General News
20 January, 2024
Golden days ahead for Shane and Jackie
SHANE Walker has been picking up gold nuggets around Inglewood since he was a child. Grandmother Eva Hodgins taught him that there was gold on the ground after rain and would later teach him how to pan for the precious mineral. He found his first...
SHANE Walker has been picking up gold nuggets around Inglewood since he was a child.
Grandmother Eva Hodgins taught him that there was gold on the ground after rain and would later teach him how to pan for the precious mineral.
He found his first nugget at the Morning Star dam as a student in Grade Six at Inglewood Primary School.
Today Shane is leading visitors to the region on gold detecting tours.
And helping him is partner Jackie who wears an engagement ring made from Shane’s first Morning Star find.
On Saturday, Shane will marry Jackie before the couple resume their regular Gold Nugget Hunter tours.
Shane and Jackie last month were among four Loddon tourism operators to complete a tourism digital training program co-ordinated by Bendigo Regional Tourism.
“The tourist market is slowly improving after COVID,” Shane said. “The people we take out are being introduced to prospecting and detecting ... they are people in awe of the bush.”
The size of their groups is never more than four and many quickly become hooked on gold.
“I was brought up prospecting for gold and it has become
second nature. You learn about the gold, the soil ... you are really going over ground that has been worked before but there’s gold there,” he said.
Jackie said: “Finding a small nugget changes your life. Every nugget is like children - individual and beautiful.
“It’s not all luck. There’s also a lot of knowledge needed and how you read the ground.
“And the bush is a great life,” she said.
Shane said tourists joining his gold detecting tours were in awe of the bush.
“They are outdoor people and we help them fine tune their detectors and to know what they should be looking for,” he said. “They are easy to teach and eager to learn.”
Shane said one prospector had found three nuggets in one day.
“I drew a line on the ground indicating where I thought there might be gold,” he said. “He was shaking with joy when he did.”
And the bonus of the tours, the learners get to keep what they find.