Australia — DetectingLog Blog

A prospector in a khaki work shirt, gloves and a wide-brimmed hat kneeling in dry box-ironbark forest, pushing soil and quartz gravel back into a hole with a pick and spreading leaf litter over it, her metal detector lying on the ground beside her

Miner's Right Victoria: Cost, How to Get One and the Rules

A Victorian Miner's Right costs $29.40 for 10 years, rising to $41.40 on 1 January 2027. How to buy one, what it lets you do, and the rules attached.

October 14, 2026 10 min read

A woman in a broad-brimmed hat kneeling in a dry sandy creek bed, scooping gravel into a gold pan, her metal detector and water bottle beside her, with river red gums and rocky spinifex hills behind

Australia

Metal Detecting in the Northern Territory: Permit and Land Access

The NT has required a fossicking permit since June 2026. How the free permit, fossicking notices, pastoral land, Aboriginal land and gold limits work.

October 5, 2026 11 min read

A woman in a cap and fleece walking a dirt track through stringybark forest, sweeping a metal detector beside old grassed-over diggings, with a gold pan strapped to her backpack

Australia

Metal Detecting in South Australia: No Permit, Always Permission

South Australia needs no fossicking permit, but every block needs someone's consent. How Crown land, parks, Jupiter Creek and Mount Crawford work.

October 5, 2026 10 min read

A man in a beanie and rain jacket crouching in a tea-coloured forest creek, swirling gravel in a gold pan, with his metal detector and a shovel leaning on a mossy log among tree ferns

Australia

Metal Detecting in Tasmania: Prospecting Licence and Reserves

In Tasmania a detector needs a prospecting licence, is banned from fossicking areas and cannot be carried onto reserved land. How the rules fit together.

October 5, 2026 9 min read

A man in a cap and checked shirt sweeping a metal detector over a gravel bar beside a shallow river lined with river she-oaks, with a gold pan and shovel on the stones

Australia

Metal Detecting in NSW: Fossicking Rules, Forests and Goldfields

NSW needs no fossicking licence, but it has permits, take limits and a strict relics law. Where you can detect in New South Wales and where you cannot.

September 22, 2026 10 min read

A man in a wide-brimmed hat and work shirt swinging a metal detector over red-brown ground scattered with ironstone gravel, a pick in his other hand, with termite mounds and a white ute behind him in open scrub

Australia

Metal Detecting in Queensland: Fossicking Licence, Areas and Gold

Queensland needs a fossicking licence everywhere and written permission off designated land. How the licence, fossicking areas and GPAs work in practice.

September 22, 2026 8 min read

A bearded prospector in a broad-brimmed hat and headphones sweeping a gold detector across flat red earth and ironstone gravel, a pick on his belt, with saltbush, mulga and a four-wheel-drive in the distance

Australia

Metal Detecting in Western Australia: Miner's Right and Tenements

In WA a metal detector counts as prospecting. What a Miner's Right allows, how tenements, pastoral leases and 40E permits work, and where the gold is.

September 22, 2026 9 min read

A detectorist in a wide-brimmed hat and headphones sweeping a metal detector across quartz gravel between old diggings and mullock heaps in dry box-ironbark forest

Australia

Metal Detecting in Victoria: Miner's Right, Parks and Goldfields

Victoria has Australia's richest detecting ground and a dense rulebook. What a Miner's Right covers, where it stops, and how to read the goldfields.

September 8, 2026 10 min read

A dirt-stained open palm holding a small natural gold nugget, with a detector coil and a prospecting pick on red-brown ground scattered with ironstone and quartz behind

Australia

Metal Detecting the Australian Goldfields: A Field Guide

Where Australia's gold country is, why nugget hunting needs different gear and technique, how to read old diggings, and the safety that actually matters out there.

August 25, 2026 9 min read

A woman in a broad-brimmed hat reading a map at a closed farm gate on a gravel track, her metal detector leaning on the gate and a four-wheel-drive parked behind her among dry paddocks and gum trees

Permissions

Metal Detecting in Australia: Permits, Parks, and State Rules

Detecting rules in Australia are set state by state. Here is how Miner's Rights, fossicking licences, heritage law, and park bans fit together.

August 20, 2026 9 min read