The forest definitely looks cleared, it is abnormally sparse in that 2sqkm vicinity compared to the surrounding area. The straight treeline adds to the artificiality.
That 1m “nail” may be a drill bit, the old type where you hold with one hand and rotate it while you hammer the end. Does the “head” of the nail have cracks at the edges? That would date it to mid 1900s or earlier.
I suspect it is a prospecting camp and that wall is a retaining wall for the camp perimeter. The wall looks like a common rubble wall that would be common in the early 1900s or earlier. That area is around a geologic boundary of productive granitic formations, so there are a variety of valuable natural resources that they may have been looking for.
All I can say for certain is that I have one thing to check out if I ever find myself in Perth for some god-forsaken reason.
The nail did have a cracked, hammered head, and it had a round shift (unlike old forged nails which traditionally had a square or rectangular cross section I think. It had a 5 degree bend in it so thats probably why it was discarded. It didn’t have a twist or spiral, but maybe it was used as a ground probe to determine soil depth down to bedrock.
Ive suspected that maybe the wall was part of a sluice or race used for washing materials.
Ive fossicked in the dry creek bed for crystals, gemstones and gold. There is hardly any gold, but heaps of crystal.
I reckon you’re probably right about it being a prospectors camp.
Id love to take a metal detector out there one day to look for more iron, but alas I’m a broke boy.
The forest definitely looks cleared, it is abnormally sparse in that 2sqkm vicinity compared to the surrounding area. The straight treeline adds to the artificiality.
That 1m “nail” may be a drill bit, the old type where you hold with one hand and rotate it while you hammer the end. Does the “head” of the nail have cracks at the edges? That would date it to mid 1900s or earlier.
I suspect it is a prospecting camp and that wall is a retaining wall for the camp perimeter. The wall looks like a common rubble wall that would be common in the early 1900s or earlier. That area is around a geologic boundary of productive granitic formations, so there are a variety of valuable natural resources that they may have been looking for.
All I can say for certain is that I have one thing to check out if I ever find myself in Perth for some god-forsaken reason.
The nail did have a cracked, hammered head, and it had a round shift (unlike old forged nails which traditionally had a square or rectangular cross section I think. It had a 5 degree bend in it so thats probably why it was discarded. It didn’t have a twist or spiral, but maybe it was used as a ground probe to determine soil depth down to bedrock.
Ive suspected that maybe the wall was part of a sluice or race used for washing materials.
Ive fossicked in the dry creek bed for crystals, gemstones and gold. There is hardly any gold, but heaps of crystal.
I reckon you’re probably right about it being a prospectors camp.
Id love to take a metal detector out there one day to look for more iron, but alas I’m a broke boy.