THE Combined Probus Club of Whittlesea’s focus turned to prospecting at its July meeting, with guest speaker Mike Phillips, along with Eden Park’s David Kleesh, enlightening members.
Mr Phillips is the president of the Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria, PMAV, a voluntary body established in 1980 to protect the rights and opportunity of individuals who wish to prospect or mine across Victoria.
He demonstrated the history of metal detectors that arrived in Western Australia in the late 1970s.
An audience question had Mr Kleesh front the podium and allowed the meeting to discuss the goldfield in Whittlesea.
Mr Kleesh spoke about how the first gold findings in Victoria were in 1848, where alluvial nuggets were in the Plenty River Gorge – where there was still evidence of the early searches.
Mr Kleesh further explained how he searched for relics on the site of one of the five racecourses that operated in the region up until about 1900.
The meeting ended with members wanting to look at the equipment and publications with Mr Phillips and Mr Kleesh and asking further questions.
