Anakie is located 305 km
west of Rockhampton on the Capricorn Highway and 951 km from Brisbane. It is, a
small town. It has a hotel-motel, a railway station and a few houses (most
catering for the tourist trade and/or selling gemstones).
It is said that the name,
Anakie, comes from a local Aboriginal word meaning 'two hills'. The first
Gem find in the area occurred in 1875 when Archibald John Richardson found
zircons at Retreat Creek. The following year a prospector found sapphires in the
region and by 1881 commercial mining operations had commenced.
The arrival of the
railway line in 1884 gave the loosely established settlement some focus and by
1887 Anakie was proclaimed a township.
In 1902 (the year the
Anakie Hotel was built) the Anakie Sapphire Fields were officially proclaimed a
mining area. Over the next thirty years the three settlements of Anakie,
Sapphire and Rubyvale grew to meet the demands of the miners who, when the
prices were high, poured into the area.
A boom occurred from 1906
when the gold miners from Clermont moved west to try their luck. In 1907 over
£40 000 worth of gems were mined. World War 1 saw an abatement of activity but
the end of the war saw renewed interest on the fields. In 1922 the Queensland
Government stepped in to stabilise the sales of blue sapphires.
After 1935 the fields
began to decline so that by 1953 there were only 21 full-time miners working in
the area.
However it was during this period that the Black Star of Queensland (see picture) was found. Weighing in at a remarkable 1165 carats it was the largest black-star
sapphire in the world. In 1938 a twelve-year-old local named Roy Spencer found
the huge sapphire near Reward Claim. He took it home and his father, not
recognising its value, left it at the back door.
The fields experienced a
new lease of life from tourism in the 1960s. However the big operators arrived
in the early 1970s, with heavy machinery in tow. They started to exploit the
fields commercially, selling the best gemstones to dealers from South-East Asia.
The frail romance of fossicking did not sit well with mass production and a
sometimes-bitter antagonism developed between small-time miners and machine
operators. Today the fields are a true combination of interests with individual
operators, tourists and companies all vying for the beautiful stones.
Anakie describes itself
as 'the Gateway to the Gemfields' and the important gemfields are appropriately
located at Sapphire and Rubyvale.
The entrepreneurial
spirit of Rubyvale and Sapphire is emblazoned on the trees that are passed on
the way into town. They are hung with signs advertising such exotic places as
'Luke's Sapphires', 'Old Mick's Gem Shop' (which is located in the marvellously
named Goanna Flats Road), 'Pat's Gems', 'Rainbow Treasure', 'Cut-a-Slice
Lapidary Supplies', 'Ransom Mine - Find Your Own Sapphires' - all promoting
themselves as the place to visit while on the gemfields.
The town of Sapphire is
made up of a playing field, a caravan park, a few isolated homesteads, a
general store and a few shops selling gems and of course a LIONS CLUB.
IN APPRECIATION
In
recognition of the contribution of the Lions Clubs of Turkey, especially Lion
Dr. Enzar Tore, in providing free web page hosting for Lions Clubs everywhere,
the Lions Club of ANAKIE GEMFIELDS proudly displays the flag of
Turkey on our site.
Click on the flag to go to the web site of Lion Dr. Enzar's home club - the
Lions Club of Canakkale.
As an extension to the
Turkish Lions' contribution, the Brisbane Ekibin Lions Club of MD 201 Q1
(Australia) offer assistance to Lions Clubs who want to take advantage of the
Turkish Lions offer, but are not familiar with web publishing. They've already
set up many sites for Lions Clubs world-wide, using Lionwap.
If your club wants to be on the internet, and would like some help, leave a
message in the Ekibin Guest Book by clicking on the image above. This is a FREE
SERVICE, so you don't spend a cent for their work. As Lionwap is also FREE, this
means you get a web site that you NEVER have to pay for. - Is that a deal or
what?
All your Club has to do it have some-one update and maintain your page, which
needs not take more than a few minutes each month. The Ekibin Lions will even
give you some tips on that!
INTERESTING LINKS
Gemfields Lionesss Club - Made up of the
better looking but more deadlier of the species of our Lions family -
good hunters in supermarkets - smells out bargains, takes care of the den,
loves bingo on Wednesdays and puts the food on the table - all cooked.
Click on their logo - They are
looking for members and you may like to join them.
Gemfields.com is the virtual meeting place for
everyone interested in the Anakie Gemfields, Sapphires and Gemhunting.
