Set in Gold
Apr 13th, 2008In 1858 a police inspector and a government geologist stirred up some Ballarat miners and caused a gold rush to the Dandenong Ranges. That gold rush caused a community to be born which was to become Emerald, the jewel in the hills.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of that time, writers Ken Purdham and Marjorie Speck have collaborated to research the history and create a drama from the facts and folklore they discovered. That drama, Set in Gold re-creates life in those times when the Ballarat miners hacked their way through the bush and carved out a community in their search for gold.
It re-creates the toils of a gold rush that lasted only a short time along with the struggle and tragedy of a community being born in a hostile environment that gave up nothing but gold and not much of that.
Marj speaking of the process of research and writing, said, “The majority of the people who were resident in this area during the mid nineteenth century were ordinary people living their ordinary lives who left behind them only a few facts of their existence. They would never have dreamed that 150 years into the future people would be interested in their ordinary existence.”
When: May 16th, 17th and 23rd, 24th @ 7:30pm. Matinee 17th @ 2:30pm. 2008
Cost: $15, conc. & groups $12.
Where: Gemco Hall, 19 Kilvington Drive, Emerald
Bookings: 0411 723 530
Download the ‘Set In Gold’ poster
