Jade in Australia - Theo Schoon

Alex Mann • June 15, 2020

Excerpts from Jade Country by Theo Schoon

Before I came to Australia, all the books and literature I had read concerning the worldwide occurrences of nephrite jade had reported that there was none in Australia or that what little there was was cane-grained or lacked translucence and therefore was not suitable as a  jewellery stone. So I was very surprised after lecturing about New Zealand jade to several lapidary clubs in Sydney to be contacted by people from various parts of this continent claiming that they had discovered promising new finds of nephrite and expressing Interest in having my opinion about its marketability.

There are only three confirmed locations of nephrite jade, and they are thousands of miles apart. No doubt other fields will be located, for the search is on. Two things make the Australian finds distinctive; they are not in as highly mountainous country as most jade fields overseas, and all the jade is either buried or newly opposed nephrite in various stages of weathering . 

I have not yet had the opportunity to visit any of the three areas, but I have seen samples and have corresponded with and spoken to people connected with two of the sites. These recent discoveries are at Marble Bar in the North West of Western Australia; at Dungowan near Tamworth, New South Wales; and at Cowell, Eyre Peninsula, about three hundred road mile from Adelaide in South Australia.

A Marble Bar the nephrite was apparently found in the old gold mine area by a prospector searching for copper and uranium. It is in a shaft about sixteen feet below the surface. The jade boulders are said to be found in lenses with the better quality jade in a variety of colours deeper down. The samples I have seen have been either a closely grained jade, dark green and of a surprising translucence, or a blue-grey marbled, semi-translucent jade. Both are good solid jades quite unlike any I have ever seen before. The stone takes a good polish. Several objects have already been carved from this jade in the northwest: a scorpion with its tail curved up menacingly was a fine piece of workmanship.

In New South Wales, the jade in the Tamworth region is found in association with talc in serpentine belts on high ridges at about three thousand feet. The surface jade seems to have weathered out of the hillsides, and no boulders of jade have been found in the valleys below. These surface pieces are mostly jagged lumps, fractured and heavily weathered and calcined often right to the core.





Some of it is a deep green, marbled jade with white wavy lines running through it; it is sometimes fractured along these compacted lines. The surface finds are not of commercial value, but as the digging progressed, jade with fewer fractures was revealed to indicate there is better stuff still deeper down. Some of the jade is a highly translucent, pale, grey-green progressing to an almost clear jade with spots and blotches of a more vivid, bright green within it.


If the more deeply buried jade proves to be in solid form, fracture free and of this quality, it will indeed be an important jade discovery.


The third and most extensive deposit of nephrite found so far in Australia is at Cowell in South Australia. It is in the form of nodular masses or fractured lenses of jade in a hillside of serpentine dolomite at an altitude of less than a thousand feet. Already (early 1973), about one hundred and fifty tons has been mined; the largest boulder weighed about six tons. One boulder that weighed three and a half tons was a pale translucent green and was valued at forty thousand dollars. It was offered for sale to the People's Republic of China. Another boulder of two tons was a deep black jade. Dark green and olive-green colours are also being found.


A jade factory has opened in  South Australia and is equipped with the largest diamond saw in Australia. This is an indication that a good supply of jade is expected.


With these finds of jade, the stage is set for lapidaries in Australia to accept this stone as a challenge to their creative ability. There is enough diversity in shades of colour to suit any needs or artistic ideas. Australian nephrite will be in demand worldwide, for much of this jade is well up to world standards.


-From the book: Jade Country 


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