Tibooburra town in the distance. Taken from the east near a prominent Granite outcrop.
Tiboorburra
Tiboorburra is a great place for winter prospecting. The weather is typical desert, cold nights and sunny days with a bite. Storms can can close the roads and cause localised flooding but these conditions are the exception not the rule. If you are there when it is too wet to travel, just relax and stay around the gravelled roads near the town. There are sights to see and specking is available to while away the time it takes for the country to dry out.
The people of Tiboorburra are very friendly. They appreciate the visitor for more than the mini-boost to the economy: with newspapers arriving a day or three late, their hunger for information and good old fashioned conversation is an indication that, living in a remote area doesn't mean your not in 'tune' with the world. It is a busy town with people coming and going via the Cameron's Corner route to central Australia. Tiboorburra is a wonderful place to throw the coil for small gold, and the occasional good sized nugget, the area is enormous and a little research, prior to heading, off will pay handsomely.
The gravels around Tiboorurra indicate considerable water activity. Mountains have weathered and rivers have redistributed the materials across the plains. It is an interesting region for what has taken place here as well as for the gold. There are some wonderful specimens of reef structure in sediments as well a beautiful quartz crystal's and milky-white marbles. Every step reveals an interesting find if you are into rock-hounding.
Summer is brain-fryingly hot. Imagine how hard it is for the local sheep. Camping away from the town in the hills or along the dried creeks is possible. There is a full-time rangers station for the Stuart National Park in the town so, they will have some input on your activities I would imagine. Ask around and see what the rules are.
Just a note: Aug. 2006, It has been nearly seventeen years since I last visited this place. I would appreciate any new information from recent visitors to add to this report. I believe stations are charging for access. also services in the town may have changed.
Milparinka is well worth stopping at. There are some wonderful examples of early buildings and an operating hotel. I have heard that during some seasons, the locals land their aircraft in the town and park them outside the pub for lunch; that would be fun to see.
Mt Browne is a well know gold area nearby. This article was sent to me by the author.
(Goldmine posted ) (Original Message) Sent: 11/12/2002 11:12 AM
I just posted details of the Milparinka (Mt Browne) goldfields on the "NSW Goldfields", here is some more details that could not fit in the posting. I had 3 days detecting around the Milparinka area from 05 Nov 2002. Here are details of the Milparinka gold fields for those whom want to detect here, but not sure where to go or how to get access to the private land on the goldfields nor where to camp or sleep. Milparinka has a single pub and a few homesteads and that's about all, you must bring sufficient water and supplies, the closest store is at Tibooburra, some 40 kms north on the Silver City Highway. Tibooburra is a more popular place as it has two pubs, caravan park, post office and a general store.
Milparinka goldfields are located on the eastern and southern side of Mt Browne. The Mt Browne fault line runs right long Mt Brown and adjoins the Mt Poole fault line in the north western side of Mt Browne. The cost for detecting on the private land around Mt Browne is $10 per detector per day. The Milparinka pub collects the money for the landowners, so just pay the amount over the bar at the pub for the number of days you will be detecting there. The pub is a good place to chat to any locals or detector operators that may be passing through, although can be quite quiet at times. I arrive there on the evening of Melbourne Cup night 2002, where the pub was absolutely packed. The pub charges $20 per night (per double I think) for a bed, showers are available. The Mt Browne property was once a sheep station, so you can stay at the shearers quarters which I think has about 10 rooms (just a single bed or two inside). There is an adjoining room with a large table and kitchen (gas), very basic shower and toilet facilities. When I arrived, there was no one around, so I camped in the 4wd as the pub was booked out. I didn't use any of the facilities there, nor was the power turn on, etc. During a busier time, I'm sure the fire will be lit and hot water showers available from the old "Donkey" style hot water burner. You can set up a tent at the site or camp elsewhere on the property, the Mt Browne Creek looks good with a few large trees (about the only trees you will find out there).
Mt Browne goldfields are located approx 16kms from the Milparinka pub. You head south from the pub for approx 8kms. Turn right at the small Mt Browne sign (blink an eye and you will miss it), but there is only one or two roads leading off to the right anyway, so you shouldn't miss it, drive for a further 8kms through the property. After a few creek crossings, you will drive parallel to a fence line then go through a gate. A road will branch off to the right, this will lead to the Fig Tree diggings, past a few dams. Continue driving and you will enter another gate and see the old homestead and shearing shed and quarters. The Four Mile diggings is located towards Mt Browne before entering the last gate. The One Mile diggings is located opposite the shearing quarters and continues down the gully towards Mt Browne. Finally the all famous Billy Goat Hill is located further on past the shearers quarters, you will see a lot of diggings and dry blow areas on the way there. Keep to the main road and drive though over Mt Browne creek, you can see Billy Goat Hill with several diggings and dry blowing around the hill. A lot of rubbish around on the bottom section of the hill, but gets quieter as you go on. The weather was quite good there even at this time of the year, luckily for the light nice cool wind that was constantly blowing all day and hardly any flies. You can start to detect when the first light hits the ground at 6:15am (daylight saving time). The hottest part of the day was from about 1:00am through to after 3:00pm. So I headed for the air-con in the 4wd and went for drives around the place. Coming from Victoria via Mildura & Broken Hill, Milparinka is about 276kms north of Broken Hill on the Silver City Highway. The road is both sealed and unsealed, for approx 12 to 20kms at a time (the sealed sections is where you plant the foot and overtake road trains, etc). If you plan to travel via Ivanhoe, Wilcannia and White Cliffs, you will be disappointed to find that all the road is unsealed all the way from Ivanhoe to Wilcannia. There is only 20kms of unsealed road from Wilcannia to White Cliffs (current road works indicate that it will be sealed soon) and then all unsealed from White Cliffs to the Silver city highway, then unsealed sections from the highway to Milparinka. If you are travelling from Sydney or Canberra, I recommend to travel to Cobar, Wilcannia, White Cliffs via Dubbo. You will find over 240kms of unsealed road (as I did) travelling from Hillston (north of Griffith) to Wilcannia via Ivanhoe. Just one though, plan to arrive at the site before sunset. Do not stay at Wilcannia for the night (even though there is a motel or two and a caravan park) simply because of the real Australian "locals" if you know what I mean. There are camping areas at Broken Hill, White Cliffs and Cobar, so stay there if you are likely to arrive after dark. The kangaroos come out in the hundreds by nightfall. There is still gold to be found there, I would recommend at least a week. I found 0g but will return one day hoping for just a few grams. I was armed with a GP and Koss TD80 Headphones and 10" coiltek mono elliptical and the standard coils. Cheers Dennis
First posted http://groups.msn.com/GoldDetecting/messageboard.msnw
published with the authors permission.