On the very same day she relinquished Australia Post after years of offering mail, Jocelyn Flint made an distinctive exploration whereas testing a distant island off Tasmania’s northeast. While strolling within the route of among the many sensational coastlines on Flinders Island, she detected one thing within the sand that left her “absolutely shocked”.
On a course inflicting Killiecrankie shoreline she situated a transparent, rectangular-shaped rock regarding the dimension of her fingertip. The following day, she situated a diamond-shaped treasure that truly made her thrilled.
“I’ve always heard about the Killiecrankie diamonds,” Jocelyn knowledgeable Yahoo News.
“I found all this smokey quartz and then next thing there it was. Honestly I thought it was a bit of broken glass, absolutely shocked.”
The shoreline is well-known for its hid treasures, with guests trying their good luck to find one with screens and shovels. Killiecrankie rubies obtained their title from their similarity to harsh rubies, but the rocks are in actual fact topaz.
‘Buried prize’ on Flinders Island
The treasures have been preliminary gathered by tin miners within the 1800s and was simply one of many earliest treasures or minerals exported from Australia, based on the University of Tasmania.
A broadly identified story amongst residents is that an individual of the miners hidden a lot of kerosene tins of Killiecrankie rubies close to the tin mine, nonetheless they’ve really by no means ever been situated.
One of the best locates, nonetheless, comes from Margaret Wheatley, that knowledgeable Yahoo the 585g rock deserves round $3,400.
Margaret, 71, and her hubby Alan rent fossicking tools and supply suggestions to guests regarding the place to browse. She moreover transforms the rocks proper into jewellery, and markets them from her residence.
“The bigger ones are harder to find, but you still find a few that are reasonable size,” she mentioned.
“You can still find them, they are heavy stones and under the sand so you do actually have to do some work. I tell people the harder they work the luckier they get!”
Alan has been promoting the stones since he was 12 years previous — he’s now 73. Margaret joined the enterprise when the pair bought married 51 years in the past and began creating jewelry.
She believes it’s uncommon to discover a seaside in Australia stuffed with topaz, noting they’re often present in gem fields inland.
“This is probably the best area with beaches, but you can find them in places like Mount Surprise in Queensland or Oban in NSW, they are in a number of places. Just not so close to the water,” she mentioned.
“If you’re going to go looking it’s best to go at low tide because you can get further down the beach, and because they are heavy stones they go to the lowest point.”
While Jocelyn’s discover won’t be value a lot, it’s the reminiscence of the journey and the fun of the discover that she is holding on to.
“I don’t think I’ll turn into a diamond hunter,” she laughed.
“I’ve worked all these years and delivered mail everyday around the countryside on the northwest of Tassie. It’ll be nice to just explore now and enjoy life.”
< figcaption course=” caption-collapse How caas-jump-link-heading (* )how-to-get-to-flinders-island” >Flinders Island
Flinders Island to succeed in (* )comes by both watercraft or plane, with transient journeys leaving from Launceston (35 minutes), Hobart (1 hour) or Melbourne (1 hour) with Sharp Airlines.
If you select to be on the ocean, there’s a weekly barge departing from Bridport, Tasmania which takes about eight hours.
Do you may have a narrative tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You may observe us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
