No Stone Unturned

News and Views from the CAIRNS MINERAL & LAPIDARY CLUB Inc.

A GREEN STONE CLUB

Pictured (left) is a Maori mere, a weapon shaped from the legendry Green Stone. Greenstone is the name for nephrite that comes from the of New Zealand. It is also known as .

Nephrite is principally a calcium magnesium silicate. It is made up of tightly felted crystal fibres which is the reason for its incredible toughness. This unique structure, makes it easy to work and the finished carving has a surface with a smooth glowing lustre and a greasy or wax-like quality.

As well as being popular as a medium for , New Zealand Greenstone has great significance to Above: A Maori mere (war club) carved from New the Maori people. Read Zealand Green Stone. It belongs to Mike Rashleigh. B more about “greenstone” B in this edition of “No Stone The sign says it all ! A “Ninja” DaveUnturned”. finds a new Sauna!

FEBRUARY 2016 ISSSUE What Can You Do for the Club in 2016? 1 OTHER PERSONNEL

Assistant Secretary Catherine Wilkinson Assistant Treasurer position vacant “NO STONE UNTURNED” Purchasing Officer Bill Hall EDITOR & PUBLISHER Jeanne Mora. Specimen Curators David Croft, Laurel Voigt Ph 40330028 Email: [email protected] Cabochon Instructor Michael Hardcastle [email protected] Silver Instructors Sylvia Rose, Bill Hall For $12:00 per year you can have your copy of “No Faceting Advisors Jim Lidstone , Joe Ferk Stone Unturned” posted to you each month. For Machinery Curators Jim Lidstone, David Croft. NSU to be emailed to you, please ensure the Editor has a record of your current address. Bill Hall CLUB PATRON DESLEY BOYLE Gem Testing Vic Lahtinen GENERAL INFORMATION Specimen Tester David Croft QLACCA Delegates Geoff Robins, Bill Reece CLUB PHONE No: 04 5018 5250 Youth Centre Delegate Bill Reece CLUB EMAIL [email protected] CLUB ROOMS 129 Mulgrave Rd, Librarian David Croft Cairns. Gem Festival Convenor Bill Reece Queensland 4870 Club Auditor GKS Chartered Accountants POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 389 PURCHASING POLICY Westcourt. Queensland 4870 If you wish to make a purchase for the club, please tell the purchasing officer. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE CLUB WORK SESSIONS

President Bill Reece Sessions cost $4:00 per session and must be paid be- fore you begin work Vice President Michael Hardcastle Monday : (1 session) 4:00 to 9:30pm Secretary Jeanne Mora Wednesday: (2 sessions) 8:30am to 12:30 Treasurer Michael Rashleigh !:00 to 4:00pm Junior Vice-president Cathy Wilkinson Saturday: (2 sessions) 9:00am to 12:00 GENERAL MEETINGS 1:00 to 4:00 pm General Meetings are held at 1:00 on the second Saturday of each month (Unless other- NB: Club is closed on Gazetted public holidays unless otherwise advised. wise advised) following a sausage sizzle. We keep the meetings as short as practical. We wish to thank Federal Member for If you have a matter you wish to raise at the Leichhardt, the Honourable Warren Entsch general meeting, please write a short description for the colour photocopying of this magazine. and a proposed solution in the Agenda Book (On We thank him for supporting the Cairns the front counter) Mineral & Lapidary Club Inc. Members should try to attend at least some of the monthly meetings. The Editor reserves the right to choose and Your attendance at General Meetings, ensures edit all the material featured in this that you can voice your opinions and/or concerns, magazine. Although all care is taken to vote on club matters and meet other club ensure the accuracy of the material herein, members. Members must be financial to vote. the Editor does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracies which may inadvertently occur.

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NEW PRESIDENT, VP & JVP: Around Bill Reece was elected club president at the recent Special General Meeting. The new Vice-president the Club is Michael Hardcastle and the Junior Vice- president is Catherine Wilkinson.

The club would like to thank our retiring President Happy New Year to All. Geoff who worked hard to bring into effect many changes to streamline the efficient running of the SOME REMINDERS: club. Thanks Geoff from us all.

 Membership fees are now due. Only financial Thanks also to Emma our retiring Junior members are insured, can use any of the Vice-president. work areas and vote at General Meetings. ANNUAL RAFFLE  All faceting machines are for general use but learners will be given priory access to the Our Annual Monster Raffle is always popular and machines in the main room. Anyone wishing earns a goodly sum of money for the club each to use the two machines housed in the silver year. Please help Bill Reece (our Raffle Manager) room will need to have their own laps and get some great prizes together. Maybe ask your materials. favourite business for a donation. (The major grocery retailers are probably already helping  No Stone Unturned reports on any changes many not-for-profit organizations.) The club will to club procedures decided at meetings. You promote any prize donors. We have drafted an can have this magazine mailed to you for official letter for this purpose. Please ask Bill $12:00 a year. If you wish to have the Reece for a copy. magazine emailed to you as a PDF file, please let me (Jeanne) know and make sure GET WELL WISHES you give me a current email address. To all of our members who are feeling under the weather,  Members are required to make themselves aware of all designated work areas and the we wish you a speedy Government Workplace Health and Safety recovery. requirements pertaining to their use. Rules HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: are put into place to protect members and/or JANUARY: machinery. Richard Barham, Stephen Budd, Robert  Members read and unanimously voted to Guiliany, Dwayne Hall, Joanne McCulloch, adopt and abide by the present rules at a Devendar Polapolli, Robyn Ridley and Laurel Voigt General Meeting. All members were sent or handed a copy of the rules and asked to FEBRUARY:

suggest any amendments they wanted to be Greg Brown, Lesley Collins, Bill Collins, Colin considered. Cruickshank, Damien DeSabbata, Kevin Franklin,  New members are required to read and sign Ben Hogendoorn, Stuart Howe, Jan Lidstone, a form to accept and abide by the club rules Michael Rashleigh, Sally Sprague and before they are accepted as club members. Caroline Whittaker.

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DAVE BETTENS …...gone fishin’ It is with great sadness that I wish to inform all club members of the sudden passing of Dave Bettens. Dave passed away on Sunday morning 14th February 2016.

We wish to extend our deepest sympathies to his lovely wife Lyn and all of his many friends..

Dave was a valued member of the club’s Manage- ment Committee, the Assistant Treasurer and the club’s Workplace Health & Safety Officer but more than that, he was the good friend of club members, a man of rare good humour and a man always ready to roll up his sleeves and help out wherever needed.

He especially loved the Club field trips and readers will remember him for his humorous field trip reports as the “Minister for Bloody Everything”. In “No Stone Unturned”.. Dave out in the field, unearthing nature’s treasures. His other great loves were faceting and fishing.

COURSES Dave will be sadly missed by all who knew him. BASIC SILVER WORK Rest in peace Dave A course in basic silver work begins on Saturday, 20th February. Sylvia will begin the ARTICLES FOR “NO STONE UNTURNED” course before she and Allan leave for a 3 month vacation in Europe. (Bon voyage to you both). Members are reminded to hand the Editor any jokes or other articles (preferably of a Lapidary Bill Hall will continue and complete the course when he returns from his trip. nature).

LOST WAX CASTING If you have silver work patterns, faceting patterns and photos of your own lapidary work, please The next casting days will be 2nd April. consider submitting them for publication. Members are advised that wax orders need to CHRISTMAS RAFFLE be in by 14th March so that the waxes will be at the club by the first Casting Day. The Christmas Raffle winners were:

PRESIDENT’S REPORT Dave Bettens won the silver bracelet donated by Jeanne Mora, Bill Reece won the set of knives and As Bill Reece has only just taken over the reins Vic Cummings won the camp chair donated by of Club President again, he has not written a Brothers. report for this month, however his reports will continue in the next edition of “No Stone Congratulations all. Unturned”

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Let’s Laugh a Lot

The morning after the Zoo New Year’s Eve Party!

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Aussie Bush Etiquette is recognized throughout the civilized world; but we all need to be reminded from time to time.

In General:

1. Never take an open stubby to a job interview...

2. Always identify people in your paddocks before shooting at them.

3. It's tacky to take an Esky to church.

4. If you have to vacuum the bed, it's time to change the sheets.

5. Even if you're certain you're included in the will, it's rude to take your ute and trailer to the funeral.

Eating Out:

1. When decanting wine from the box, tilt the paper cup and pour slowly so as not to bruise the wine.

2. If drinking directly from the bottle, hold it with only one hand.

Entertaining at Home:

1. A centrepiece for the table should never be anything prepared by a taxidermist..

2. Don't allow the dog to eat at the table, no matter how good his manners.

Personal Hygiene:

1. While ears need to be cleaned regularly, this should be done in private, using one's OWN ute keys.

2. Even if you live alone, deodorant isn't a waste of money.

3. Extensive use of deodorant can only delay bathing by a few days.

4. Dirt and grease under the fingernails is a no-no, it alters the taste of finger foods and if you are a woman it can draw attention away from your jewellery.

Theatre/Cinema Etiquette: ;

1. Crying babies should be taken to the lobby and picked up after the movie ends.

2. Refrain from yelling abuse at characters on the screen. Tests have proven they can't hear you.

Weddings:

1. Livestock is a poor choice for a wedding gift.

2. For the groom, at least, rent a tux. A tracksuit with a cummerbund and a clean football jumper can create a tacky appearance.

3. Though uncomfortable, say "yes" to socks and shoes for the occasion.

Driving Etiquette:

1. Dim your headlights for approaching vehicles, even if your gun's loaded and the roo's in your rifle sight.

2. When entering a roundabout, the vehicle with the largest roo bar doesn't always have the right of way.

3. Never tow another car using panty hose and duct tape.

4. When sending your wife down the road with a petrol can, it's impolite to ask her to bring back beer too.

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Out

and

About

GOLD RECOVERY

We all know how valuable gold is but what is so amazing is the lengths people will go to recover gold Above: This very unusual “pineapple” was found on a local from some fairly unusually sources. property. Thanks to Bill Reece for sharing this freak of nature.

Hatton Gardens in London is a fine jewellery making EL DORADO district and when one gold smith recently moved to Pictured at right: A gold model of a different location, a gold recovery team cleaned the raft carrying the gold-coated the empty shop. They vacuumed every centimetre Muisca king onto the lake where he would throw gold artefacts to of the premises, floor, walls, ceiling, shelving, books, appease the Gods light fittings, etc Then they pried up the floorboards The legend of the lost and vacuumed under them. They dismantled the city of gold has seen sink and kept all the gunk from the “s” bend. many an adventurer scour the Columbian (South In effect they were retrieving every last speck of America) jungle to find it...some even attempting to gold dust, and it was all bagged up and taken away drain Lake Parime where, legend has it, the king of so the gold could be extracted and sold on. the Muisca people was coated in gold and floated You could be forgiven for wondering it all this effort out onto the lake on a golden raft in an initiation paid off. Well the largest gold mine in South Africa ceremony. The city has never been discovered but (a very complex mining venture with expensive scientists and archaeologists have made a useful machinery that employs hundreds of people) yields discovery. The Muisca people had no gold mines, just a few ounces of gold from every ton of raw no gold deposits and certainly no city of gold. material mined. What they did have was an incredibly valuable Other extraction teams buy human teeth and melt commodity that they traded with other tribes in the them down to get the gold out of the fillings. vicinity. They had a salt deposit in their territory. Other tribes wanted the salt and were prepared to Others buy unwanted jewellery, sell on any jewellery pay for it ...some tribes paid with gold. of reasonable quality and melt the rest down for the gold. Allegedly the Muisca used the gold to make

Jewellers buy the retrieved artefacts that they offered to their many gods. Their gold to fashion into new wealth was salt, not gold. Analysis of the gold jewellery and everyone retrieved from their land revealed that it actually makes a reasonable living. came from many different areas…. locations of tribes that traded their gold for salt.

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Faceting Pattern for the Month

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STAR

This star makes a delightful addition to a plain chain bracelet (illustrated) or it can also be worn as a pendant.

For this project you will need

1 X 1.2mm silver wire ring with an inside diameter of 7mm

X 1mm silver wire rings with an inside diameter of 3mm

X 1mm silver wire rings with an inside diameter of 3.5mm

This uses a variation of byzantine weave

Step 6 Step 1 Select two more medium Take 1 X 7umm jump ring, jump rings which you will 5 small jump rings thread through to replace the needle.

Step 2 Step 7 Close the large jump ring This shows one jump ring which we’ll call A. being threaded through that space you were hold- You can use a piece od scrap ing with the needle. wire to hold it. Two rings go through this space

Step 3 (which will be repeated Step 8 5 times) Now repeat steps 3, 4, 5, Add two medium jump rings 6 and 7 with the remaining B to ring A. Join them. Add 4 pairs of rings that are two medium rings C through threaded onto the large both B rings. . ring A. It will look like this Step 4 Holding the large ring A, Step 9 separate the two C rings. Now you are going to use medium jump rings to join the rings as shown in the pic- ture. Work around the Step 5 circle until you have joined all the 5 sets Now you will push them od medium rings. together under the B rings and draw them up between Use a tie wire to hold the B rings. on set of rings as you work Hold them with a needle continued

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Step 10

Using the small jump rings, finish off each point by threading two of the small jump rings through the side by side end rings from step 9.

Continue around the circle until the star is finished.

MORE ABOUT NEW ZEALAND GREENSTONE

Pounamu refers to several types of hard, durable and highly valued nephrite jade, bowenite, or serpentin- ite stone found in southern New Zealand. Pounamu is the Māori name. These rocks are also generically known as "greenstone" in New Zealand English.

There are two systems for classifying

pounamu. Geologically, the rock falls

into the three categories named above,

but Māori classify pounamu by appear- ance. The main classifications are kawakawa, kahurangi, īnanga, and tangiwai. The first three are nephrite

jade, while tangiwai is a form of bowenite.

Rough “Greenstone” Īnanga pounamu takes its name from a native freshwater fish (Galaxias maculatus) and is pearly-white grey-green in colour and varies from translucent to opaque.

Kahurangi pounamu is highly translucent and has a vivid shade of green. It is named after the clearness of the sky and is the rarest variety of pounamu.

Kawakawa pounamu comes in many shades, often with flecks or inclusions, and is named after the leaves of the native kawakawa tree (Macropiper excelsum). It is the most common variety of pounamu.

Tangiwai pounamu is clear like glass but in a wide range of shades. The name comes from the word for the tears that come from great sorrow.

In modern usage pounamu almost always refers to nephrite jade. Pounamu is generally found in rivers specific parts of the South Island as nondescript boulders and stones. These are difficult to identify as pounamu without cutting them open. (Continued on the next page)

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Significance to Māori:

Pounamu plays a very important role in Māori culture. It is considered a taonga (treasure). Pounamu taonga increase in mana (prestige) as they pass from one generation to another. The most prized taonga are those with known histories going back many generations. These are believed to have their own mana and were often given as gifts to seal important agreements. Pounamu taonga in- clude tools such as chisels (whao) and adzes (toki), fishing hooks and lures, and bird leg rings (kākā poria); weapons such as mere (short handled clubs); (see picture on the front vpage) and ornaments such as pendants (hei-tiki, hei matau and pekapeka), ear pendants,

and cloak pins.

It is found only in the South Island of New Zea- A greenstone pendant land, known in Māori as Te Wai Pounamu ("The [land of] Greenstone Water") or Te Wahi Pounamu ("The Place of Green- stone"). In 1997 the Crown handed back the ownership of all naturally occur-

ring pounamu to the South Island tribe Ngāi Tahu, as part of the Ngai Tahu

Claims Settlement.

Colour variations are illustrated below left

Modern use:

Jewellery and other decorative items made from gold and pounamu were par- ticularly fashionable in New Zealand in the Victorian and Edwardian years in

the late 19th and early 20th century. It continues to be popular among New Above Zealanders and is often presented as gifts to visitors and to New Zealanders More pendants carved from moving overseas. Greenstone. Note the different colours. Viggo Mortensen, Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, took to wearing a hei matau around his neck. Michael Hurst of the television programme Below: Hercules was given a large and heavy pounamu pendant necklace which he Some colour variations seen wore on the programme. During a particularly energetic action scene the in rough specimens of pendant bumped his teeth. The producers felt the ornament suited the nature greenstone of the programme yet considered it a

safety risk, and had it replaced with a latex replica.

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