In 1876, a man by the name of Saxby first discovered gold in the district. He found it around Back Creek, now Copeland Creek, near to what is now the village of Copeland. After his discovery, miners from everywhere descended on the area and the population grew to 1,100. Three pubs and four stores soon catered for the needs of 800 miners.

To learn more about the history of mining in the area and to see where these gold-hungry souls toiled, come along on a guided Discovery tour of Mountain Maid gold mine – one of New South Wales’ longest running operational gold mines. Walk around some historic buildings and get up close and personal with old machinery such as a battery stamper, whirly-gig gold separator, air compressor and gold carts.