John's New England Minerals and General Geology Blog: Frenchies Swamp

Thursday, 6 March 2014

KELLY’S HUT CREEK NEAR GLEN INNES NSW AUSTRALIA

KELLY’S HUT CREEK NEAR

GLEN INNES NSW AUSTRALIA

Kelly's Hut Creek

It’s surprising how few tributaries Yarrow Creek has upstream of the bridge at Pinkett. A search on Google Earth will allow you to follow the creek upstream from the bridge quite easily. On the left bank (facing upstream) there are a few minor tributaries, of which Rainy Swamp Spring Creek is the most interesting. See the blog on Rainy Swamp for information here. Further up there are Mt Slow Creek and Log Paddock Creek near the Mt Slow road bridge. Upstream from there Frenchies Swamp Creek is practically the only one. (See here for information.) These creeks all carry gemstones.

There are one or two right bank tributaries, but the only sizable one is Kelly’s Hut Creek which rises in the

distant hills towards Guyra as does Yarrow Creek itself. This creek is crossed on the Mt Slow road about 2km before the Yarrow Creek bridge. There is no signpost, however.

The point where Kelly’s Hut Creek meets the Yarrow is not easy to locate. It is a very rocky place and it so happens that the tributary runs under a lot of boulders and is easily missed. For those who are familiar with Dwyer’s property (for a long time a popular fee-paying fossicking area), you take the tracks leading upstream as far as you can go, park near the dingo fence, go through the big hole in it and walk upstream. Kelly’s Hut Creek is on the right about 400 metres further on.

If you actually do this, you will be trespassing on the neighbouring property. All of Yarrow Creek and Kelly’s Hut Creek past the dingo fence are not on Dwyer’s property. Please note that on the various Minerama and Baptist Church Fossicking Group trips, we did have permission from the landowner but as the access track is not passable when the country is wet such outings were rare. In fact, the last of these would have been in 2004.

For about 2km above the junction there are many rocky areas. The gemstones are identical to those in Yarrow Creek, including pyrope garnets. The creek then turns at right angles and runs parallel to Yarrow Creek, though at a distance of about 2km from it. From this bend on, no more gemstones have been found. Searches of the literature through DIGS were fruitless; in fact the one reference I was able to locate stated categorically that, apart from quartz, at no point were any gemstones located. Nevertheless, the various maps showing the location of sapphire deposits in New England always include Kelly’s Hut Creek, showing the very part that I am claiming is barren to be productive and the part that we know is productive to be barren.

If you ever get a chance to fossick here I know you will enjoy it. You will also be able to verify what I have written about the place. As a guess, I think that the lower part of Kelly’s Hut Creek is probably a former course of the Yarrow, though just how this came about I can’t work out. The presence of garnet in the alluvium (found only in the Yarrow and some of its tributaries) implies that at some point in time a source of garnet must have been somewhere upstream. The geology of the catchment area of Kelly’s Hut Creek today suggests that this is unlikely. If someone unravels this mystery one day I will be glad to correct any errors in what I have written here.

https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos

https://johnsnewenglandminerals.blogspot.com/2013/12/list-of-all-blog-entries-to-date.html

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1325599670344725659?pli=1

Limestone Caves of NSW

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1147003616874115974/2430103125095714141

Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology.

Friday, 31 January 2014

FRENCHIES SWAMP CREEK NEAR GLEN INNES NSW AUSTRALIA

FRENCHIES SWAMP CREEK

NEAR GLEN INNES NSW AUSTRALIA

The Yarrow Creek junction 2013

Frenchies Swamp Creek is one of only two tributaries of Yarrow Creek over the entire length of the two properties we have regularly fossicked. The other one is a mere trickle and hardly noticeable. Just who Frenchie was I have no idea, but the swamp bearing his name covers a swathe of country between Yarrow Creek and the Mt Slow road near the Henry River bridge.

You might think that swamps are unlikely places to find gemstones, but it has been the swampiest ground at Pretty Valley that has been the most productive, so it doesn’t pay to jump to conclusions. In the case of Frenchies Swamp, the creek flows through some rocky areas along its course and gemstones have been found in all these places. I have followed the main creek up to the limit of the last swamp (about 4km from Yarrow Creek)

3 carat zircon

and gemstones are to be found in the gullies running into the swamp there. There are more small tributaries running into the swamp around its margin but I never had the opportunity to check these out.

The junction with Yarrow Creek is not obvious except when water levels are high. It can be followed up to the first swamp (about 400m) through rocky ground with quite a bit of typical quartz gravel in places. How this got there through kilometres of swamp is one of those little mysteries. The junction is at “Sue’s Favourite Spot”, just below the "Glory Hole" section.

The gemstones are identical to those in Yarrow, with perhaps a lower

Corundum fragment 1998

garnet percentage. The fact that there is any garnet at all is significant, because it implies that the source of the mineral must be in the catchments of both creeks. There is another possibility, that the swampy ground represents a former course of the Yarrow and that there are in fact large gemstone deposits present under the swampy areas.

It’s been quite a while since I checked out anything but the lowest part of the creek. In fact, it’s been 12 years since I went much further than that. Access is complicated by the fact that we never had a 4 wheel drive vehicle and relied on others on the few times we went there. Walking from The Crossing is the best bet, allowing 20 minutes to the point where the track crosses the creek.

I’m looking forward to hearing of good finds there one day. The landowner certainly believes that Frenchies Swamp Creek has more potential than Yarrow Creek. I hope he proves to be correct.

Check out the videos and blogs of Sue's Favourite Spot and the Glory Hole for more information and ideas.

Photographs are unfortunately rather few. Sorry about that. The only one of a day's best finds was done on a scanner. Be assured that there were many good finds made over the years.