coin and relic metal detecting western australia
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Transcript of coin and relic metal detecting western australia
J
Edition 2 June 2011
COIN AND RELIC METAL DETECTING
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
This edition will talk about:
Playgrounds
Merredin Peak
PLAYGROUNDS
To start the topic I should state I have found there are two
main categories of playgrounds and in those there are 3 types
of playgrounds.
Now to better explain, the categories are simple: school
playgrounds and public park/ reserves playgrounds.
Within these there are 3 types of playgrounds, most noticeable
on school playgrounds, these types are equipment for older
kids/adults such as swings, monkey bars or flying foxes as they
seem to be replaced by these days and the elaborate climbing
frames. The next type is equipment for 5 to 10 year olds; this is
usually a slide with a
fort of some sort, lots of
smaller height frames to
develop coordination
and lower hung swings.
Then as you would
guess the final type is
the little kid’s
equipment which I
finding these days am
just a shrunk down
version of type 2, but
also you will find
rocking horses, see saws
and lots of poles.
Now back in the 1970’s through to
the 1990’s playgrounds had timber in
them and not steel or aluminum. I
still find these exist but due to cancer
links with copper logs they are
mainly now removed for metal
grounds. Sadly these are the best
playground to detect as you can
crank up the sensitivity on the
Garrett Ace 350 to maximum, but
with metal playgrounds when close to
poles etc. you get false signals so have
to lower the sensitivity when under
or around equipment to 1 or 2 bars.
Now onto school
playgrounds, I find
these amazingly clean
of pull tabs and bottle
tops, a testament to our
school system teaching
kids to keep them
clean. They are good
too great for coins as
children take pocket
money to canteen, eat
lunch fast as they want
time on the swings and
the loose coins fall out
when they on the bars, ladders and swings
Public reserve/ park playgrounds I do find bottle tops and
other very sharp metal objects in them, which is good that
someone is detecting them and saving kids from injuries. Coins
are their but nowhere near as many as schools. One exception
would be if you find a playground that has an ice-cream van or
shop next to playground.
I averaging $2 from reserve and park playgrounds and finding
between $6 and $10 in school playgrounds.
Amazing is the $2 coin, it’s a very small but heavy coin and
seems to
have the
habit of
jumping
out of
pockets
and into
sand. I
am
finding a
lot of
them.
MERREDIN PEAK
RESERVE
From its humble
creation in the
fires of planet
earth around 20
million years ago
to the modern day
granite rock that
towers over
Merredin, this
rock and its
reserve is a great
ground/area to go
metal detecting. Hunt explored the rock in 1863 and built a well a
few kilometers north of it in 1865. Then by the 1890’s as men and
wheel barrows headed to the goldfields in Southern Cross,
Westonia and Coolgardie they would stop at the rock, a great
source of fresh water in our dry climate then when well rested
continue on their way. A hotel was built their 120 years ago out of
brush and timber, nothing grand but built to supply the other thirst
of men passing
through. No mention
in any history text has
any reference to the
brothel tents that
where erected at that
same time in Southern
Cross and Coolgardie
to service the men’s
other needs, but I
suspect where there is
alcohol and up to 100
single men staying for a week or two at a time I would suspect
they existed here, it was after all common practice back then. By
1896 a dam had been erected and a granite wall built around the
rock would collect water and channel it to the dam, this water was
needed for the newly created steam railway that had come to down
and needed water for the boilers and to wash the locomotives
down. The water would be piped the kilometer or so into the
railway siding that became the modern day town of Merredin
which shifted
from its shanty
village at the rock
to be closer to the
railway siding.
Next to the railway
dam by the 1920’s a
home was built for the
manager of the dam to
ensure the pumps and
dam functioned in
order to keep the
water moving to the
railway. This home
was built next to the
dam inside the
Merredin Reserve.
This home is now a
bulldozed pile of rubble surrounded by sandalwood trees and
slowly being returned to nature.
Then in the history time line of the peak as it’s commonly known
in town came World War 2, by 1942 a field hospital was erected in
the peak reserve to treat wounded soldiers from Palestine who
would after they recouped return to combat in the pacific. The
hospital stayed open for just over a year, concrete slabs where
made for the buildings which were many from theatres to
storerooms to
sanitary rooms to
kitchens, everything
a modern self-
supporting hospital
needed was there
including a Red
Cross recreation
building. The 600
patients of the
hospital did not do
so well, they were
housed in tents, 4
men to a tent which
in our winter would
have been horrible
considering the hot tropics they had come from, we get nights
below 0 degrees centigrade in winter and winter days are as low as
14 centigrade with a nice cold wind that never seems to end.
Summer the extreme heat in the 40 degree centigrade ranch would
have been soothed by swimming in the railway dam which is only
200 meters from the hospital site. I have found coins in this area
from 1913 to 1961 and my first half penny from 1942 as well.
The concrete slabs are still everywhere in the hospital site and even
though bush land is slowly encasing them, they are easy to find
and if you can tolerate the tin and other trash you will find coins.
Once the soldiers and hospital left the peak it went back to being
the playground for the town again, there is some very old cars
burned out in there and many old camp grounds that are awaiting
still to be found
again. I found a
campsite that was
at least 10 years
old as in the
fireplace it had a
mature shrub
growing out of it
which was at least
10 years old,
around this
fireplace I found
two coins.
A aboriginal camp also existed built by federal government to
house the displaced people who have wandered the rock thousands
of years, this camp existed from the 1950’s to 1971 when they
moved into homes within the town. From 1971 to now there is no
record of people living in the rock reserve and now days even
camping are banned in there. It is a very popular walking area, 100
acres of reserve to explore and even gets a tour bus drive around it
on a daily basis. Wildflowers bring people in their 100’s or more
during August to October. On one side of the rock, the town side, a
golf course was built in 1924 that exist to this day.
Yes with the Merredin Peak I expect as long as I live 2 minutes’
drive from it I will be detecting there, you can never run out of
spots to detect in the reserve.
A video of the peak, a large slideshow with many more pictures of
the peak reserve on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=hf
d0wExhe-I
Once again thank you for reading my little piece of local metal
detecting, I still have a wealth more of photos and stories to share
from the last 5 weeks, so stay tuned for next installment and please
subscribe to my YouTube channel where is videos of playgrounds
and Merredin peak on it
http://www.youtube.com/user/jacktreasurehunter