Outback Towns

Willows Gemfields

The 'Willows' in particular is known for having unusually coloured sapphires.

About Willows Gemfields

Willows Gemfields is 11 kilometres off the Capricorn Highway. The turn is 24 kilometres pass the Anakie/Sapphire crossroads and about a 45 minute drive west of Emerald.

The Willows Gemfields is a popular fossicking spot as very little machinery and no corporate mining has been permitted in the past. The ‘ Willows’ in particular is known for having unusually coloured sapphires. Some of the world’s most famous Sapphires have been found on the Willows Gemfields, including a 332 caret rough yellow, aptly named the “Golden Willow”.

Hand mining and/or fossicking involves digging from old creek beds, now underground, and sieving it to separate out the sand and oversized rocks. It is then washed before the sapphires can be hand sorted from the other heavy gravels.

Fossicking on the Sapphire Gemfields is easy with equipment hire and fossicking licenses available.

Willows Gemfields has caravan park accommodation and also offers fossicking park facilities, where you can learn to recognize and find sapphires from the earth. The Glenalva and Willows shallow digging areas are where you fossick near Willows Gemfields.