Fossickin' Round
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FOSSICKIN’ ROUND THE VICTORIAN SEEKERS CLUB BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER Vol. 37 issue 1 January/February 2016 v Fossickin’ Round July/August 2013 1 Fossickin’ Round January/February 2016 1 Events Calendar January Thurs. 21st. - Tues 26th: Camp Harvest Home No General Meeting. The Victorian Seekers Club Inc. (A0001477T) Is a family oriented organization, the objectives of which are to promote February friendship, cooperation and exchange of ideas among people interested in prospecting and metal detecting. To realize these aims, we have meetings, lectures, discussions and practical demonstrations to help Wed. 3rd: General Meeting. members acquire the skills required to make prospecting and metal Thurs. 11th. - Tues 16th: Camp Talbot detecting an enjoyable and rewarding pastime. We arrange outings to Sun. 28th: Victorian Gold Panning Championships the goldfields and other prospecting sites, beaches, camps, ghost towns etc, to search for gold, coins, relics, gemstones and other natural and Blackwood man made objects of value and / or of interest. In addition, we also have March functions to foster social contacts among members. Our conduct is governed by a strict code of ethics including avoiding trespassing on private property or damaging the natural environment, hence our motto: Wed. 2nd: General Meeting. “Seek, But Do Not Destroy” Thurs. 10th. - Tues 15th: Camp Wedderburn Membership is open to adult persons and their minor children without Thurs. 24th. - Tues 29th: Easter Camp Fryerstown regard to race, creed or political persuasion, who are interested in these pursuits and prepared to abide by our Constitution and Rules of Conduct. To be confirmed. VSC has general meetings on the first Wednesday of each month (except January) at the Mulgrave Senior Citizens and Community Centre, 355 Wellington Road Mulgrave, and at a field trip each month and, in April addition, we also have some occasional day outing. Annual Membership Fees Wed. 6th: General Meeting. Family Membership: $55.00 Thurs. 14th. - Tues 19th: Camp Creswick Single Membership: $45.00 To be confirmed. One-off joining fee: $10.00 single, $20.00 family. st Subscriptions are due and payable from the 1 of July each year. The VSC Inc. Constitution states:- Clause 6. (3) Members whose current subscription are in arrears on the May first day of September shall automatically cease to be members and can only be re-admitted upon payment of both the annual subscription and a Wed. 4th: General Meeting. joining fee. Thurs. 12th. - Tues 17th: Camp TBA Website: http://seekers.metapath.org/ email: [email protected] PO Box 15, Mt Waverley BC, VIC 3149 Committee of Management PRESIDENT: Lindsay TRICKER, Club management/ representation, Chairperson. VICE PRESIDENT: Eric GRUMMETT President's deputy, arranging speakers. email; SECRETARY: John CLOSE Correspondence, meetings, admin. TREASURER: Warren IBBOTTSON Battery Repair Budget, finance matters ( other than subscriptions) Including the Minelab NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Ian SEMMENS GPX Li-ion battery Compiling & setting out Newsletter, & distribution email: 10% discount for VSC members MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: Warren IBBOTTSON Replacement Batteries Subscriptions, membership records, For a wide range of devices. RESEARCH OFFICER: Rob SHANNON Information about outings, field activity. Solar Panel Kits CATERING SUPERVISOR: Jim & Maureen LAUNDY Batteries SOCIAL SECRETARIES: Val LIPPINGWELL Accessories Tina WHELAN Organizing social functions, raffles, theatre bookings, etc. ALMONER: Louise McGOUGH Hye Trading Power P/L Contact on matters of personal nature, weddings, bereavement, etc. Unit 5, 35 Lacey Street Croydon Vic., 3136 Geoff LEE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: T (03) 9725 1822 email: [email protected] M 0407 021 966 (John) FIELD OFFICERS: Bob LAKE, , Mick SCHOTT, Nuvolari SENEVIRANE, Graham email:[email protected] MEE & Alistair McKNIGHT www.hye.com.au January/February 2016 Fossickin’ Round 2 land. This necessitated the lead-time for the permit President’s Report application to increase to 8 weeks before the pro- posed camp. Fortunately Parks Victoria and the For- by Lindsay Tricker est Service were required to notify the DjaDja- Some members may not be aware that our club is Wurrung Clans Corporation before they issued us required to obtain a permit to enable us to camp on with a permit, thus relieving us of doing this. Also public land in the Victorian Gold fields. Prior to in early 2015 Parks Victoria notified us that no per- about 2003 this was not the case – the club secretary mits would be issued unless we carried Public Lia- merely notified the local police and fire brigade plus bility Insurance of twenty million dollars. the local Rangers office that the club was camped in the State forest or Reserves. The first application involving Parks Victoria's new office was our December camp at Potter Dam, Tal- Of the various camp sites the club goes to, about half bot, which is located in a Nature Conservation Re- are in State Reserves or Parks controlled by 'Parks serve. We estimated our attendance at 28 persons Victoria', while the other half are in State Forests (the actual number was 22 persons). About 4 weeks controlled by the Forest Service. Around 2003, in before the date of the event the secretary was tele- response to a letter of notification sent to Parks Vic- phoned and told that the permit application had been toria, we were notified that from now on we would granted but it now cost $126.30 payable in advance. have to apply for a permit. This applied to both the They have created a new permit called a Forest Service and Parks Victoria with a minimum 'Community Events Permit”. We were given the op- lead-time of 6 weeks before the camp date. No bond tion of cancelling the application or going ahead. nor permit fee was charged although the application Since only 4 weeks remained before the published form provided for both. The wording of that particu- date of the camp, the General Meeting which was lar application form clearly showed the form was due that same evening were asked if they wished to designed for major events like large car rallies. We pay the fee and go ahead with the camp or cancel were also required to carry Public Liability Insurance altogether. A clear majority wished to go ahead. It in the amount of ten million dollars and name Parks should be noted that it was not possible to change to Victoria as an interested Party. Monash Halls, from another camp site due to the 8 week lead-time for a whom we hire the hall also required a similar policy fresh permit to be sent to the Forest Service, where so we merely had to enter the additional name. no fee is charged for a permit (they do not at present have power under their particular legislation to This system operated in this format until about mid- charge fees). The camp therefore went ahead and 2013 when the ranger delegated to process all permit members attending were asked to pay a fee of $2 per application for the central gold fields informed us head to help defray the permit cost. that he had been instructed to charge a $250 fee for each permit he issued. Further, that such a permit The club via the Secretary is in dialogue with the was only required for a group of 30 or more persons. man in charge of the entire section dealing with Per- From that stage onward the club merely notified the mits. We are seeking answers to a number of ques- ranger of our camp dates and location with estimated tions arising out of the permit fees. Meanwhile our numbers of attendees generally expected to be under next camp involving Parks Victoria is our Easter 30 persons. In Mid -2014 the ranger in charge noti- camp at Fryerstown. The application is already sub- fied the secretary that Parks Victoria had decided to mitted with a request it be dealt with expeditiously centralise the issue of all permits within Victoria to a so we may have time to apply for another camp site newly created office in Melbourne. Staff were being in State Forest. Finding such a site will be difficult trained as from January 2015 and they expected to as the Easter camp is our biggest with attendances of take over permit applications in June or July. about 90 persons. Early indications are that the cost may remain at $126.30, but it may be considerably Meanwhile, in 2006, The Victorian Government more. We have been told that various reserves may passed the “Aboriginal Heritage Act” which led to not attract a fee. We have supplied a list of our camp the setting up of the DjaDjaWurrung Clans Corpora- sites to determine an answer to that question. Mean- tion. This is the aboriginal group who occupied the while other groups including the PMAV are also central gold fields areas of Victoria. As of mid – seeking answers from the Minister. We will keep 2014 we were required to notify this corporation of you informed of progress. our intention to camp and search for gold on their I wish all members a safe, healthy and prosperous 2016. Lindsay. Fossickin’ Round January/February 3 In March, we will have a bottle collector “Ron, the Bottle Oh”,and buyer with many years experience in the hobby to talk General Meetings about what makes a valuable bottle and how to find them. Bring along any old bottles and he will value them for you, or By Eric Grummett even buy them from you if he is interested. At our November meeting, members were shocked to be in- formed that from now on Parks Victoria will be charging a fee for a permit to conduct a camp on any land controlled by Parks Victoria in Victoria.