Day 53: Thu 17 Aug 23

Day 53: Thu 17 Aug 23 - Rubyvale

August 17, 2023

Thu 17 Aug 23 - Rubyvale

Weather: 12 Deg in the morning, reaching 33 Deg by 1.30pm, clear and sunny with no wind all day.

My morning walk was followed by breakfast, then at 8.45, Noel and I drove to Sapphire to Pat’s Gems to learn a bit more about searching for sapphires. We bought another bucket of wash, and the owner, Brendan gave us a lesson on gemology, explaining the types of gems to be found in the area, the best way to sieve and wash, and how to distinguish various gemstones from the wash. It was also interesting to learn that a lot of small green lumps of soil appearing in the wash was naturally occurring arsenic, which is also the cause of many locals succumbing to arsenic poisoning from licking stones over the years. It was a very interesting morning, and again Brendan was very accomodating with his time and sharing of his knowledge.

After picking out a small amount of coloured stones (blue and green sapphires and some zircon), nothing being worthy of cutting I don't think, we ventured inside to the cafe for a late morning brew, and for Noel a large slab of carrot cake. From Sapphire, we drove back to Rubyvale past the caravan park to the Middle Ridge Fossicking Area where we met up with a couple from South Australia who we met a few days earlier at Capella. They were fossicking too, but about to leave empty handed. Noel and I did some fossicking along a creek bed for about an hour before deciding it was getting too hot for us, and after a drive around some of the dirt tracks, we also left, returning to the van for the afternoon. After lunch, I helped Jim next door with a few minor repairs on his van (a broken door handle and broken outdoor light, helping him sort out a few things on his phone, and just chatting). Jim, who comes from Warragul in Victoria, is 82 years old and has been staying on the same site in the caravan park for the past 25 years. Sadly, this year is his first visit to the Gemfields without his wife who he lost two years ago. He arrived in early June and plans to leave at the end of September, as he does each year, but he no longer digs for gems. He spends the day walking around with his small 12 year old dog, who is not well, and sitting in his van watching TV, or sitting outside beside our van. (He can’t use his awning because he almost ripped it off when he hit a pole on the way up from Victoria). Jim’s a lovely bloke, but he really shouldn’t be towing his 20+ foot caravan anymore, especially on his own. Like Jim, the van is not in the best condition anymore.

After dragging myself away, Noel and I went for a walk to the grocery store, stopping for an afternoon refreshment at the pub across the road on the way back, then I put the drone up for a few photos. Roast lamb and veggies for dinner and another quiet night with no internet, no TV and poor phone reception wrapped another day in the Gemfields.

Morning Walk in Rubyvale

A Story about Old Mick.

Frederick Max (Mick) Stonebridge was believed to have been born in Berlin in 1887 although it is suspected that Stonebridge was not his birth name. After a short stint in the German Imperial Navy, Mick qualified for an assisted passage to Australia and arrived in Brisbane at the age of 22. He made his way to the Rubyvale area some 10 years later after working a variety of jobs throughout the Blackall area and meeting Rubyvale miner, Willis Hagan, while pressing wool at Yaraka in 1918. Mick was said to be an easy-going gentleman with a huge heart and a fellow who was always good for a yarn. Mick was so highly regarded in the community that in August 1977, he was the local identity selected to 'flick the switch when electricity came to the Sapphire and Rubyvale townships. (This is a couple of years after I last came out to the Gemfields with my father)

While Mick mined around Rubyvale for more than 50 years he never sold the sapphires he dug, not even the 202 carat "Stonebridge Green" he mined on Norman's Hill in 1938. His famous gem was stolen in the 1960s but soon after recovered. From then on, he wore it in a pouch around his neck, proudly showing it off to anyone expressing an interest. When he died in 1978. Mick left a sapphire and stamp estate worth more than six figures! The Queensland Public Trustee conducted an international investigation to try and locate a rightful heir and in 1980 his sapphire and stamp collection sold off at a public auction.