'clean' the beach sand pretty regularly at Glenelg and if you wanted to detect I reckon you would have to know when they were sifting the sand for rubbish
to make sure you were there just before it was done. Maybe the night before.
Dont know how fine they sift it but I have never found much in that sand, as I understand it they are trying to keep needles out of it and rubbish so it must be fine sieve mesh.

Kato and I have never been kicked out of a park even by staff that were present and watching, maybe because we dont dig a plugs unless it is barren soil or else where, like tilled garden beds.

We use a 'slit' method with our hand tool plug digga, even the spade plug digga can do it.
Insert vertically, torque it sideways both sides to gain a slit, use pinpointer to locate target inside slit, put any removed/loosened soil back into slit and press down both sides of slit.
No root cutting, quick and literally cant find the spot if you walk away and return a few minutes later.

There are YouTube vids on it and the screwdriver method too.

Park Staff have spoken to Kato and watched her, then wished her luck and to remember 'No' holes - she has detected in some interesting places you would not expect.

High School is catching up on her, so less time and the other kids are more demanding too now with sports and homework.

I'll have to have a look into that slit method, I couldn't get the hang of the screwdriver method so maybe I'll fair better with this one

Cheers
 
:Y: Yes pretty much, but he is at the grass root base, we push deeper and actually lift soil with roots so it is about 2-3" deep, and the slit isnt pulled apart so wide,
never found it needed using the pin pointer.

If the target is in the root base you loosen the soil from underneath with fingers, watch out for sharp bits.

With moist soil it is a great technique, dry is good.

We press down the slit sides with our heals, toes up to get max pressure, seems to work.

Oh, and that guy did a long slit, we only do it maybe twice as wide as the hand digger if it is soft soil and deep, but mostly it is only as wide as the digger
if it is a shallow target.

Doing this you can extract soil from the hole/slit under the roots of the grass without damaging the roots, when the soil goes back and the slit is closed
you have a hard time finding it and after now some 350 slits in a busy park, nothing has died or been seen. So we are happy with this method.

We were out the other night and Kato found a chain with what we hope is a large heavy silver cross, deep down, but standing over the closed slit I could not see it
and I pulled it out for her.
5min later we were walking over the spot and could not find it as she forgot to swing her coil over the slit in case there was another target, she was pissed. :lol:
Great kid she is, they all are. :Y:
 
I'll be out later tonight and I'll give it a try and let you know how's it's worked for me.

Wonder if my council would still consider it "interfering or damaging" the grass though

Thanks for the tip
 

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