Gem Show Really Rocked!

South Burnett Gem and Fossicking Club members Kaleb, 13, and Kimberley Smith, from Murgon

April 15, 2019

The South Burnett Gem and Fossicking Club held its first gem show at the weekend in Kingaroy … and were blown away by the number of visitors it attracted.

Leah and Neville Wright, from Wattle Camp, started the club about three years and it has steadily grown to 46 members from across the South Burnett.

The weekend gem show was held at Kingaroy Showgrounds on Saturday and Sunday.

There were 21 stalls outside in the sunshine, plus another 22 in the main showgrounds pavilion.

Stalls featured everything from precious and semi-precious gem stones, in rough or polished form, to jewellery, mineral samples and fossils.

There were plenty of bargains to be had, including large chunks of colourful rocks just waiting to be cut and polished.

Leah said the club focussed on lapidary or lapidary-related skills.

Club members also had some of their private pieces on display, including large thunder eggs, crystals and petrified wood.

There were also displays of rock preparation, polishing and faceting by club members and members of the Gympie Gem Club.

Club founders Leah and Neville Wright, from Wattle Camp, with a display piece from the club stand

Rosemary Dakin, from Widgee, was cutting small sterling silver rings for use in jewellery

Wally Vanek, from Brisbane, with a 525 million-year-old trilobite fossil from Morocco

Visitors could browse stalls selling everything from rough pieces of rock to fine jewellery

Gympie Gem Club member Peter Dakin, from Widgee, was demonstrating faceting on a polishing wheel

Club member Joeseph Smith, 10, from Murgon, was showing his grandmother Kathryn Smith how rough specimens are cleaned

One Response to "Gem Show Really Rocked!"

Ben says:

April 17, 2019 at 7:30 am

Thank you to all involved. My family and I browsed through on Sunday after a recommendation shared via locally based social media page (cheers Belinda). Our three children had lots of fun with the sand and the thunder egg cutting (the organisers deserve medals with the amount they had to push through). Stalls aplenty with lots to choose from, too. Well done folks, keep it going.