Gold Prospecting in Australia: The Best Regions and Licences

No country has produced more giant gold nuggets than Australia. The Welcome Stranger, found at Moliagul in Victoria in 1869, weighed around 72 kilograms of gold after cleaning and is still regarded as the largest alluvial nugget ever found. In 1980, the Hand of Faith, weighing about 27 kilograms, was found near Kingower with a metal detector. Australia is one of the few places where a hobbyist with a detector still has a realistic chance at a large nugget.

Why Australia is so rich in gold

Two very different geological settings explain most of Australia's gold:

• Very old greenstone belts in Western Australia, more than 2.5 billion years old, host enormous orogenic deposits such as the Golden Mile at Kalgoorlie.
• Younger folded slates and sandstones in central Victoria hold quartz reefs that formed during mountain building about 440 to 370 million years ago. They shed coarse gold into the surrounding gravels and slopes.

In both regions, deep weathering over millions of years left gold close to the surface, in reach of hand tools and detectors.

Victoria: the Golden Triangle

Central Victoria was the scene of the great gold rush of the 1850s, when places like Ballarat and Bendigo became boom towns. The area roughly between Wedderburn, Dunolly, Maryborough and Avoca is known as the Golden Triangle and is famous for nuggets.

Popular areas include the forests and reserves around Dunolly, Tarnagulla, Moliagul, Wedderburn, Inglewood and St Arnaud. Many state forests and regional parks are open to prospecting with a licence, while national parks and some reserves are closed.

Licence: In Victoria you need a Miner's Right to prospect on Crown land and keep what you find. According to the Victorian government, it is valid for 10 years, costs a modest one-off fee and is available to individuals only. On private land you also need the landowner's permission.

Western Australia: the goldfields

Western Australia produces most of Australia's gold. The Eastern Goldfields around Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Coolgardie, Leonora and Laverton, and the Murchison further north and west, are prime detecting country.

The ground is vast, dry and often remote. Detectorists work old dry-blowing areas, shallow alluvial patches and the slopes around old workings. Much of the land is covered by mining tenements held by companies or individuals, so checking tenure is essential.

Licence: Western Australia also uses a Miner's Right for recreational prospecting. It comes with conditions about where you can go, how deep you can dig and the permission needed on tenements and pastoral leases. Check the state's mining department for details.

Queensland

Queensland has several historic goldfields, including Charters Towers, Gympie and the Palmer River. The state uses a fossicking licence and has designated fossicking areas where hobby prospecting is allowed.

New South Wales

New South Wales was the site of Australia's first official gold rush in 1851, near Bathurst. Areas such as Hill End, Sofala and parts of the Central Tablelands still attract fossickers. NSW also has designated fossicking districts and rules about where and how you can dig.

Methods that work in Australia

• Metal detecting is king. Australian ground is often highly mineralised, which is why pulse induction and other advanced detectors became so popular there. Patience, slow sweeps and digging every signal pay off.
• Dry blowing is the Australian name for dry washing, used in arid areas such as Western Australia.
• Panning and sluicing work in Victoria's creeks when there is water, though many streams are seasonal.

Rules and etiquette

• Fill every hole you dig. It is a legal requirement in many places and protects the land and livestock.
• Stay off mining tenements and leases without written permission.
• Respect Aboriginal heritage sites, which are protected by law.
• Check fire restrictions in summer, and never leave rubbish.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Licence fees and conditions change, so always check with the relevant state department before you go.

Planning a trip

If you are visiting from overseas, the Victorian goldfields are the easiest place to start. Towns like Ballarat, Bendigo, Dunolly and Wedderburn have detector shops, guides and clubs, and the forests are within a couple of hours' drive of Melbourne. Get your Miner's Right, learn the basics of where gold collects and take your time. Many of Australia's best nuggets were found by people working ground that others had already walked over.