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Edition 2 June 2011

COIN AND RELIC METAL DETECTING

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

This edition will talk about:

Playgrounds

Merredin Peak

PLAYGROUNDS

To start the topic I should state I have found there are two

main categories of playgrounds and in those there are 3 types

of playgrounds.

Now to better explain, the categories are simple: school

playgrounds and public park/ reserves playgrounds.

Within these there are 3 types of playgrounds, most noticeable

on school playgrounds, these types are equipment for older

kids/adults such as swings, monkey bars or flying foxes as they

seem to be replaced by these days and the elaborate climbing

frames. The next type is equipment for 5 to 10 year olds; this is

usually a slide with a

fort of some sort, lots of

smaller height frames to

develop coordination

and lower hung swings.

Then as you would

guess the final type is

the little kid’s

equipment which I

finding these days am

just a shrunk down

version of type 2, but

also you will find

rocking horses, see saws

and lots of poles.

Now back in the 1970’s through to

the 1990’s playgrounds had timber in

them and not steel or aluminum. I

still find these exist but due to cancer

links with copper logs they are

mainly now removed for metal

grounds. Sadly these are the best

playground to detect as you can

crank up the sensitivity on the

Garrett Ace 350 to maximum, but

with metal playgrounds when close to

poles etc. you get false signals so have

to lower the sensitivity when under

or around equipment to 1 or 2 bars.

Now onto school

playgrounds, I find

these amazingly clean

of pull tabs and bottle

tops, a testament to our

school system teaching

kids to keep them

clean. They are good

too great for coins as

children take pocket

money to canteen, eat

lunch fast as they want

time on the swings and

the loose coins fall out

when they on the bars, ladders and swings

Public reserve/ park playgrounds I do find bottle tops and

other very sharp metal objects in them, which is good that

someone is detecting them and saving kids from injuries. Coins

are their but nowhere near as many as schools. One exception

would be if you find a playground that has an ice-cream van or

shop next to playground.

I averaging $2 from reserve and park playgrounds and finding

between $6 and $10 in school playgrounds.

Amazing is the $2 coin, it’s a very small but heavy coin and

seems to

have the

habit of

jumping

out of

pockets

and into

sand. I

am

finding a

lot of

them.

MERREDIN PEAK

RESERVE

From its humble

creation in the

fires of planet

earth around 20

million years ago

to the modern day

granite rock that

towers over

Merredin, this

rock and its

reserve is a great

ground/area to go

metal detecting. Hunt explored the rock in 1863 and built a well a

few kilometers north of it in 1865. Then by the 1890’s as men and

wheel barrows headed to the goldfields in Southern Cross,

Westonia and Coolgardie they would stop at the rock, a great

source of fresh water in our dry climate then when well rested

continue on their way. A hotel was built their 120 years ago out of

brush and timber, nothing grand but built to supply the other thirst

of men passing

through. No mention

in any history text has

any reference to the

brothel tents that

where erected at that

same time in Southern

Cross and Coolgardie

to service the men’s

other needs, but I

suspect where there is

alcohol and up to 100

single men staying for a week or two at a time I would suspect

they existed here, it was after all common practice back then. By

1896 a dam had been erected and a granite wall built around the

rock would collect water and channel it to the dam, this water was

needed for the newly created steam railway that had come to down

and needed water for the boilers and to wash the locomotives

down. The water would be piped the kilometer or so into the

railway siding that became the modern day town of Merredin

which shifted

from its shanty

village at the rock

to be closer to the

railway siding.

Next to the railway

dam by the 1920’s a

home was built for the

manager of the dam to

ensure the pumps and

dam functioned in

order to keep the

water moving to the

railway. This home

was built next to the

dam inside the

Merredin Reserve.

This home is now a

bulldozed pile of rubble surrounded by sandalwood trees and

slowly being returned to nature.

Then in the history time line of the peak as it’s commonly known

in town came World War 2, by 1942 a field hospital was erected in

the peak reserve to treat wounded soldiers from Palestine who

would after they recouped return to combat in the pacific. The

hospital stayed open for just over a year, concrete slabs where

made for the buildings which were many from theatres to

storerooms to

sanitary rooms to

kitchens, everything

a modern self-

supporting hospital

needed was there

including a Red

Cross recreation

building. The 600

patients of the

hospital did not do

so well, they were

housed in tents, 4

men to a tent which

in our winter would

have been horrible

considering the hot tropics they had come from, we get nights

below 0 degrees centigrade in winter and winter days are as low as

14 centigrade with a nice cold wind that never seems to end.

Summer the extreme heat in the 40 degree centigrade ranch would

have been soothed by swimming in the railway dam which is only

200 meters from the hospital site. I have found coins in this area

from 1913 to 1961 and my first half penny from 1942 as well.

The concrete slabs are still everywhere in the hospital site and even

though bush land is slowly encasing them, they are easy to find

and if you can tolerate the tin and other trash you will find coins.

Once the soldiers and hospital left the peak it went back to being

the playground for the town again, there is some very old cars

burned out in there and many old camp grounds that are awaiting

still to be found

again. I found a

campsite that was

at least 10 years

old as in the

fireplace it had a

mature shrub

growing out of it

which was at least

10 years old,

around this

fireplace I found

two coins.

A aboriginal camp also existed built by federal government to

house the displaced people who have wandered the rock thousands

of years, this camp existed from the 1950’s to 1971 when they

moved into homes within the town. From 1971 to now there is no

record of people living in the rock reserve and now days even

camping are banned in there. It is a very popular walking area, 100

acres of reserve to explore and even gets a tour bus drive around it

on a daily basis. Wildflowers bring people in their 100’s or more

during August to October. On one side of the rock, the town side, a

golf course was built in 1924 that exist to this day.

Yes with the Merredin Peak I expect as long as I live 2 minutes’

drive from it I will be detecting there, you can never run out of

spots to detect in the reserve.

A video of the peak, a large slideshow with many more pictures of

the peak reserve on it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=hf

d0wExhe-I

Once again thank you for reading my little piece of local metal

detecting, I still have a wealth more of photos and stories to share

from the last 5 weeks, so stay tuned for next installment and please

subscribe to my YouTube channel where is videos of playgrounds

and Merredin peak on it

http://www.youtube.com/user/jacktreasurehunter