Max Muir, who worked on the Victorian Railways all his working life, says many railway employees have hobbies such as fishing or golf—pastimes that can be enjoyed either alone or in groups, and at odd hours if need be. In Muir’s case, he developed the hobby of panning for gold. A life of shiftwork tends to rule out hobbies and interests that are geared towards consistent attendance at a certain time.
Occasionally, he searches for gemstones. Now 69 years of age and retired, he still likes panning and “gemstoning”, as he calls it, and he has evidence of his finds all around his home in Ballarat, Australia’s premier gold town.
During the interview for this article, Muir speaks in his slow and smiling manner with three small vials of gold specks before him on his kitchen table. The vials don’t look like they would provide the basis for his retirement, but Muir is proud nonetheless. He does not sell the gold nuggets and gemstones that he has found while fossicking, nor does he do it for money.
When panning, he likes the way he loses himself in the motion of swishing dirt and water, as well as the joy of being outdoors. “You’re totally absorbed by what you’re doing,” he says. “You’re relaxed.”
Muir first tried panning when he was a boy in Buninyong, a town just south of Ballarat. At that time, there were no such things as detectors. The search for gold was done with pans or sluices.
“It was remarkable how a little speck of gold in a pan would excite you,” Muir says.
In recent decades, Muir has panned for gold all around Victoria, in waterways such as the Slater Creek and Misery Creek near Ballarat and the creek that runs through Spring Gully, at the back of Bendigo. He might use a pan or sluice, but never a detector. Any prospector’s search for gold is aided by rains that flush out the tiny nuggets. For this reason, the best time to pan is just after a sodden winter. The current drought has precluded Muir from fossicking for gold for 12 months.
In years gone by, Muir, his wife Dorothy and their family of three children went on holidays in which Max would search for gemstones and Dorothy would try to add to her collection of teaspoons. In recent years, Dorothy has occasionally accompanied Max on