My father tried so hard to get me into detecting with him, forever asking me to head to the bush with him and an old friend but being a father of two myself and working a hard job that had me on call a fair bit I was unable to do so. on the 12th of April 2017 I lost my father to cancer which left my world empty, the passing of my father meant he left me his Minelab GPX 4000 I didn’t even know how to turn this machine on but every time I touch it i could see my father smiling. I spent some time getting a few lessons learning a few ins and outs about the machine, I have been lucky to meet some really good people to help me with a few things it wasn’t to I pulled my first 5 grammer out in avoca (a small country town in the golden triangle) I knew what gold fever was and as silly as it sounds its where I feel close to my dad. about 6 weeks ago i entered a little old mine shaft around scardale Victoria and found this beautiful little lantern, I search high and low about it and tried my hardest to get some information about it after a few messages over to England and back it turns out it’s from the turn of the century 1895 joseph an Lucas bike from Birmingham I was told whoever had this lamp had a fair bit of coin behind them as only the rich had them, also this lantern was very dangerous as they were known to blow up if the mixture wasn’t right, I knew I found something really special this day I’m told in the condition it’s in now it is still worth over $1000 but to me its priceless I believe my dad was with me this day and we found it together, prospecting has already given me a hobby I’m going to love for the rest of my life i hope to update my Minelab as soon I’m able to get the funds together and spend more time with my father’s spirit in this beautiful land it sounds a little silly but every time I find something doesn’t matter if it’s a 1 gram nugget to a beautiful lamp I’m overcome with emotion.
Dicky – Victoria, Australia
