As our next guest has been part of a gold rush on our TV screens and become a global star in the process. We’ve got a lead, but we need to go now. What’s going on? What’s up? We managed to find an amazing leap.

That is Tyler Marne in Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush. She’s a fourth-generation gold prospector from Western Australia and now she’s opening up about making it as a woman in a man’s world of mining. And Tyler joins us now.

Good morning, Tyler.
Good morning, Tyler.

This is awesome. I cannot help but notice you’ve got 90,000 worth of gold in your hand and I don’t know where to look. That is unbelievable. We just tease it there for a second. It almost looks fake. It’s unbelievable—I’ve never really seen gold that close if it’s not been in jewelry.

What makes that nugget that you brought in so valuable?

Yeah, definitely. So, it weighs just under 11 ounces, but it’s crystalline gold. You can see the crystals kind of forming and it’s basically just a rare type of gold which makes it a little bit more valuable.

Who found it?

This was found by my mom about 20 minutes out of Calguli.

No. How long ago?

About 10 years ago now. So, we’ve had it for a while. It’s one that you don’t really sell. We’re going to hold on to it.

So, you live in the gold fields near Calguli. You would think when that was found, did it just 20 minutes out—did it cause another gold rush?

Well, back in the day it would have caused a gold rush, but these days you have to be a little bit more tight-lipped and you don’t really tell anyone about your find. We definitely kept that one to ourselves.

Would you expect to find something of that size or would it generally be smaller? Could it be bigger?

A lot smaller. So, these are getting really hard to find. I’ve never found one this big. Our bread and butter is quite small.

Right. So, how do you—if you can’t tell people, how do you celebrate when you find a nugget?

Well, I struggle with that. I’ve got quite a loud mouth, so I find it quite difficult to not go down to the pub and buy everyone a round. “I found nothing. Yeah. Horrible day at work today.”

Gold prospecting—it’s a very passionate pursuit, isn’t it? It brings out all types of people. You’re fourth generation. Is it something that’s in your blood?

Oh my god, yes. It’s called gold fever. I think my family definitely have gold fever. It can do crazy things to people as well, no doubt.

Were you always going to go that route? Like I said, because we talked about it being quite male-dominated—your fourth generation, your mother found this one—was there any way that you weren’t going to do this?

I think when I was in my late teens, I was about 18 or 19, I kind of had enough and I rebelled against the gold world and I moved away. But I didn’t last long. It didn’t last long at all. I quickly went back home, straight back into it.

Easy money here, huh?

Yeah. But prospecting can actually be quite dangerous because I’ve heard stories and a lot of people go missing while they’re prospecting. You can tell us—what is it like when you are just focused on what you’re doing and then you look up and realize you don’t know where you are?

Yeah, definitely. You’ve hit the nail on the head because you’re concentrating on the ground always. It can happen so quickly. I’ve been lost out bush before. I was quite young, about 14, and it’s quite a scary experience. You’re in the middle of nowhere. There’s no sound. Everything looks the same. You have to be very aware of it.

Wow. I was watching your show before and you were drinking like someone’s toe.

Oh god. Yeah, I know. I know.

Don’t bring it back up. No, tell us what that was because my mind—

So, this is a tradition in a place called Dawson City in Canada. They have real human toes in a glass of whiskey in this old gold rush town. And it’s been tradition for however many years since the original days. You go to the town and you have to take a shot of the sour toe.

The sour toe?

Okay. Yeah. It was disgusting.

…

Now, Tyler, you’ve written this incredible book, Gold Digger. But you also talk about other things, like mental health, living with bipolar.

Has prospecting—does it help you in any way to deal with those issues?

Yeah, definitely. Like you said, I’ve struggled with bipolar for a very long time, but I love my job. Being outside and constantly doing something in the outback helps calm me a lot. So I’m very grateful for the career I’ve had. It definitely helps.

Oh wow. So what’s the crack now? I mean, I wouldn’t imagine you’re going to be strolling the streets of Sydney with this in your hands. Where do you store something like that?

Well, in the gold fields, everyone has safety deposit boxes, so they’re stored at the bank. You definitely wouldn’t be keeping something like this in your home, especially in a place like Calguli. It’s definitely the Wild West.

Oh, wow. So tell us a little bit more about this book that you have.

Yeah, definitely. So basically it goes through the four generations of the family and the crazy stories that come with that—growing up in the outback, living on stations, gold thefts, gold heists, robberies, and guns.

And you also talk about traditional owners. What’s your relationship with the custodians out there?

Oh definitely. I think the most important thing for us is just to acknowledge that we are on Indigenous land. We live and work on Wongath land. We have something called native tribute—basically we sit down with the Wongath people and come to agreements. But there’s still so much room for improvement in the mining industry. We’ve got a very long way to go before we’re at a level that’s acceptable. Listening to Indigenous voices and amplifying what they think is definitely the most important thing.

What’s it like going to the Diggers and Dealers conference?

Oh my god. Okay, we can leave that there.

That’s all I wanted. It’s changed a lot, hasn’t it? The government—

Yeah, still.

Thank you so much. Tyler’s memoir Gold Digger is out now. Huge thanks for joining us, Tyler.

I think gold fever just gets stuck in your blood. I tried when I was younger to get away from it, but I quickly realized it’s just something I love to do. I love my job, I love being out in the outback, and I love finding gold.

And you’re also trying to change things a bit, because you didn’t like the way your mom and your grandma were treated out there in terms of equality.

Oh yeah, definitely. Mining is a male-dominated industry and there’s still a lot of room for improvement. I’m lucky that I had my mom and my grandma who paved the way for me, but like I said, there’s still a lot of work to do. I’m happy to help.

Hey, just give us a little bit of an insight into what the job is like. How do you do it? Where do you go? Is there a lot of travel? A lot of success these days?

Yeah. So every day looks different for me. Right now we have some tenements outside of Calguli where I live. We head out there with a loader, an excavator, a dry blower, and we use metal detectors. With prospecting, it’s all about knowing how to read the ground and the gold, so my day changes depending on what we’re finding. It keeps things very interesting.

Do you end up wearing a lot of gold? Do you travel with it?

Yeah, definitely. You know what they say—the gold game is either baked beans or lobster. Sometimes we’re doing really well, and sometimes there’s no gold.

And the nuggets—when you hit something that’s pretty big, do you go, “Yes!”?

Oh, definitely. There’s a lot of celebration when we find a decent-sized nugget.

Fantastic. The other thing that’s really interesting in your book is that you live with bipolar. How did you come to that diagnosis?

Yeah, definitely. It was a very long road to get to that point. Years of symptoms, a lot of denial on my behalf. But it was a big relief when we finally got the diagnosis and started managing it better. My job helps—I love being outside and active. I’m very lucky.

Hey, I imagine that you have some pretty funny stories to tell—or maybe odd ones. Gold digging makes for great western movies.

Oh my god, yes. You have to be a special type of person to live out in the outback. Being out bush, you meet very interesting characters. Gold is great, but it also brings out a funny side of people. Some get struck with gold fever and it definitely changes them. Plenty of wild stories from the outback.

Well, I’m very glad you could come on the program and chat with us this morning. Good luck with the book—Gold Digger—and good luck with the digging.

Oh, thank you so much and thank you for having me.