“Australian Diviners” by Noel Raddatz.

http://www.dowsing-research.net/blog_extracts/BSD_No58_1947_p319.pdf

This is light-hearted account of dowsing in Australia back in the 1940s. It seemed that back then, Australians were particularlt keen dowsers, what with the need to find water for farming and the deisre to find the abundance of precious minerals. This article concentates on divining for water and gold.

Some diviners have spectacular results, but as the author describes, not all that take up dowsing (perhaps the majority) can provide reliable results. Whether this is due to lack of practice and experience, or lack of innate dowsing ability is not clear. But as he points out to become a good diviner, requires “patience and tenacity”. He ends with an unusual dowsing pendulum incorpotating a sample of the object sought – searching for gold using a gold nugget suspended from a string!