Central Darling
Far West. 46 km south of Wilcannia.
Gazetted
1 December 2017
Mapped size
53,598 square kilometres
Nearest town
Wilcannia
Photo: Mattinbgn (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wikimedia Commons.
Location
Gold marker: the middle of Central Darling. Dark marker: Wilcannia.
Fossicking district
The gold line is the gazetted fossicking district. Inside it, you do not need an exploration licence holder's consent. The line is not landholder permission, and it is not the only place fossicking can be lawful in New South Wales.
Line simplified from Geological Survey of NSW fossicking districts, CC BY
History
Central Darling is a fossicking district drawn around a local government area. It was gazetted on 1 December 2017. The mapped area is about 53598 square kilometres. The middle of the district sits 46 km south of Wilcannia.
Central Darling is enormous. White Cliffs, Wilcannia, and Menindee all sit inside it, and opal is the mineral the survey records most often. White Cliffs is also a field of mineral claims. A fossicking district does not let you dig a claim. Most of the famous ground is held, and you need that holder's consent.
Summer out here is dangerous. Carry more water than a day trip usually needs, tell someone the track you are taking, and do not count on a phone.
Inside the mapped district, the Geological Survey of NSW mineral inventory records Opal (37), and Gold (3). Those are recorded locations of mineralisation. They are not grades, and they are not a forecast of what a pan will show.
What you can find
Inside this district, opal leads the inventory. Opal country in NSW is also claim country. Stay off a mineral claim unless the holder has agreed.
Gold is also recorded, in smaller numbers than the leading mineral. The same consent rules apply.
Anything you keep has to fit the state take-home limits: 50 grams of gold in any 48 hours, up to five nuggets of 10 grams or more, 100 grams of gemstones, 10 kilograms of gold or gem-bearing material, and 5 kilograms of other minerals. Publicly owned minerals found while fossicking lawfully become yours. No royalty is charged on them.
Getting there
Wilcannia is on the Barrier Highway. This district is 46 km south of Wilcannia.
A shire-wide line is not an open invitation to every paddock inside it. Private land needs the landholder. A mining lease, mineral claim, or opal prospecting licence needs that holder's consent. The district removes only the need to ask an exploration licence holder.
Open the district on the Dig Here map before you drive. The map shows this boundary against current titles, which a printed description cannot keep up to date.
Camping
The gazette notice does not create a campground. Plan to stay in Wilcannia unless you already have permission to camp on the land you are visiting.
Distances are long, shade is scarce, and summer heat will stop a trip faster than a lack of opal. Carry extra water, fuel, and a way to be found if the car stops.
Important notes
- !Inside a fossicking district you still need the landholder's permission on private land. You do not need the exploration licence holder's consent. A mining lease, mineral claim, or opal prospecting licence still needs that holder's consent.
- !Hand tools only. A pan, sieve, pick, shovel, non-powered sluice, and metal detector fit the rules. Pumps, dredges, powered trommels, and machinery do not.
- !Disturb no more than one cubic metre of ground in any 48 hours, put the soil back, and take your rubbish with you.
- !On native title land or water you need the registered native title body's consent. The only tools allowed there are hand-held, and digging or clearing is not permitted.
- !Mineral counts on this page are locations from the Geological Survey of NSW. They are not grades.
Nearby districts
Open Central Darling on the map
Titles change. Check this boundary against current leases before you dig.
Open mapDistrict boundaries and mineral counts are from the Geological Survey of NSW, CC BY. The words on this page are Dig Here's. Read the current rules on the NSW Resources fossicking page and check titles in MinView.