What are these?

Look to me like the ancient wasp nest things, very common in the dunes around Fowlers Bay on the coast in South Oz.. place was littered with them... especially when you drive to the Mexican Hat area.. hope that answers your question, not saying it is that, but looks like it to me.. cheers Odog

Fantastic find bungarra.
It appears you have found some very old gold moulds. They were used in the 1800's by Miners in more remote areas to enable easier storage and transport of their gold. For their age they are in excellent condition.
The larger one looks like a one ounce mould and the smaller possibly a half ounce mould.
To manufacture the Miners would find a stick of appropriate size and mould a sand/clay mixture over the stick. This was a very fine process and many Miners engaged a Chinese Miner named Suk Wun Inn to supply them to ensure a consistent size.
Whilst they were not used in the Victorian Gold Fields Sovereign Hill in Ballarat does have quite a few on display.

Worth hanging onto and getting them checked out by an outback museum or something similar may be an interesting story behind them.

Hi Bungarra,

Have a look on Google for "weevil cocoons". They are fossils found in abundance on the west coast of SA. These could be the same thing but as they are further west may contain some iron content and badly worn.

Good luck.

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks Mike
Definitely no iron content. The hole is quite smooth internally. I thought of some sort of fossilised wasp nest except heavier than clay and definitely a light rock.
Found whilst prospecting and I am very familiar with specimens with iron content etc.
Museum may have the definitive answer perhaps

After the tears in my eyes finished rolling down my cheeks, my spouse thinks they are a type of fossil insect nest.
We lived in Cue for 3 years in the 70's and have found nearly similar but looking more like a dutch clog, think they were a wasps cocoon.
Hope that was of some help