John's New England Minerals and General Geology Blog: Pinkett

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.

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Monday, 2 September 2013

BACK CREEK, PINKETT NEAR GLEN INNES, NSW AUSTRALIA

BACK CREEK, PINKETT NEAR GLEN INNES

NSW AUSTRALIA

Back Creek is the first major creek south of Yarrow Creek on the Pinkett road, about 25km south east of Glen Innes. As seen from the road, there are numerous granite outcrops, especially on the eastern side. Near the point at which the creek moves away from the road, outcrops disappear and sand appears to make up the creek bed from here on. At the point where the Pretty Valley road crosses Back Creek there is nothing to be seen but sand. All this country is private property, needless to say, so access will need to be arranged for fossicking.

The above quote comes from the book “Exploration Data Package for the Glen Innes 1:100,000 Sheet Area” by RE Brown (1995). The DIGS reference is GS1995/231. It strongly suggests that good gemstones are to be found in these south eastern areas. Our numerous trips to Yarrow Creek confirm that this is indeed true; however there have been sapphire mines at various places along the Yarrow where sufficient accumulation of wash has happened.

Yarrow Creek is shown as a sapphire bearing stream in the following references:

Sapphire in NSW 1983 DIGS reference Information Brochure 40, Sapphire in NSW 1995 DIGS Information Brochure 41, Quarterly Notes 103 (1997) DIGS reference QN 103, Records of the Geological Survey of New South Wales, Volume14, Part 1 by AA McNevin (1972) DIGS Records 14(1) .

Back Creek topaz

Interestingly, neither Pretty Valley, nor Rainy Swamp nor Back Creek appear on any of the maps in these references. In the case of Rainy Swamp sapphires were certainly mined there. Pretty Valley appeared to be virgin when we first investigated it. Back Creek showed signs of old prospecting along both of its major tributaries upstream of the Pinkett road. Yet no trace could be found in DIGS of any mining or prospecting in these three areas. All three have produced good gemstones on our many visits.

I have mentioned in the Blog entries on both Rainy Swamp and Pretty Valley that their gemstones differ from those in Yarrow Creek, but resemble each other. The same is true for the gems from Back Creek. Indeed, I think it likely that the Rainy Swamp deposit is a former course of Back Creek. It would not be difficult to imagine Back Creek having formerly flowed where Bladey Grass Creek is today (Pretty Valley).

The typical wash from Back Creek produces a concentrate containing sapphire, zircon, spinel, tourmaline, topaz and cassiterite. There is a great deal of clear and smoky quartz. The topaz has been found in pieces up to 150 carats, mostly colourless but with some blue and apricot coloured stones. There is a lot of black tourmaline and I have seen one piece only of gemmy tourmaline. The sapphire is mostly opaque but clear stones of all the usual colours turn up. There is a little beryl to be found as well.

Gemmy tourmaline from Back Creek

I have seen two “bonanzas” found there when dozens of cutters suddenly appeared in a relatively small area. I was involved in finding a third and it was extraordinary to come upon wash peppered with all the gems mentioned when it was normal to see just a few in the sieve. That’s what gem hunting is all about and I have to say that it was a sad day when we lost access to the best part of the creek in 2002. This was the result of fossickers on a Minerama trip not filling in their holes.

If I ever had the opportunity to fossick again, Back Creek would be the place I would go.

I have no photos of fossicking at Back Creek, unfortunately, and just a few of some finds from there. I’m looking forward to reading about future successes by readers of this Blog.

You can experience fossicking around Glen Innes through my You Tube site until you pay the area a visit. Click here.