Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival 2012

 

celebration dragons

Nundle "Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival 2012" will be held on Easter Saturday and Sunday April 7-8, 2012 from: 8:30am – 4:00pm each day, with free admission. The small country village of Nundle is in N.S.W. Australia.

The Festival will feature gold costumes of Chinese dancers, gold fields street theatre, and four gold nuggets up for grabs. This year sees Nundle celebrate the 160th anniversary of the gold rush that formed the town at the 2012 Nundle Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival. The Festival is expected to attract 16,000 people over two days.

Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival

Nundle is usually a small, quite country town, but it will really come alive this Easter during the "Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival". The Festival has a Chinese and goldfields theme, honouring the significant role of Chinese and European migrant miners and storekeepers in the development of Nundle and nearby Hanging Rock. The Festival celebrates the village’s rich gold mining history and the many Chinese who were drawn there to seek their fortune.

The 2012 Nundle Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival Committee Chair, Danny Ponton said “For the first time the Festival will present goldfields themed street theatre with a town crier, trooper, miner, story telling and bush music.”

Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival

The Easter festival is a “must do" experience and features:-

- panning for gold to find some genuine Nundle gold

- the world-class Chinese dance troupe

- a variety of Chinese and Australian cuisine

- Children’s entertainment (Chinese Puzzle Treasure Hunt, Magician, Gold Panning and Jumping Castle)

- large and varied range of street market stalls with more than 100 stall holders selling plants, fruit and vegetables, nuts, honey, pumpkins, toys, clothing, jewellery and furniture.

- a variety of live music, including traditional music played on ancient Chinese instruments. Traditional Chinese music performers David and Eva Wei, and local musicians Bruce McCumstie, and Gibbo and the Fat Lambs will continue the sense of occasion with live music.

- traditional Chinese dragon and lion dances

- antique toy display

- world class Mineral & Gem Display

- visit Nundle’s many attractions, cafes, antique shops and local stores

Chinese Dragon and Lions

Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival

The 2012 Festival will feature the twice daily Chinese Lion Dance on Poles three metres above street level, and two 15-metres long celebration dragons brought to life by nine young dancers from the Australian Yau Kung Mun Association. The Lions will perform their energetic and colourful dances  to the delights of the crowds. These dances are usually performed by martial artists who have the strength and skill to make the various moves and express the range of moods of the dragon and the lions.

Where is Nundle?

Nundle is 145 km from Muswellbrook (about 2 hours drive) along the New England Highway and Wallabadah-Nundle Road, or 67km south east of Tamworth – turn off the New England Highway at Nemingha and take a scenic drive via Chaffey Dam.

Nundle’s Chinese Heritage

From the 1850’s to the 1880’s thousands of people came to what was then called the Peel River Diggings which incorporated Nundle, Happy Valley, Hanging Rock, and Bowling Alley Point. Among the rush of people were numerous Chinese; most looking for gold, plus a few came to set up stores and gardens to supply the diggers. Illness or accidents took the lives of many searching the hills, and the Bowling Alley Point and Nundle Cemeteries became their final resting-places while the majority left when gold petered out or new fields beckoned. Some stayed on and became a permanent part of Nundle and district history.

Go For Gold Chinese Easter Festival

The Government Officials on the Gold Fields of the 1860’s to 1880’s were ‘Englishmen’ and had some difficulty with the Chinese language. The names of Chinese miners were simply written down as they sounded; the result was that what was recorded may not have born close resemblance to the actual names! The word ‘Ah’, a term of respect, was often prefixed to the Chinese names when they were recorded in the official documents of the day.

For further information about the "Nundle Go For Gold Festival 2012" call Nundle Visitor Information Centre on (02) 6769 3026