WARRNAMBOOL GEM CLUB

2014 CLUB ACTIVITIES

January, February, March, April, May, June, July,August, September, October, November, December

January 10-12. The club held it’s biennial Gem Show which was most successful. See the Gem Show page for full details.

On 3 days in January, club members cleaned up the club rooms and prepared the workshop for reopening. Thanks to all involved!

February 16 Some club members travelled to Colac to a sale of rocks and lapidary machinery. Those present purchased some nice cabbing and faceting material.

The club workshop has reopened and we have welcomed some new members to the club. Welcome to Robert and Isabel!

March Good numbers of members are attending the club workshop. We have two new junior members Buster and Bluey King. Welcome to both. I am sure you will enjoy your time at the club.

The club has received a selection of lapidary, fossicking and enamelling books from life member Ivy Harper. These will be added to the club’s library.

New safety (toughened) glass has been installed in the Ivy Harper display units, to comply with council safety requirements. The club has also purchased two new electric motors for the workshop.The funding for these came from both a council grant and club funds.

22/3 Club members travelled to Mortlake for a day of fossicking and relaxation. We started the day at the Mt Shadwell Quarry with ideal conditions. At 9 a.m. it was overcast but not too hot or too cold with no rain! Some 20 members from the Warrnambool and Colac clubs were present for what turned out to be an excellent days fossicking.

Alan Wood gave those present a list of what to do (and what to not do!) and showed how to look for the rocks most likely to contain peridot. Members spread out for a solid mornings fossicking.

Our two new junior members Buster & Bluey were enthusiastic and searched up and down the slopes, finding some anorthoclase feldspar, some olivine and some Aegirine-augite specimens.

Several members of both the Warrnambool and Colac clubs found faceting grade pieces of peridot which was great to see.

However, the find of the day went to Colac member Russell Adams who turned over a large rock to find it was already broken in half. He asked a fellow club member ‘is this the sort of stuff we are looking for?’ The scoria rock had a large cavity in it with good sized chunks of peridot throughout. It is one of the largest specimens of its type to have been found at the quarry, if not the largest! He was a very happy chap, but the other half of the specimen could not be found despite extensive looking.

Around 12-30 we drove down to Alan Wood’s home for a BBQ lunch and an examination of Alan’s extensive collection. Jenny had put on some extra’s in the form of cakes and desserts, which were enjoyed by all.

Overall a great outing!

Above: the big find of the day. You can see the glassy nature of the chunks of peridot in the cavity!

Below: a very happy Russell Adams with his find!

Getting ready to commence the search.

Buster busy busting rocks while Nicole ‘supervises’

Buster hammering away!

Rob and John searching the slopes.

Alan Wood assisting other fossickers.

Bluey carrying a find back to the car.

Hard at work!

Rob in the foreground searching for peridot.

View of part of the quarry, showing the new crusher in the background.

Bluey looking for some peridot.

View down onto some of the fossickers.

APRIL: 19/4  At the club workshop members had a chance to purchase a good range of cutting material and some mineral specimens which were donated yesterday by an ex-member of the club (from the 1970’s?) who is moving into smaller accommodation. The material included jade, smokey quartz, agates, chrysoprase and topaz. Some specimens of Jade, quartz crystal clusters, aragonite and zebra stone were placed into the club’s display units.

20/4  It is with regret that the club must announce the passing of life member Ivy Harper. Ivy was a long term member of the club, having joined soon after it was formed. Ivy was a President of the club and a ‘life member’. The club makes regular use of a large slab saw in the workshop, which Ivy’s husband Dave constructed. Ivy also donated her gem and mineral collection to the club where it is on permanent display. This collection can be seen on the ‘Ivy Harper Collection’ page of this website. Ivy was a good friend to all of us. I can recall club meetings being held in Ivy’s home where we admired her great collection of Australian Gems & Minerals and enjoyed her great cooking. It should be mentioned that Ivy cooked up the most wonderful Pavlova’s and cakes. We sampled many of these at club BBQ’s and outings over the years. She will be greatly missed.

MAY 1-4 Club members travelled to Palmer in S.A. For the annual ‘Palmer Rockerama’. The weather on the Thursday was fine, but on Friday conditions were cold, wet and windy as a cold front swept across S.A. and Victoria. Apparently Friday was the coldest day in 30 years in Adelaide! Fortunately the weather improved greatly during Saturday and was fine and warm on Sunday.

Club members were both tailgating and purchasing at the show. Those tailgating did well given the conditions. Several members came away very happy with the purchases they made. Anthony got some nice blue topaz, boulder opal and garnets; which he plans to cut and set into his own silver settings. He also had a good time in the metal detecting competition. Other members enjoyed boat trips on the paddle steamers at Mannum and all enjoyed the fine food available. Once again the caterers at Palmer provided great meals for those attending the Rockerama!

Despite the ‘rough weather’ at the start of the weekend club members enjoyed the Rockerama and the chance to catch up with friends.

Part of camping area, showing Kathleen’s van on the left & Alan’s camper on the right.

Another view of the Palmer Rockerama on Thursday as members set up.

Another view of the Palmer Rockerama on Thursday as members set up.

John and Gillian examining some possible purchases from one of the tailgaters.

Larry (left) tailgating at the Palmer Rockerama.

It got a bit ‘breezy’ on a few occasions over the weekend.

During Friday we had a few heavy ‘showers’ come through the area, but the oval was in excellent condition for the Rockerama.

Finer weather on Saturday!

F

Those gusts of wind created a few problems! (Anthony r.h.s.)

FOSSICKING AT MOUNT SHADWELL, MORTLAKE

UNFORTUNATELY, MOYNE SHIRE HAS RECENTLY (May 2014) REDUCED ACCESS TO THE QUARRY. VISITING FOSSICKERS CAN ONLY ACCESS THE QUARRY ON FRIDAYS (go to the Shire offices in Mortlake to sign in first, wear sturdy footwear and flouro vests) OR ON WEEKENDS BY PRIOR APPOINTMENT THROUGH THE SHIRE COUNCIL. Specialist groups (such as Universities) may be able to access the quarry at other times by booking ahead. This should not have any effect on the VGCA fossicking trips which are organised well ahead of time and run on weekends.

June  Some club members have been making good finds at Mt Shadwell of late despite the restricted access. However, the reduced access has prevented other members from visiting the quarry, due to work commitments when the quarry is open.

July Quite a few members are off fossicking up north. Larry Peterson spent some time at Agate creek and came home with a good selection of agates plus some nice crystal sections (smokey and clear quartz crystal) with agate banding. Larry indicated that the access roads to Agate creek have improved markedly over the last few years.

The club has purchased a new ‘Hall Extra’ faceting machine for use by members. This was possible as a result of obtaining a Warrnambool City council grant and the use of funds from our last gem show. This is our third faceting machine for use in the club workshop.

August  Club member Brian Charles had an interesting find at our local beach recently. A piece of amber. It is brown/red in colour and it will be interesting to see what gems Brian can produce from his find. A photo of his find is shown to the right. It is about 6cm long.

Reports from fossickers travelling through Victoria indicate that many have given up their habit of spending several days at Mortlake to fossick for peridot. Given that they have to wait a week to spend 2 days at the quarry, as they can only fossick on Fridays, it is no longer viable to spend more than a day (or less) in Mortlake. This is a pity for Mortlake as it removes a source of income for local shops and the caravan park and motels. Hopefully at some stage in the future the shire will change to a more open access policy. In the 30 years I have gone to the quarry I am not aware of any claims by fossickers as a result of accidents.

November  8-9  Club members travelled to the Geelong Gem Show by private car on Saturday and Sunday. It was great to catch up with Geelong members and view the displays. Members had a good time purchasing cutting material and mineral specimens.

Part of the Geelong gem show, Nov. 2014

The above photos show two of the display cases at the Geelong show.

The dichroic glass jewellery demonstration created a lot of interest amongst members.

Club member John Honan has continued to do well in VGCA faceting competitions. The photos below show some of his recent medals and faceted gems. John’s scores have shown continual improvement over the last year. Well done John!