21/04/2026
" I dug a hole." 🕳😁⛏️
2016 — our first year in Central Queensland. We had spent a long time planning to move and mine sapphires, originally torn between Glen Innes in NSW or heading up here. We chose CQ, and actually being on the ground doing it felt magical. We were so excited!
Matt spent ages digging this monster at Glenalva by hand with a pick ⛏️. Look at the size of it! This is him helping our daughter have a scratch around before heading to our very first Gemfest. I'd had a good go at that hole too, not knowing I was pregnant with our son at the time. Our American Bulldog, Stella, was always on site keeping watch 💜
This was the year the "sapphire bug" officially bit while fossicking. Looking back from Matt's commercial mine in Scrub Lead at Rubyvale now, it’s wild to see how far we’ve come. I'm glad our girl got to see the grit it took to start Sapphire Terra Australis.
