Plenty of prospects for gold panning comp

THE now-rare practice of gold panning will take centre stage at Blackwood Reserve on Saturday 1 March for the competitive pastime’s 30th Annual Australian Championships.

Categories include the Eureka Challenge, Men’s Skilled, Women’s Skilled, Veterans 65-plus years, Novice (never panned before/never placed in a novice event), Under 16, Under 12, and teams.

“We run about 14 heats across (the) different categories,” said Jolyon Binks, vice-president of event organiser the Victorian Goldpanning Association.

“There’s various pan types (with) many of the skilled panners in modern events using fast, moulded plastic pans with lots of ridges to make the process quicker.

“It (requires) a combination of speed and skill, and accuracy is crucial.

“Participants are given buckets of gravel and each bucket contains between five and 12 specks of gold.

“The challenge is to pan off the gravel without losing any of the gold specks.

“If a panner misses any gold specks, a penalty of three minutes is added to their time for each missing speck.”

Mr Binks said the yearly competition is always a great day out.

“The weather in Blackwood is typically excellent in March,” he said.

“Overall, it’s an exciting and unique event that gives people a chance to try something different while enjoying the local area.”

The Australian Gold Panning Championships 2025 will be held from 8am to 4.30pm at Blackwood Reserve.

Further details are available on the Welcome to Moorabool website.