2004 TO 2007 CLUB ACTIVITIES

WARRNAMBOOL GEM CLUB

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THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL FROM THE CLUB ACTIVITIES PAGES FROM PREVIOUS YEARS

2007 Activities

December 2 Congratulations are extended to club member Darren Lucas ,who has just successfully completed the first year of his Gemmology course. Darren scored well in both theory and practice and will be continuing the course in 2008. Well done Darren!

November 21 The club held it's A.G.M. last night and is pleased to announce the election of Jenni Wood as club president for 2007 - 2008. Janice Fisher continues as club secretary and Kay Keen as treasurer. The club christmas picnic will be held on the 9th of December at Janice and Keith's home at mid-day.

Club members were sad to hear of the 'passing away' of Sheila Tims recently. Sheila was a major driver in the formation of the club some 40 years ago.

September 29 - October 1 The inaugural Kyabrum Rockarama and Craft Show was held at the Kyabrum Showgrounds from Saturday to Monday, with camping and trading on site. The crowd was limited (it may have had something to do with the AFL Grand Final being played that weekend) but club members had a good time and look forward to the 2008 kyabrum show.

George in his cooking apron

Warrnambool club members relaxing

George, Chris & Janice at the 'auction'

Kevin & Betty's site

August The club has been fortunate to purchase an excellent selection of tumbled stones from the collection of Mrs Mathieson (formerly of the Terang Gem Club). The collection contains a large number of stones from the 'Moonlight Heads' gem field, including a considerable number of 'moon agates'. Mineral specimens and display cases were also included in the purchase. The 'moon agates' will form part of the clubs permanent collection.

The club has also been fortunate to have equipment, which belonged to a former member, Roy Coleman, donated to the club by his children. Roy, and his wife Alma, were life members of the club. The equipment includes display cases and a large automatic-feed diamond saw.

Several club members met up at the Anakie gem show in Qld. The weather was lovely and good crowds were in attendance.

There were many traders at the show

Some good quality boulder opal on sale

Club member 'Dicky' at Anakie.

Great weather at Anakie!

The photo at the left shows the sand quarry at Tingha, near Inverell in N.S.W., where for a small charge you can collect quartz crystals, smokey quartz and rutilated quartz. It is simply a matter of standing at the end of the conveyer belt, with a shovel, to collect the crystals as they tumble off the end of the belt.

July 1 Members celebrated Allan White's birthday with a party/lunch in Port Fairy. Some 25 members had a great afternoon during which Allan was presented with his life membership of the club.

Allan White @ his birthday party

Darren and Kelsea

Alan & Jenni Wood (rhs)

Allan’s ‘Birthday cake’

Matthew, Allan and Heather

John & Gillian, Alan, Reece

May 4 - 6 Eleven club members attended the Palmer Rockarama near Mannum, S.A. over the weekend. Most members drove over to Palmer on the thursday, encountering heavy rain for the first part of the trip before experiencing sand storms in the latter part of the trip! There were strong N.W. head winds all the way.

At Palmer John Chivers had some 'fun' erecting his tent in the strong winds but eventually won out with some help from his friends. Most of the Warrnambool members were located in a group which was great. Since last year the Murraylands Gem and Mineral Club have installed a new toilet and shower block (beside their clubrooms at the show site) which was appreciated by all. Friday was a windy day with scattered showers. Traders/stall holders moved around the show buying and swapping mineral specimens etc. John Chivers, Brian Alexander and Alan Wood were each busy buying minerals as well as making some sales. Chris Ahyee and Janice had their 'fossils' stall set up in the large marquee and appeared to be doing good business. In the evening the Gemclub plus local groups catered for those wishing to purchase their tea. A slide show covering central/north/west Australia was held in the hall.

Saturday was warmer, sunnier and less windy; with a reasonable number of members of the public wandering around the show. Our club members reported good sales (as did most of the traders I spoke to), although 'John C." still seemed to be buying as much as he was selling! Jenny Wood looked after John's stall during some of his many buying forays but she admits her knowledge of minerals is 'limited'. One customer was heard to ask Jenny 'what is this mineral' to which Jenny replied 'it is a rock'. When asked what sort of rock, Jenny replied it is a 'rock rock'!

Alan Wood had a very good day when he was able to purchase a 10" automatic diamond saw unit plus a gemmaster vibro-lap for $500 (he was lucky he had Jenny there to 'bank-roll' him). He will now need to get his new shed built to accomodate these items! Once again 'Woody' received many compliments on the standard of his wire-wrapped jewellery.

Saturday evening saw the 'auction' take place with spirited bidding for many of the items. Items up for auctions included mineral specimens, gemstones, toys, lapidary equipment, food, lots of shampoo and many other varied and wonderful items. Kym Locheal once again did an excellent job as an auctioneer despite having his arm in a sling (as a result of an altercation with some steam powered equipment). Brian Alexander was a busy bidder throughout the evening which was enjoyed by all who attended. After the auction quite a few club members spent a few hours discussing fossicking etc around the fires outside the main hall. A great night all up.

Sunday dawned fine and calm. A major feature of the sunday of the show is the metal detecting competition. This attracts entrants of all ages and a large number of adults and juniors took part. The competition includes many opportunities to wind prizes/awards and the prize giving ceremony on sunday afternoon is a popular time at the show. Warrnambool members Brian Alexander and Alan Wood both received prizes on the day. Brian’s children, Tarna, Sarah and Darien Alexander were also successful in the metal detecting competition (see slide show below). The final part of the weekend is the 'show' on sunday night, which is invariably a highlight of the weekend. Kym Locheal once again played a big part in the show which included a starring performance by the 'Village People'. Jenny Wood starred in a follow up version of the 'Village People' and also told a great joke while up on the stage.

Monday saw most people heading home, this time with strong tail winds. Overall a great weekend!

April 4 Bill Rodgers had his 96th birthday. Bill is our most senior club member and maintains a keen interest in lapidary and mineral matters. Happy birthday bill!

March 10 -12 Victorian Gemkana at Ballarat Greyhound Racing Track Complex, Moreshead Park, Rubicon St. Ballarat. A large number of our club members attended the Gemkhana and had a great weekend. Larry had a good time tail gating and several club members returned with cutting and faceting material to use in the club workshop.

February 21 Wed. Monthly meeting at 7-30 in club rooms!

January 17 Wed. Club workshop reopens for 2007. First meeting for year at 7-30 p.m.

2006 Activities

(Previous years 2005 2004)

December 10. Club breakup for year. A good turn up at Keith and Janices' place at Woodford! (A big thank you must go to Keith and Janice for making their place available) The weather was perfect for our bbq and all members seemed to enjoy themselves. Male members were very interested in Woody's new roof-top camper ( a real bargain at under $600 new). All members wished Alan White the best as he recovers from his operation. Get well soon Alan, we are missing your cheery presence!

Have a good Christmas everyone!

John, Alan & other club members at bbq

Larry, Keith, Brian at bbq

Karen, Janice & Graham in action!

Matt, John and Jacob at bbq

January 27 -29 Warrnambool Gem Club Inc. Biennial Gem Show

The club held its biennial gem show over the weekend. The show was most successful and a report can be found on our club shows page.

April 2 - 4 Visit by York Peninsula Gem Club to Warrnambool.

Seven members of the York club arrived in Warrnambool on Saturday afternoon, 1/4/06, and made themselves at home in cabins at the local C.P. at the beach. On the Sunday, with 'Jock" and 'Robert' leading them they joined Warrnambool members at Tarrone quarry where they fossicked a selection of calcite and aragonite specimens from the basalt boulders in the quarry.

On Monday the two clubs arrived at the Mt Shadwell quarry to fossick for peridot. Upon arrival we found that there were fossickers from Qld, W.A. and N.S.W at the quarry already, digging away for the peridot. Unfortunately the weather turned wet by mid-day and only a few pieces of gem peridot were found. The clubs enjoyed a pleasant BBQ lunch together before retuning to the quarry where a few more specimens were found.

Tuesday was a finer, sunnier day and with the better light fossickers from both clubs started to find 'cutters' as well as various micro-mounts. By the end of the day most of the visitors had experienced some success in their fossicking, topped off by a nice relaxed lunch at Alan Woods residence where we viewed some of his impressive collection of finds over the years.

April 14 - 16 Visit by Southern Rockhounds (S.A.) to Warrnambool

Some 25 members of the Southern Rockhounds came to search for peridot at Mortlake. Friday dawned sunny and warm, but a cold front was on the way! A combined group from the Warrnambool club and the Southern Rockhounds arrived at Mortlake and proceeded to the quarry to commence fossicking. Some of the Warrnambool members had early success in finding some good gemmy bombs with facetable peridot (Alan Wood found a nice bomb, much to the chagrin of other W'bool members), while our guests from S.A. found a few specimens before a cold south-west change of weather, with rain and a significant 'wind chill factor' arrived on the scene. After a lunch in Mortlake, and with the rain setting in, we decided to call it quits for the day with little to show for our efforts.

The following day we headed off to Tarrone to fossick for zeolites. Fortunately the weather had improved and we had a successful days fossicking with a lot of nice micromounts being found, as well as some nice larger specimens.

Sunday we were fortunate to have lovely weather throughout the day when we returned to fossick at Mt Shadwell. Initially finds of peridot were limited but then we started to find some good gemmy bombs. Alan Wood (of the W'bool club) found a very nice bomb with several large "cutters". His find was followed by numerous other finds, including several nice pieces of 'golden peridot' by a number of members from the Warrnambool and Southern Rockhounds clubs. The writer of this report personally found 4 good bombs over the weekend with numerous "cutters" in those bombs. We finished fossicking around 4p.m. before club members enjoyed a nice tea together in Warrnambool.

Overall, a good weekend, made all the more so by the company of the members of both clubs.

Members of the Southern Rockhounds fossicking at Mt Shadwell.

A volcanic 'bomb' containing gem quality peridot, found by A.Wood on the weekend.

York Peninsula club members fossicking at Tarrone quarry for zeolites

A specimen of aragonite and calcite from Tarrone quarry.

An aragonite specimen from Tarrone quarry.

A 3.6ct peridot gem from Mt Shadwell.

Peridot in a bomb from Mt Shadwell

Two of the peridot bombs found on the weekend

October 28 The Horsham club visited Mortlake to fossick for peridot.

November 4 The Glen Waverly club visited Mortlake and Lake Keilambete for a fossicking trip. A lot of bombs were broken open at Mt Shadwell with mixed success. Some nice micromounts were found, including some calcites and anorthoclase specimens. (I personally found 6 small peridot cutters in one bomb, the largest producing an 8mm emerald cut). The Glen Waverly folk stayed in Warrnambool, joining Warrnambool club members for apleasant meal out on Satuday night. As one of our club members commented later, "they are a nice bunch of people (the G.W. club members)".

November 11 and 12 Visit to Geelong exhibition

Warrnambool Club members undertook their annual trip to the Geelong Gem show on sunday the 12th, where a good time was had by all. It was great to catch up with the members of the Geelong club. A number of Warrnambool members visited the geelong show on the 11th due to other committments. .

2005 Activities

One of the main events for 2005 was the visit to the 'Palmer Rockerama' in S.A. by a dozen of our club members. We had a great weekend at the Rockerama with the local club showing great hospitality to our members. The 'El Supremo' at Palmer, his HRH Kym, performed fantasticly both on stage and as host, for the time we were there. 'Brian' had great fun in the metal detecting competition and we all enjoyed the field trips organised by the club.

Fossicking for black garnets

Metal detecting competition, a lot of fun for all involved!

Digging for fossils near Mannum

Black marble quarry near Mannum

2004 Activities

In January 2004 the club held its biennial gem show at the Archie Graham centre in Timor St. Warrnambool. Some of the display cases from that show are shown below.

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