'The Gold-Bug' is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1843. Synopsies of this story start with a situation where William Legrand discovers a golden bug and partchment, his servant named Jupiter is concerned about his obsession with the gold bug and they enlist assistance in decoding information leading to the treasure.
If you are familiar with the history of Charters Towers, local parks or caches you will have realised that in late 1871 gold was discovered in a creek when an indigenous horse boy- Jupiter Mosman, was rounding up horses after a storm for a party of prospectors. The prospecting party registered the claim with Gold Commissioner W.S.E.M Charters in Ravenshoe. By the end of 1872, 3000 people had formed the nearby town of Milchester (now a suburb), having been biten by the gold-bug. One of the party established 'Clarkes' Gold Mine.
Having read a little about Jupiter Mosman, it is probably a coincidence that he had the same name as a character in 'The Gold-Bug' book.
In the short story the gold bug is dropped through a skull in a tree to reveal the place to dig for treasure. While that worked out well in the fictional story (except for the skeletons) this is not a particularly reliable means of finding a cache, which can't be buried anyway. No one wants to climb a Ziziphus mauritiana.
The listed coordinates are near the initial discovery of gold around the intersections of Rainbow Road, Mosman St and Blackjack Rd. The cache is not at this location but it is a good place to park and walk (>500m) following the Towers Hill Road and then a dirt track. There are inter-rim (turning point) coordinates. The checker is for the final. You may want work that out beforehand.
To find the cache you will need to decipher the following text. Should the opportunity arise leave the key field blank.
If you solved the puzzle before 26/4/21 you will need to determine the new, updated and safer final coordinates
5 )63* ;‡ -05(78) 3‡0† 96*8 6) 5; )‡?;4 ;]8*;: †83(88) 16¶8 .‡6*; ;4(88 1‡?( 1‡?( 96*?;8) 85); ‡*8 4?*†(8† 5*† 1‡(;: )6¢ †83(88) 1‡?(;88* .‡6*; *6*8 ‡*8 1‡?( 96*?;8) 5; ;46) 0‡-5;6‡* .(‡,8-; 5 ]5:.‡6*; *6*8;: 1‡?( 98;(8) 5; ;]‡ 4?*†(8† 5*† *6*8;: †83(88) 1‡00‡] ;48 ;(5-7 ;‡]5(†) ;48 -5-48 5; 16*50 .(‡,8-;8† 0‡-5;6‡*
At the time of listing the gold container had a couple swaps, log, pencil and large goldish unactivated trackable (FTF).