Royal Commission

In 1928, a Royal Commission as appointed to investigate the industry. It recommended that if the compulsory purchase proclamation were withdrawn, it would probably be found that in 12 months the scheme would not be necessary. This was a true prophecy, as the withdrawal of the proclamation caused and exodus from the field and it never fully reverted to the high employment rate of the earlier years.

In the depression years of the 1930s, the miners left on the field battled on with the aid of prospecting assistance. This assistance was looked upon as a subsidy on gem production. The miners, represented by the Sapphire Miners' Association, made gallant efforts to find payable markets and were assisted by the government, but to little avail. The best grade blues could find limited markets up to $16 per ounce, but lower grade stones were in little demand.

For some years a drive was made to find a market, until about 1940 when American servicemen took an interest in the gems. However, by this time the only miners then available to cater for this market were those too old for the war or the civil service.

By 1948, there were signs of recovery but most miners still relied on prospecting assistance to make the mining of sapphires pay. From 1960 onwards there was a general increase in price and the interest of tourists and gem collectors became stirred.