Hello Doug, we live on the goldfields, and there is a lot of history of Chinese miners in Gippsland and other parts of Victoria. They brought over their customs and strange ways, and were misunderstood by the majority of Europeans who also migrated here (Australia). The Chinese were known back then as efficient workers, turning all types of soil conditions into market gardens, and could win the gold from places where other miners tended to walk away from, working old claims and mines. Most Chinese were also addicted to opium and gambling. So, I'm trying to research if they used the coins as part of the gambling games. I do know the coins were used in religious ceremonies. The coins were not of any value in Australia back then, so I imagine they use them in some sort of dealings between each other, again, I need to find out. Thank you for the website link. I'll have a look at that. By the way, I'm a true believer that there's more gold to be found in my area, it's just either down deeper, or in an undiscovered line of reef. A lot of gold was won from our area.
Hello Mirage, the coins were found no deeper than 4 inches. In some of the holes we got multiple readings, so out came 2 or 3 from one hole. It was quite exciting! Angela
