2013 CLUB ACTIVITIES
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER
February 2 Club workshop reopens for 2013. See you there!
11/2/2012 HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lorna Lewis! Life member & ex-
March 17 First field trip for the year! A dozen enthusiastic club members travelled to Mt Shadwell for a mornings fossicking. After months of extremely hot weather, we had a cold overcast morning initially, until the sun came out and warmed us up. The quarry has had a lot of material removed during the last year and the new faces looked promising. However we found no faceting grade peridot for our efforts! Louise (one of our new members) showed us some bombs she collected a few weeks ago. They were impressive with some large gemmy pieces which should cut nice stones. As always, it is a lottery as to whether or not you will find cutters on a given day.
Members returned to Alan Woods home to enjoy a BBQ lunch and examine Alan’s lovely mineral & gem collection.
Brian searching for those gemmy peridots.
Kathleen looking for some ‘gems’ in her boots!
Anthony (left) and Alan (right) searching for peridot.
View of quarry showing newly exposed material in the background.
Some of the club members relaxing at the BBQ!
March 28 -
We had a ‘happy hour’ each evening, with most club members camping adjacent to each other. The camping area had a lush covering of green grass which made conditions most pleasant.
There were a large number of tailgaters at the show and members spent a lot of time browsing the stalls set up near the oval. Several of our members had some excellent buys of mineral specimens and cutting material.
The traders in the main hall had a large range of gems, minerals, fossils and equipment for sale. Some of the mineral specimens were very impressive, being both large and aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately they were beyond the budgets of many of us!
As has been the case at previous shows we have visited, some club members very quickly spent their budgets due to the great range of minerals available (No names mentioned Alan & John).
Club member John Honan once again made a good showing in the faceting competition.
Overall, the weekend went very well for all our club members.
View of part of camping area
A small part of main hall
Competition double sided cabachons on display.
Double sided quartz cab.
Competition sphere on display
Gem-
Amethyst geodes (Uruguay) & Yellow calcite in Septarian nodules (Utah USA).
A lovely Prehnite specimen.
Left A ‘boab’ gem tree was one of many high quality entries on display in the competition hall.
Topaz, Aquaramine and Peridot crystals from Pakistan for sale in the main hall.
Amethyst, Flourite and Quartz specimens on display.
A magnificent specimen of Stibnite from China on display in the main hall.
Some club members relaxing during happy hour!
John Honan’s faceting competition entry was once again of a high standard!
A beautiful Fluorite specimen on display in the main hall.
April 16 Four club members (Alan, Kay, Lorna, Diane) travelled to Geelong to visit life club member Ivy Harper.
It was a great chance to catch up with Ivy (now known as ‘Super Gran’ ) and bring her up to date with what is going on at the club. Ivy is a past President of the club. She fossicked extensively over the years, with her husband ‘Dave’, building up a great collection of gems and minerals. The club still makes extensive use of a large slab saw, now in our club rooms, that Dave built for Ivy many years ago!
April 17 The club hosted a year 8 science class from Emmanual College. The group was well behaved and interested when shown how club members produce cabachons and faceted gems. They were shown the clubs mineral collection and given the chance to ask many questions. A good experience for both club members and the students.
April 23 Today Alan Altmann and Alan Wood visited the Nullawarre Primary School to show students a range of gems and minerals as part of their geology program. There were some very enthusiastic students including some who had their own collections of stones at home. Hopefully amongst the class there will a few new gem collectors in the future.
Below: Alan Wood talking to the students at Nullawarre P.S.
L to R: Lorna, Ivy,
Kay, Diane
April 29 It is with great regret that the club has to announce the passing of Lorna Lewis. Lorna passed away peacefully, last night, after a short illness.
Lorna has been a long term member of the club who was always ready to help new members learn the lapidary art. She provided a cheerful face at the club rooms and brought along greatly appreciated contributions to our afternoon teas.
Lorna was a Life Member of the club. She had served as both Treasurer and President over a period spanning some eight years.
Lorna had a great collection of gemstone ‘eggs’ she had created over the years, as well as ‘cabachons’ and faceted gems. She was working at the clubrooms the day before she fell ill, participating and helping other members and being her normal cheery self.
It is members such as Lorna who readily contribute their time and enthusiasm who form the backbone of our clubs. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her!
Two of Lorna’s eggs, L.H. Egg Obsidian, R.H. Egg unknown rock.
8/9 of May. Club members John Honan, Alan & Jenny Wood, Dianna Brown, Alan Altmann, Rosemary Keyburn & Anthony Marsh spent several hours packing up the gem & mineral collection of Ivy Harper (right). Ivy’s collection is significant, representing many years fossicking around Australia during the 1960’s and 1970’s. As well as many mineral and gem specimens it also contained a substantial amount of lapidary work including many fine examples of enamelling work. A large part of the collection will be displayed at the club rooms.
Club members in front of some of the display cases in Ivy’s home. They had packed up five similar cases plus some smaller ones, wrapping up each specimen with the relevant labels in newspaper. (L to R, Diane, Janice,Anthony, Jenny,Alan,Alan, Diana, Rosemary).
Lorna Lewis (left) with club member Karen.
Digging deep into Mortlake
Wednesday, 15 May 2013 12:00
Fossicking for bombs: St Colman’s student Brodie Humphrey shoots another part of the school’s documentary at Mount Shadwell Quarry with Artist in Schools artist Colleen Hughson and local gem collector Alan Wood.
ICONIC Mortlake locations, events and personalities have been put under the spotlight in recent weeks.
Yet it wasn’t the police, council or State Government doing the investigating, but rather the students at St Colman’s School.
The students have been putting together a film project entitled ‘Mortlake Shines’ with the help of Artist in Schools artist Colleen Hughson.
The former ABC Open producer has spent the term at St Colman’s giving the students a crash course in film directing and editing.
The project has so far featured short documentaries about the Mortlake Fire Brigade, the Anzac Day march, Lyn Faull’s native animal reserve and Vin Gedye’s kelpie stud.
Last Friday, the Year 5/6 students got down and dirty at Mount Shadwell Quarry as local gem expert Alan Wood took them fossicking for olivine and quarry supervisor Keith Hargreaves explained the workings of the quarry for another short documentary.
Year 5/6 teacher Tracey Hickey said the students were learning about both film techniques and their local community.
“They’re basically getting the full run down on how to plan, shoot and edit their own documentaries,” she said.
“It’s wonderful that they are able to access the film-
At the quarry, students recorded face-
The entire series of documentaries were shot and edited using the students’ iPads.
Last year, St Colman’s applied for the Arts Victoria ‘Artist in Schools’ program after an increase in information technology skills was identified as a priority for the school.
Ms Hughson, with more than 15 years of film-
“It’s great for the students to do these stories and find out more about the local area, because there are so many great stories around,” she said.
“My role is to teach them the foundations of making a short film and to get the most out of their iPads.
“When I was doing my work with local communities through ABC Open, it wasn’t as intensive or in-
Ms Hughson spends up to four days a week with the students in Mortlake.
At the end of the term, St Colman’s plan to have a public viewing of all their work at the Soliders Memorial Hall.
In the meantime, the school has set up its own webpage including blogs, videos, interviews, time lapses and photographs.
Visit www.mortlakeshines.weebly.com to see the full range of students’ work.
Wednesday 15th May. The article below appeared in the ‘Mortlake Dispatch’, describing a visit to Mt Shadwell, which club member Alan Wood hosted.
Unpacking the Ivy Harper collection at the club rooms.
Top L., Alan A., Jenny W., Alan W. sorting boxes.
Top R. Kay K. And Alan A. cleaning/installing glass in display cases.
Left. Alan W. sorting minerals.
June-
Club President Kathleen has been in the N.T./W.A. She visited the ‘Top End’ Gem Club up at Darwin. Kathleen was very impressed by the friendly and helpful attitude of the club members. She also visited the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley region of W.A. and is the proud owner of one argyle diamond, albeit a ‘petit’ stone. Kathleen also had some luck metal detecting and is the proud owner of her first nugget!
Members at the ‘Top End’ lapidary club. A different lifestyle
to down south!
Above & below
Argyle diamond mine.
Diamond bearing rock (lamporite)
Some Argyle diamonds.
Zebra stone!
Kathleen gold detecting (2nd from right)
The club has gained some new junior members this month which is great to see. Welcome Liam and Oliver!
Regretably the club received news of the death of ex-
In July, Warrnambool Gem Club Members hosted a visit by the mens group from Terang. The visitors were shown the club’s collection and the club members using the workshop’s extensive range of equipment. A very enjoyable time was had by all.
Club president, Kathleen, left, at the Argyle diamond mine.
September 10 Club members hosted a visit by members of the Terang Ladies group. A pleasant time was had by all, including some ‘old time’ lapidaries in the ladies group.
20/9 The club hosted a visit of year 4 students from St. Johns P.S. in Dennington. The students were very attentive and interested in the gems & minerals on display. They each got to make a pendant or key ring as part of the visit. See the photos below.
24/9/13 The club hosted a visit by the Terang Ladies group. The group was shown the club’s displays and workshop where the techniques in producing cabachons was explained. This was followed up with some afternoon tea and raffles. Both the visitors and club members had a good time.
Terang visitors and club members having afternoon tea.
October Congratulations must go to club member John Honan who competed in the AFG 2013 National Faceting competition, in the novice section. The AFG October magazine lists John coming 3rd, obtaining a score of 90.84. This is John’s best result to date!
13/10 A dozen club members travelled to Mortlake for a morning of fossicking at the Mt Shadwell quarry. New junior members Liam, Oliver and Zanda, plus their parents joined the trip. As is usual on these trips, Alan Wood was the most successful fossicker at the quarry. Other members found some cabbing material and specimens before a heavy downpour finished the mornings efforts.
Members returned to Alan & Jenny Woods home for a BBQ and once again Jenny looked after members extremely well! All up, a good outing!
Above: Oliver, below Liam, looking for peridot.
Above: Alan Altmann, Liam and Oliver searching Mt Shadwell quarry. Below, looking at finds at Alan & Jenny’s house.
22/10 An article appeared in the Warrnambool Standard on 19/10/13. It features 94 y.o. Club member Cor Melis, who spent time in forced labour camps in Germany during WWII.
The article was titled ‘The remarkable war stories of Cornelius Melis’ . To read the article, follow the link below.
http://www.standard.net.au/story/1850618/the-
26/10 Fossickers from the Ballarat & Essendon clubs came to Mortlake to fossick at Mt Shadwell. Alan Wood hosted the visitors, who after a week of ‘cold & windy’ weather had a comparatively mild day for fossicking. In the morning Warrnambool President Kathleen found her first facetable piece of peridot! Among the visitors a number of pieces of peridot and some felspar were found.
The two photos below show some of the fossickers at the quarry.
10/11/13 Ten members of the Warrnambool Gem Club visited the Geelong show. Members caught up with friends from other clubs and made quite a few purchases. It was a good day out for all concerned.
Several members visited life member Ivy Harper who now lives in Geelong. She was pleased to catch up with the latest news of the club’s activities.
Some of the show cases at the Geelong Gem show.
Diane, kay, Jenny & Alan enjoying lunch!
Liam & Oliver looking for bargains.
Ivy is still keen to be informed as to what is happening in the lapidary area.
December: 7th The club was busy with members making preparations for our show in January. Thanks to all those who helped out!
8th Club members had a lovely luncheon for the end of year breakup. Good to see so many there.
Special feature at the 2014 Gem Show: A special feature will be a large display of Agates from the Otways. Many of these agates have been collected over recent years by a member and are larger than any I have seen before. The upcoming show will be a once only chance to see the large collection of spectular agates in one place!!! Three of the agates are shown below with $1 coins beside them to provide an indication of their sizes.
MOONLIGHT HEADS AGATES AND PETRIFIED WOOD:
HOW OLD ARE THESE ROCKS?
'The pebbles of agate and petrified wood from the Moonlight Head district probably have different ages and it is not known how old they are as their sources are not known exactly.
Most have probably been eroded out of pebble layers within the Cretaceous sedimentary rocks of the Otway district that form the Otway Ranges and coastline.
However they are obviously from older sources, which we don't know much about. It's possible that some of them might have been brought in to Victoria by Permian glaciers then recycled through several episodes of erosion, transport and deposition.
Note: The Permian is a geologic period which extends from 298.9 ± 0.2 to 252.2 ± 0.5 (Million years ago).
The Cretaceous is a geologic period from circa 145 ± 4 to 66 million years ago.
So these rocks are very, very old!!!!!!!