Page 3 
T.N.N.C. PULLTTIN 
August, 
1975 
L ITTLP GST* DIOGERS (Nats 1 News) (Australian lapidary Magazine,June 1975) 
If ever a person would try to tell me that'animals can be trained to dig 
for sapphires, he would be taling to deaf ears, ^ut did you <now that 
there are animals which dig end bring u- sapphires? 
I noticed a pa v 'a~raph in a lapidary book in which the author claimed 
that ants bring up sapphires together with other stones and drop them 
around their nests, that is, if there a’-e any sapphires in the ground. 
One has to actually see this to apprehend the full impact of the facts. 
Years ago my wife and I set off for Tumbarumba to try our luck with 
sapphires. Neither of us knew what a sapphire looked like, but we soon 
learned that if there is no spirel in the sieve or pan there is no sapphire 
- the more spinel, the more sapphire, doing back to the tent for lunch 
we noticed a lot of spinel lying on the bush track, and sure enough we 
found sapphires on the track. Not many, because most likely the surface 
had been well searched before. 
Ye also noticed ants’ nests with much spinel strewn around the holes, 
sapphires and zircons too. So the author of that article was right after 
all. Idid not dare go too close as I knew well the little brutes would 
bite if disturbed. What species they were I had no idea, but they were 
half-an-inch in length and it seemed wise to me to keep a safe distance, 
but I wanted the sapphires, so what? A long-handled shovel and a couple 
of buckets helped us*out. I quickly filled the buckets with dirt from 
the ants’ nest and ran towards the crook, stopping every two metres to 
shake off ants, hown at the creek we submerged the buckets quickly. We 
got about two dozen sapphires from the two buckets of dirt, and a lot more 
afterwards. Since that time we have been back repeatedly to Tumbarumba 
Creek not only for sapphires but also the blackberries which are 
plentiful there. 
Then one day I had the idea of taking a photo of an ant as it carried 
a sapphire away from its nest. This wan’t going to be easy, but I bought 
a new camera before inflation priced it out of reach for me, and set off. 
It was about 37° in the shade, a day ever-one would enjoy in swimming togs 
I put on overalls, nm boots and tied the overall legs around the gum boot 
with string. Next I set the camera adjustments and slipped gloves on, 
bpping the ants would leave my face alone, because I had nothing to cover 
it up with. Next I looked for an ant-hill. They all seemed to have 
vanished, or perhaps they had all been dug up by people looking for 
samphires, ^here was ore left 3r me about 1^0 metres up the creek, and 
there were little ants busily carrying dirt and stones from, their burrows 
I looked out for the hole -with the most activity, and as slowly as I coul' 
