GRETA SOUTH TURQUOISE WORKINGS

147 JONES LANE GRETA SOUTH, WANGARATTA RURAL CITY

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

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    GRETA SOUTH TURQUOISE WORKINGS - History

    Contextual History:History of Place:
    Heritage Inventory History of Site:
    
    The turquoise discovered in the district in 1887 was believed to be the first found in Australia. Eighteen months later, the deposit had been traced for 22 km from the discovery site 'on the east boundary of Norton's selection'—16 km up the King River above Edi, and about 3 km east of the river. Samples of the stone sent to England and Germany for valuing in 1889 drew a favourable report, and thereafter the Edi turquoise was largely exported to those countries for use in ornamental inlays (for example, in the panels of top-of-the-range pianos) and cameo cutting. (It was claimed that jewellers in Victoria spurned the local stone.) The turquoise of the district was described as 'of an exquisite blue, which maintains its perfect colour, and is said to equal the best Persian stone'.
    In 1893, eight localities were being worked for turquoise between Edi and Cheshunt, by open-face cuttings (often with a shaft at one end) or tunnelling into the hillside. Early this century, turquoise mining was also underway near Greta South, to the west of Edi. By 1912, P.C. Gascoigne (the Edi field's main prospector and promoter) had mined just 3000 carats (0.6 kg) of saleable stone. It appears that turquoise mining ceased in the district in about 1921, after Gascoigne failed to get government backing to develop his mine. An exploratory survey in the 1960s concluded that the turquoise deposits were not commercially viable.
    Since the 1960s, the district has been subject to fossicking by lapidary enthusiasts. Access to the turquoise deposits has been curtailed since a renegade rockhound blasted open a hill face with explosives in the early 1970s.
    
    References:
    Birch, W.D. & Henry, D.A. (eds), Phosphate Minerals of Victoria, Special Publication No. 3, Mineralogical Society of Victoria, Melbourne, 1993, pp. 83-90
    Dunn, E.J., report in Mining Surveyors' Reports, December 1888
    Dunn, E.J., 'The Edi Turquoise Field, King River', Records of the Geological Survey of Victoria, vol. 2, part 4, 1908 (report dated 1893), pp. 170-5
    Herman, H., 'Victorian Minerals', in Department of Mines Annual Report, 1912, p. 117
    Mining Surveyors' Reports (Beechworth Division), December 1889, June 1891

    Heritage Inventory Description

    GRETA SOUTH TURQUOISE WORKINGS - Heritage Inventory Description

    Located approx. 3 km SSE of Greta South (about 2.5 km along Jones Lane, on private land?), and extending for about 500 m. They consist of rough trenches and shafts on the side of a ridge a short distance west of north of a knoll known as the Sugarloaf. Five distinct workings can be seen, the two most northerly being the most extensive: one still has the remains of an old ore truck and tramway.

    Recorded By: Birch & Henry, Mineralogical Society of Victoria Date recorded: 1993

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