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Prospecting or Fossicking vs. Relic Hunting (final installment)

What is covered by Heritage Victoria?

Are you ready for some long reading?

I was very impressed with the time and effort put into the reply from Heritage Victoria.

• Some aspects of the Heritage Act 1995 may be relevant to your metal detecting activities, particularly the sections that relate to the protection of historic archaeological places (Aboriginal archaeological places are protected under different legislation). The Heritage Act differentiates between objects/relics that are exposed on the surface of the land, and those that are buried.
• You may collect objects that are exposed on the surface of the ground, but you must obtain the approval of the land owner before metal detecting and again when an object is found(who in most cases is the legal owner of the object) - see section 128 of the Act

• For a place to be considered an archaeological object it must be more than 50 years old - this includes coins, ceramics, bottles.

Q. Are pre-decimal coins considered as historical artefacts?

• Any pre-decimal coins (or other objects) dated from 1958 are not covered under the Act and heritage regulations do not apply.

Q. I understand I must seek owners permission to metal detect on private land, but what if Heritage Victoria has an interest in this land?

• If you are digging to investigate a detector reading and found yourself exposing any archaeological material, you must stop digging, backfill the hole and let us know of the site/objects as soon as possible.

Q. How can I determine if the area I want to do some metal detecting in is prohibited by Heritage Victoria?

• In terms of finding object under the surface of the ground, the Heritage Act states that it is an offence to disturb an historical archaeological site (section 127). You should not do any digging or other disturbance work in an area that may be considered as an archaeological site.  Obviously, in some cases it may be difficult to know when you are in the vicinity of a site, but some usual pointers include the presence of deteriorated or ruinous building remains, scatters of visible ceramic, glass or metal fragments, or unusual formations in the ground.

Q. Am I required to report ALL finds to Heritage Victoria?

• If an object (or site) of archaeological significance is discovered during your metal detecting, you must do the following:
  • safeguard the object from damage – (generally by reburying)
  • inform the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria (9637 9470) that you have the object and describe the object/s to the Executive Director
  • make the object available for identification and conservation if required by the Executive Director.