For decades, hopeful Australians have been visiting a remote patch of Queensland bushland, scouring its dry, rocky earth in the hope of striking gold.
But now, prospectors say the luck has run out.
Just outside of the small town of Clermont in central Queensland are areas of state forest that have become some of the most popular goldfields in Australia.
Anyone who buys a state fossicking licence is able to try their luck here, but prospectors and locals say years of regular visitors means the area has become overworked and there is a desperate need to open up more parts of the state forest.
Prospector Angela Wells has been visiting the town for 12 years, and returns with her husband each year for months at a time, in the hope of pulling their own glistening gold nugget from the ground.
"It's a very good hobby, keeps you fit, keeps your mind fit," Ms Wells said.
The pair said they have had some luck this year, pulling some fine gold flakes from a dried out river bed, but Ms Wells said each year the finds were becoming fewer and further between.
"We're still finding gold, but not always big bits — it's not easy.
"It would be excellent if they opened up more areas in the state forest somewhere because it's very limited."
Allan Gravina is recently retired and has now turned to spending most of his time searching for gold around the country.
He said the fields near Clermont were "overworked" and there was little left to find.
"There's less and less gold being found because the same areas have been open for something like 17 years," Mr Gravina said.
"At the moment I'm tossing up whether I'll go back to Clermont and I'll go try my luck somewhere else because the same areas have been hit so many times."
Fears tourist downturn will cripple local economy
Tourism and business groups in the region have already noticed a decline in visitor numbers and worry there will be a huge hit to the local economy.
Clermont Businesss Group secretary Freida Berry-Porter said gold-prospecting brought more than $500,000 in tourist dollars to their small town of 2,000.
"It's a very significant part of our income to our town and we'd certainly miss it," she said.
Ms Berry-Porter said they had been lobbying all levels of government to open new areas in the nearby state forest to try and save the local prospecting industry.
A spokesperson for Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) said they had identified possible areas that could be opened for exploration.
"Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service also needs to consider existing rights and interests, such as grazing leases and mining interests," the spokesperson said.
"[They also need to] seek written consent from holders of these interests, prior to the declaration of any new fossicking areas."
The QPWS said they did not have a time frame of when the new areas could be opened.
