Where do you live? And where do you dig?

[Tandy]

[] As my signature says, I am from a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia called Netherby, which is actually part of a larger suburban city called Mitcham, which contains plains as well as hills and valleys. The nearest place I dig is about half an hour's walk from here, along a small creek into our hills area. It dates from maybe just before 1925 to around the late 1950's.

However, I never miss the chance to dig in other areas of the state I live in, South Australia. One place that our state bottle club has had digs at is a small town about 200k from Adelaide, called Terowie. We are hoping to dig there again soon, and then I can post the information and what was dug and a photo or two. Terowie had the longest railway platform in South Australia, and when it was a railway town, had the distinction of General Douglas McArthur alighting on the platform.

Unfortunately, most of the known sites around Adelaide have been dug out, and research into other possible sites is very slowly opening up more sites around Adelaide.

A feature of collecting bottles in the north of South Australia, apart from digging century plus old dumps, is "mud treading" in mangroves at Port Augusta and Port Pirie and some places close by.

[]

 

[pvg_320]

TANDY - Always wanted to get out to Australia...bottle diggin would be a great excuse. Sounds like most of the diggin in AUS is in creeks or dumps - have you attempted any privies/dunny holes yet? Might be better luck there if your local dumps are dug out.

Not sure if Aussies used their outhouses the same as US folks did, though.

 

[Tandy]

[] pvg_320 - I personally have not dug any dunny holes, but they certainly do get dug. Wells are sometimes dug out also.

Apart from old dumps and creek beds, areas around old farm houses are probed and dug, as are vacant sites after demolitions. Long gone pubs, inns, even towns are dug after some research to find them, often scrub (bushland) is searched, but there it is more likely to be on the surface.

Some diving takes place also, especially in New South Wales.

[]

 

[IRISH]

Lot's of diving and creek digging in Victoria and NSW, dunny holes and tips (dumps) are prolific over most settled areas but it's now illegal to dig up anything over 50 years old in Victoria so naturally we don't do anything but creeks now [] (how stupid can they make a law ? [8|] [] ).

 

[cigar joe]

I'm from NYC originnally but did a lot of dump digging in the early 70's in the Adirondacks. Lived in Montana for 24 years, but didn't do too much digging there, but was able to explore old mine sites & rairoad lines and collected insulators and miner and railroad paraphanalia. Now I'm back in NY in between the Shawngunks & Catskills in Shokan. I'm a part time surveyor so I still find old dumps & bottles occasionally with some nice bottles still laying on the surface. Haven't found any viens yet mostly surface dumps along stone walls.

 

[amblypygi]

I'm an aquatic biologist in western Massachusetts. I generally spend my time diving more than digging, but I have stumbled across a riverbank dump or two. And there are still things to be found in the rivers and lakes, though it's getting harder every year. Lots of people are into bottle diving these days. I've been collecting bottles since the late 60s, when I was a kid and we lived on a 365-year old farm house in West Greenwich, RI. (really, built in the mid-16th century supposedly, the original house was tiny and enclosed in later additions). Man I wish I still had my collection from back then, it has disappeared over the years. And there was that time my little sister tipped over the bottle shelf... D'oh!!

Sean

 

[Harry Pristis]

Hi, Sean . . .

I remember exchanging posts with you now. The aquatic biologist -- aquatic insects was your emphasis, if memory serves me. I remember looking forward to seeing pics of the bottles you were finding in the rivers (I am a river diver, too).

BTW, I like that line-drawing (woodcut?) of the Bufonid in the pic of your books in another thread.

----------Harry Pristis

 

[amblypygi]

Hi Harry,

Yup, aquatic insect population genetics, Chironomidae, to be overly precise. I just published the last chapter of my dissertation yesterday! Well, it was accepted yesterday, it will be out sometime I hope

That does look like a Bufonid, but it's actually our only Hylid, the grey treefrog. Pen and ink by my good friend Ethan Nedeau. If you like such things you should check out his website http://www.biodrawversity.com

 

[Harry Pristis]

Congratulations on your educational achievement, Sean!

H. versicolor! I have seen some of those in breeding aggregations in the Midwest, when I lived up there. They were never abundant where I was. Now, I see H. cinerea on my windows every night during the summer here in Florida.

I looked at your friend's web-site -- very nice work!

---------Harry Pristis

 

[Oldtimer]

You people digging in Australia have my respect. As far as this Yankee knows, everything in that place down there wants to kill you. I would not be digging around in the dumps...fear of that random death snake would keep me away...