Where Treasures Shine by Judy Fander

Where treasures shine tells the story of a South Australian public servant, Lionel Gee, a well-known identity of his era. Serving the government in various capacities, he was first a surveyor, then a warden of goldfields, an occasional explorer and finally a senior official in the Mines Department.Convivial and optimistic by nature, a good conversationalist known for his keen wit, he was also a writer in his spare time. He realised that his contemporaries and the following generations of Australians would be curious about life at the distant goldfields, and so he left colourful accounts of his experiences in the diverse locations where he worked. The author draws freely on Gee's stories that capture the drama of life on the goldfields during the gold rushes. Lionel Gee was stationed at various goldfields, notably at remote Teetulpa and Tarcoola in South Australia and at Arltunga and the Tanami in the Northern Territory. Some of his stories relate to the Aboriginal people whom he met or employed. He also left vivid accounts of his time as a surveyor on the Eyre Peninsula and the South East of South Australia in his younger days. His adventures and near mishaps along the coast of Northern Territory with Government Geologist HYL Brown and the young Herbert Basedow give an insight into the problems of exploring Australia's northern shores. Rising from a cadet surveyor under the famous Surveyor-general George Goyder to chief registrar and recorder of mines in the Mines Department where he compiled and edited the Record of the mines of South Australia (1908), he served South Australia loyally for more than 50 years.