The Cowell Jade – an alluring yet tough gemstone – is having a resurgence in its home town.
Just north of Cowell’s boat ramp, past the oyster leases and into the rugged folds of the Minbrie Ranges, one of the greatest geological anomalies on Earth was discovered.
Under limestone lies the Cowell Jade Province, the largest known deposit of black nephrite jade in the world by volume – spanning about ten square kilometres.
Nephrite jade is the toughest known natural mineral – even tougher than steel.
Yet, a thriving local jade industry is yet to be established and many Australians have never held the jade in their hands.
It was not a geologist to make this discovery, but a curious farmer named Harry Schiller in 1965.
While wandering the hills, prospecting his property, Harry picked up a nearly four-kilogram boulder. It did not look like the surrounding granite.
When Adelaide University and South Australian Museum confirmed it was high-quality nephrite, the rush for Cowell Jade began.
In 1968, Harry’s great-nephew Niel Smith joined in the jade adventure; he is now one of the last living original lease holders.
Niel farmed at Yabmana, between Cleve and Cowell, and heard about the jade through his extended Schiller family circles.
“Our family and the Schillers have always been interested in minerals and vegetation; my father was commissioner of National Parks on Eyre Peninsula, and my grandfather mined copper when he first came to the area at Calcookara, so we’ve been involved off and on throughout the years,” he said.
“I went to peg a mineral claim in 1968, and there was a company that had an exploration licence there and they would not give me permission to peg the area.
“So, I waited around and eventually in 1970 I pegged a lease of black jade and about three or four years later I took into partnership with my brother, his wife and my wife and we mined for jade in the off period – because we were both farmers. As it turned out we had the blackest jade in the whole area.”
Experts eventually mapped more than 100 separate outcrops. Geologically, this was not just a lucky find.
The jade in Cowell formed more than 1.5 billion years ago, under intense heat and pressure.
Cowell Jade exhibits a variety of colours and textures, with medium to fine-grained material showing greenish hues to black.
When raw, the black jade looks like an unassuming chunk of coal. But once a lapidary artist puts it to the wheel, a transformation occurs.
Diamond-tipped tools are usually used to cut the stones. It can also be polished to shine, the black jade as reflective as a mirror. To the touch, it is cool and eerily smooth.
Niel recalls the department of mines doing research in the area.
“Because of course it ended up being the biggest deposit of black nephrite jade in the world,” he said.
“On a Friday night when they were working from Cowell they would come out to the farm and my wife Pat would cook them a nice country meal and we’d talk minerals.”
Niel ended up helping the department to locate drill holes when it did drilling for the jade.
“They did exploration and documented all the lenses and pods. That went on for about three years.”
Sadly, Niel recalls the bullrush to the area becoming increasingly complicated, initiating government intervention, resulting in the closure of new peg sites.
“That was so they could stabilise the industry,” he said.
“In the meantime I found a very, very rare stone called clinozoisite, a bright pink stone, and I showed the minister – he was that taken to it he had it gazetted in the paper, threw the area open for 48 hours so I could peg the clinozoisite but when I mined it – there was only four big boulders that were bright pink then they turned green.”
From the 1980s, the industry in the area only got more complicated, and it toppled due to corporate mismanagement.
“Luckily we had mined a reasonable amount of jade and we’re still processing and making a bit of jewellery from what’s left,” he said.
“We also sold black jade to a company in New Zealand, so if you get black jade from New Zealand it’s probably our jade – but it’s always sold as Australian jade.”
In Cowell, however, it remained a background character – a footnote in a town more famous for its seafood.
Today, there is a resurgence of interest, with some Cowell Jade commercially available in town, it can be bought locally from a business out of the Cowell post office and Cowell Craft Shop, where Niel and Pat sell their jewellery as a hobby.
On a larger scale, the Chinese market is showing interest and could present further opportunities.
Niel’s wife Pat has been along for the whole ride – she said the future of Cowell Jade was uncertain but hoped to see it become a more prominent aspect of tourism in the town.
“All we want is to see it get up and running and benefitting the community,” she said.
“It would be a huge tourist attraction if it could be coordinated with care and professionalism.”
Cowell Black Jade is a stone of tenacity – fitting for the Eyre Peninsula locals who continue to work the land and sea.
It might be a quiet coastal town, but at its heart, is a high-quality gem that is tough, ancient and ever-alluring.
