Sailors Gully, Mount Crawford Forest Reserve, Williamstown, South Mt Lofty Ranges, Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia, Australia
What started as a single piece. The entire specimen is opal (black, white, and brown areas). The small piece in the centre shows how translucent this is when back-lit. Most of the opal in this location is white trough to yellow-green. The darker colours are becoming a little harder to find. LH Measures: 52 x 44 x 41mm RH Measures: 56 x 43 x ...
© Mark Willoughby
Watt's Gully, Mount Crawford Forest Reserve, Williamstown, South Mt Lofty Ranges, Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia, Australia
Crystals of schorl embedded in iron-stained quartz from the western side of Watt's Gully. Specimen is 35mm across.
© Ben Grguric
Cromer C, Mount Crawford Forest Reserve, Williamstown, South Mt Lofty Ranges, Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia, Australia
1.8 x 1.3 x 1.2 cm
© Maggie Wilson
Para Wirra Mica Mine, Mount Crawford Forest Reserve, Williamstown, South Mt Lofty Ranges, Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia, Australia
Sharp crystals of muscovite to 1cm forming part of a pegmatite vugh lining from the Para Wirra mine. Some minor quartz associated. Specimen is 8cm across. Purchased in 1990.
Great Expectations, Mount Crawford Forest Reserve, Williamstown, South Mt Lofty Ranges, Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia, Australia
Rutile crystal with near perfect termination.
2.5 x 2.0 x 1.5 cm
Aggregate of bladed kyanite crystals from Watt's Gully. Collected in 1990. Specimen is 13cm long.
Mount Crawford Forest Reserve, Williamstown, South Mt Lofty Ranges, Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia, Australia
Crystal of beryl 4cm long embedded in massive quartz collected in the Mount Crawford Forest Reserve in May 1989.
Columnar schorl in muscovite-quartz schist from Sailor's Gully. Specimen is 12cm across.
Fine grained green foliated muscovite, known as damourite.
© R Bottrill
Coarse crystals of rutile in a matrix of quartz and Fe-oxides. Specimen is 6cm across.
A broken, but sizable specimen for this locality.
A reasonable size (although damaged) crystal of Rutile from the Cromer C mine, found near one of the original shafts to the south of the quarry. Kaolinite can be seen in fracture lines of the crystal sides.
A single (book) crystal of mica, labeled as Muscovite. Although I intend future testing, which may change this, as I suspect it may be Biotite-Phlogopite Series. Collection of M. Willoughby. 24x27x4mm.
Muscovite var. damourite from a locality in the Mt Crawford Forest Reserve. Face has been cut and polished. Collected with Len Dallow on 12-5-1989.
Fenced off, this was the main vertical shaft. Most of its full depth is still there. Photograph by M. Willoughby.
© Mark. Willoughby 2010
One of the mine dumps, the amount of mica still present is quite obvious. Much of the ground in the area is just as covered in mica. Photograph; M.Willoughby.
Fenced off main underlie shaft, although there has been some infilling, this shaft still retains the majority of its original depth, and should be considered dangerous. Photograph M.Willoughby.
The second underlie shaft, the condition of the edge is such that checking the condition and depth is virtually impossible, probably still a dangerous shaft even though it was only ever 20ft deep. Photograph; M.Willoughby.
The pine of Mount Crawford Forest hide the mica mine (and others) from view, pine needle on the forest floor make, walking through a cautious job at times. Photograph; M.Willoughby.
The remains of the open cut pit, the floor is quite soft and full of debris, the true depth cannot be ascertained and entry would be dangerous. Photograph; M.Willoughby.