Last weekend was 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold that led to the formation of the town of Moonambel. Things were not looking good on Saturday, and the fireworks display was called off due to rain. But Sunday we were able to run the full 150th celebrations, although indoors.

Part of the celebrations was a little play with three participants, one was a young girl on the goldfields - Annie Fleet, another Malvina Richardson, the founder of the town, and the third was one of the Thomas brothers that found the first gold at Mountain Creek (the site of the present-day Moonabmel). I was lucky to be involved in that production as John Thomas. The play was only 15 minutes long but covered much of the early history of the town in a very entertaining way due to the excellent script and direction from Steve Lane.

The basic facts were that in November 1860 the Thomas brothers, John and James, discovered profitable alluvial gold at around 20ft below the surface. Within 2 months there were said to be more than 10,000 miners, and a main street and buildings were already well under construction. Other discoveries around the region bled the numbers of miners, but some stayed on to do reasonably well. Malvina Richardson had traveled to Australia from California, after trekking across America from her birth place in Virginia, and made a name as a midwife and general nurse in the area. Malvina was a pivotal character in the early life of the town, and we were very lucky to have her descendants in the audience.

It was great to be part of and the reception was fantastic. I learned quite a lot about the history of the area and had a great time. This is the second Steve Lane production I've been in, and I'm really hoping that it won't be the last.