Where There's Muck There's Money
By Alan Hassell (? Copyright 13/04/98 All rights reserved.
The word Treasure conjures different things to many individuals. For some, it could be buried pirate loot on some remote island. The spoils of sea battles, deposited but never retrieved owing to maybe, swift justice at the end of a rope. It could also be gold bullion in the hold of a sunken ship, or the wealth and possessions of an Egyptian King, like the fabulous Tutankhamen's treasure.
These are the treasures we all dream about, but owing to expenses involved and our personal commitments we are unable to search for them. However there are thousands of small treasures within reach of the average person if we did but realize it. Have you ever asked yourself, define the word treasure?
Basically it is anything you find that is worth money, and the list is endless. Treasures come in many shapes, sizes, colours and metals. Ever heard the saying one man's meat is another mans poison? It's the same as saying one man's junk is another man's treasure. Here's another one for your, Where there's muck, there's money. What was considered junk or muck 100 years ago, to an antique dealer today could be quite a saleable item of value?
Although Australia's history of settlement as we know it may not be as great as other countries, there are still some very interesting places where valuable treasures are waiting to be found. Maybe by someone like yourself, if you have the inclination and the patience. In fact some of you could start looking around your own home, especially if you're living in a property 75 to 100 years old. All sorts of goodies could be concealed in these places only to be forgotten about at a later date.
Death could be another reason why treasure was not recovered. It's amazing how many people used to place coins in tin cans and bury them, rather than trust a bank. Sometimes it could have been buried in the garden, or under some loose floorboard, or behind a loose brick in a wall. However, there is one little treasure in that 100-year-old garden just waiting for someone to dig it up. As the title of this article indicates, where there's muck, there's money.
Where would most of the muck be put in a 100-year-old garden? First of all we have to establish what is considered as muck. Food scraps would have been fed to the dog or other animals around the place. They could have had chickens, for a supply of eggs and meat. That's not exactly the kind of muck were interested in either, but it's quite on the cards that little holes would have been dug to bury such items as discarded bottles.
Bottles may not sound much of a treasure, but when you consider that a Black Horse Whisky Bottle is worth over $350, then that's someone's treasure. Bottles are much sought after by collectors, who are willing to pay good money for something unusual to add to their collection. It is another form of investment. Some of those old holes contain numerous old bottles. Let's face it you cant burn them, you can only break or bury them.
Some bottles were made of very strong glass and did not break easily when thrown into a hole. Sure there will be breakage's, but you can bet your bottom dollar they didn't all break. Therefore you could strike it lucky. Apart from obvious dumps there's always another place worth inspection, and that's the good old thunder box or dunny.
Treasures in the Thunder box. Believe it or not, prior to the septic tank and sewerage, most thunder boxes were situated out in the garden somewhere. All they were in reality was a hole in the ground. Such holes can contain such items as guns that were concealed in haste for fear of being discovered, coins and bottles. Now to some people the idea of digging up human excrement is downright repulsive.
Over the years, it has become just as much part of the soil as the rest of the area. In fact it's easy work and not in the least unpleasant. In some places remember that a trench may have been used where for instance a public toilet existed. Metal detector's can be very handy when searching old home sites, and a good place to start is under the shade of trees. Before the advent of television it was almost a nightly ritual to lie under the shade of a tree.
Often coins would fall from men's pockets as they lay there. The kitchen door is always another likely spot: dirty dishwater was often thrown out of the door onto the lawn. It's also possible that a piece of silver cutlery was discarded in this manner. Coins are found almost everywhere around old houses. Anyone can build up a good collection this way.
Always be on the lookout for old letters these invariably have stamps attached. Some of those stamps could be worth BIG BUCKS. Although the above refers to old houses, the list that could be included as such is very extensive. In fact any old building over 100 years old or more is worthy of a search.
Naturally another place you are likely to find treasure is down on the beach. Beach combing has been going on for years, with and without detectors. Thousands of coins are lost annually on the beach, together with all sorts of jewellery, such as rings, watches and chains. Almost daily in the Lost and Found columns of the daily newspapers, advertisements appear for some item or another lost on the beach. The owner often offers rewards for their safe return.
The alert treasure hunter can easily be directed to the spot by the owner reducing search times. Insurance Companies sometimes pays rewards too. When Australia was being colonized, settlements were established. However some of these owing to isolation or some other reason failed.
Not a great deal is known about some of these early settlements, but some very old coins could be found in these area's. The same applies in many other colonized countries. It is also well known that during the early days of settlement, whaling played an important part in many of these settlements.
Many were later abandoned and left to the elements. Although this article refers to Australia, there are many deserted whaling stations around the world waiting re-discovery by some adventurous treasure hunter. Who knows what kind of relics one could find in such a location? In fact there are several on the N.S.W. east coast near Eden, and that's just for starters.
Ghost Towns. Moving inland into the gold rush area, numerous gold towns sprung up overnight to disappear just as fast and became ghost towns. James Flett wrote a magnificent book entitled,"History of Gold Discovery in Victoria." Many clues are given about the old gold town, populations, etc. Remember one thing when going onto any old goldfields; most people carried their possessions either in a wheelbarrow, or on horseback. Most lived in tents, only if they were getting good gold were they to build something more permanent, like a humpy. (building made of mud and brick)
All you could expect to find today is a pile of rubble with a chimney. Roofs were either thatched or made of tent canvas. It was a goldfields then you also expect to find hotels, churches. Schools and shops. Some would have had a dirt floors. Whilst other had timber floors. Coins often fell through the cracks in the roughly hewn timber-boards. Numerous old bottles can also be found on the old goldfields.
Then there's always the possibility of finding some gold overlooked by the old miner's. Often gold was thrown out of the hole unnoticed by the digger and still remains there to this day. It's worth mentioning here that many of the old gold miner's never really knew what they were doing and never really bottomed onto the wash.
Most of the old shafts over the years have filled in to some extent, and who knows what you might find were you to resume digging, especially if gold had been found on top around the collar of the shaft. The so-called prospector forget the old timer's had to dig for their gold and far too many are not prepared to put any effort into a given project. Unlike other countries, the closest Australia ever got to Civil war, was in reality only a skirmish at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria.
The replica built there as a memorial was erected on a site some distance from where the original stockade was built. Should you be lucky enough to find the exact spot it's on the cards that some guns and pistols might be found. During the First and Second World Wars, Australia had many old Army and POW camps today many of these are deserted.
Logging was also in full swing and many old logging camps are still waiting to be found. Australian's loved horse racing and many bush racetracks existed and still do to this day. Where were they situated? This is where the real treasure hunter glows amongst his neighbours. He does his research, locates an old forgotten place and exploits his knowledge. At certain times of the year old lakes are drained, these places were great dumping grounds for all sorts of useful treasures such as bottles, guns, and the proceeds from robberies.
The list goes on and on, some individuals have also realized there's big money to be made out of other peoples rubbish and have set themselves up for life. They saw a need of other people wanting to dispose of their rubbish and started up a skip hire business. Why go looking for treasure when it can come to you. Only those with the powers of observation will realize that where there's muck, there's money. ?
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