A fossicking (prospecting) festival in Emmaville this long weekend promises to be fun for all the family – for miners and minors alike.
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This is the first year the Gemorama has been held. Organiser Bob Rodger hopes it will be an annual fixture, similar to Glen Innes’s Minerama, NSW’s largest annual gem show.
“Fossickers need to be looked after,” he said. “They don’t just come up for a day; they come up for a week or two, and fossick around the whole area.”
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The event allows them to explore the old mining town. Emmaville is close to the Grampians, one of Australia’s richest mineral belts. At one time, there were 30 mines in the area – mostly tin, but also silver and emeralds. Even today, rock-hunters find topaz, arsenic, and quartz crystals.
Visitors will get to fossick at the Webbs Consol Silver Mine; Three Waters up at Bullock Mountain; and a mystery location.
You don’t need to be a mineralogist to enjoy the weekend, though.
“We've got so many people here that are more than willing to give their experience and their knowledge to the younger generation, and to the older generation, for that matter,” Bob said.
“It's more social than actually finding the stones; it's more of a get-together of old friends and new friends."
Bob is expecting 100 to 150 people a day, many of whom can camp at the site. There will be live music and a lamb and pork spit each night.
The event will raise money for the local SES, the Guyra Food Hub, and two organisations, Frontline Forces and Wounded Heroes, that help homeless veterans find food and shelter.
“They supported me, and they supported my brothers and sisters,” Bob said.
Bob himself is an ex-service man, army and navy. He’s been fossicking since his youth; he did his first bit at Lightning Ridge in 1967, when there was only one pub – but he came away with heaps of opals. He came up to Emmaville 12 years ago, when the Minerama had an excursion to a fluoride mine, and fell in love with the area.
“People should come for the camaraderie, to see the beautiful countryside up here, and to bring families together,” Bob said. “You can get the kids off the computers and mobile phones; it gets them out into the bush and enjoying life.”
Gemorama runs from June 9 to 11, at 5304 Strathbogie Road, Emmaville. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/Gemorama/. Tickets are $20; book on the day.