Pine Creek’s annual Gold Rush Festival was in full swing over the weekend.
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Hundreds gathered for the festival events including the Pine Creek NT Gold Panning Championships.
First timers and veteran panners arrived early to get some practice in, before the heats started at 10am.
Among the crowd bent low over the sand and water filled troughs, Paul Watkins, a devoted panner at the Goldrush Festival, was teaching anyone who needed it, the skills of panning.
Mr Watkins from Darwin got the gold fever about 20 years ago and hasn’t missed a Pine Creek Gold Rush Festival since.
He even competed in the Ballarat Championships, coming first in 2007.
“Pine Creek is the best in Australia for panning,” he said.
“It hasn’t changed much over the years. You still have the locals coming down and the natural setting in the creek for panning, rather than a trough like you get in some other places.”
Mr Watkins has been filling up small tubes of his priceless findings over the years, and has much to show for it, with dozens of trophies back at home.
He comes down to Pine Creek with his family every year. It is a chance to get away and a chance to win another trophy.
Panning champions seem to run in the family, his sister Julie Burrows has been the grand champion in Pine Creek twice now.
The siblings both competed in the first heat of the day – the skilled adults competition.
“It is about having the most amount of gold in the smallest amount of time,” Mr Watkins said.
“You can’t afford to lose any or you lose time. There are no tricks, just keep a steady hand,” he said.
About eight people compete in the heats and among the skilled adults section, Katherine local Luke Arriston was giving it his best shot.
The festival is a chance for everyone to get involved, from the ultra important role of time keeping to kids activities, or just being a spectator.
The original Gold rush Festival started in the late 70’s, then it languished for a while before being picked up again, Pine Creek councillor Gaye Lawrence said.
She also said the festival has remained quite the same for the past 20 or so years.
“We had the dig fest back then, but that was so successful it became too big to manage,” she said.
“We have more volunteers now, and much support from the Chinese community.”
It is about maintaining the cultural identity of the town, she said, and making sure the festival is a highlight for visitors.
For the small town with so much history to share, mining is its past, present and future, Mrs Lawrence said.
