'Smoko' at the gemfields.

Took a drive out to the fossicking area this morning to have 'smoko' with our friend who takes the fossicking tours out. Plus there were some other people out there too, who we had met last year, while we were all looking for "the Big One"!

The Central Queensland Gemfields are about 300 km west of Rockhampton, on the Queensland coast, and are centred around the small towns of Anaki, Rubyvale & Sapphire, and bit further west, the Willows.
Sapphires were first found in the 1870's, but it was the blues that were mined, not the other colours that are valuable today, both for commerical purposes and for the tourism industry of fossicking.
There are several publice fossicking areas, and you will need to get a fossicking license for a small fee, before heading of to find "The Big One." Only pick and shovel are allowed in these areas, there are other areas put aside for mechanical mining.
Sapphires come in all colours of the rainbow, not just blues, like you mostly see sold in jewellery shops the world over. Various shades of blue, green & yellow, plus orange, the pinks are very rare, and so are the white sapphires. Red sapphies are known as "Ruby". PJ found a piece of pink last year, but it was what is called a 'bomb' which means it isn't a good piece of sapphire.
There is one that is found here, known as "Parti coloured sapphire" - this is a mixture of blue, green & yellow in the one stone. Depending on the dominance of which colour, you get a wide variation of the colour of these stones. These are my favourite, and was the first Australian sapphire that I ever brought, and we have since found several of these ourselves.
The "Star Sapphire" is found in a bronze, black or blue colour. I don't like these ones as much.
Taken from "Expore Sapphire Gemfield" booklet.
"What is a Sapphie?
Sapphire is the gem variety of the minierail corundum & is one of hte most prized gems in the world......They have the hardness of 9 on the Moh'as scale which is second only to diamonds."
Legend & Lore.
Sapphires have been collected, worn and traded since early Roman times and are knwons as the Gem of the Soul. Sapphire is the birthstone for September, and the 45th anniversary."