After the Rush – Evolution of a Goldfield (DVD)

$49.50

After the Rush is not just a documentary about the evolution of a goldfield. It is a record of Australian history, lifestyle and in some cases lost bushcraft.

The benefit of growing up in a goldfield is that one gets to sort out real life individuals worth their salt from want to be; look alike bushman or pub verandah experts.

Description

After the Rush – Evolution of a Goldfield (DVD produced 2020 to 2021)

Reflecting a passage in history. For most, when you are young time seems to stand still, change is minimal. All that encompasses life is normal, for that is the way it is. As change encroaches it is possible to look back in wonder. I am nothing special, only but a witness and participant to an areas evolution. My aim here is to with friends summon the living past and in doing so set the record straight, to account for the way it was. Not the way it has in some cases been misinterpreted. Here we interview first hand remaining participants to share their stories lifestyle that is now alien to most. Hill End was full of characters that made growing up a fun and wonderful experience. Roley Hodge told me, ‘it takes all types to make the world, and they all live in Hill End’. He was right.

Disc 1 (approx running time 130 minutes over 24 chapters) starts with first European migration that laid down road and staging point networks, working with stockmen explorers to open up new horizons. Inevitably gold rushes set in cement the big infrastructure that supported many trades after the rush. An often overlooked and misrepresented area known as Chambers Creeks takes centre spotlight with some interesting twists. To do justice to life in the bush we will examine and enlighten re the subjects of river camps, fishing, housing, Chapter 18 starts looking at the land and its lifestyle before covering early building methods.

Disc 2 (approx running time 130 minutes) introduces the local sawmill, wool, rabbit & fox industries, present gold digging, gum leafing, blackberry bashing and many more human interest accounts

Complementing the human element we take a look at the unrivalled freedom/plenty of activities. There was always going to be an odd bod, but for the majority the elder generation were polite, good mannered, well spoken ethical upstanding citizens. Always eager to help and advise the best way they could. They might not have been able to tune a television, but they were in tune with bushcraft knowledge for which they were technological connoisseurs.