Chapter 1

Mitchell’s Creek, Sunny Corner, New South Wales, Australia.

Sunny Corner is a small village in the central west of New South Wales (NSW), Australia (OZ) and a former mining area located between Lithgow and Bathurst; this little bit of heaven, just north of the Great Western Highway (Route 32). Sunny Corner had a population of 626 people.

Sunny corner was never officially known as Sunny Corner until it was gazetted in 1885. In consequence the place was brought into existence by the development and success of the Sunny Corner Silver-mining Company’s mine, and therefore the people generally acquired the habit of calling the whole place, including the newly surveyed town, after the company’s property. By November 1884 there was talk of Sunny Corner being named Mitchell. This became a reality by February 1885, however the townsfolk were not in favour of the new name. The township was also called Mitchell’s Creek[5] but the local community always called the area Sunny Corner and the name continued in use.

The original inhabitants of the area later called Sunny Corner were Aboriginal people, probably from the Wiradjuri tribe or nation. Although by the time written records of the area were created there were no Aboriginal people living there. Powys notes some archaeological evidence of their occupation in the form of stone axes.

The town of Sunny Corner grew up following the discovery of silver lodes in the area in 1884. This prompted a “rush” to the area, which had previously not been settled, and a town grew up on Crown Land adjacent to the mining leases.

The village of Sunny Corner was formally gazetted on 2 October 1885 (as R No 122). The gazette also revoked temporary reserves presumably gazetted to cover the rush to Sunny Corner. Immediately to the north-west a recreation reserve was gazetted, and a camping reserve was located on the southern border of the town. WIKI.

While not as prolific as other Gold Rush areas, nevertheless, one hundred tons of silver was mined in the vicinity, along with copper, gold and gemstones.

The decline in the price of silver spelled the end of mining and the land reverted to pastoralists. Farming, ranching and shepherding became the tax base.

Except for the few crazies prospecting ceased ... until the price of gold in the United States, exceeded five hundred dollars an ounce. Now that gold is one thousand an ounce there is a resurgence of the Hobby prospector. My friend Jim Mac is one such nut. He lived next door ... there’s a worry.

Many’s the time he’d be at the door with his carton of 24 one liter cans of Reschs Draught.

“Come out, come out, Davy. See what I found today.”

And he’s be off with locations and high bankers and sluices, scrapers and crevassing tools ... sure he found gold ... maybe it was just a few colors but it excited him. Me? Not so much. What interested me more was his photographs. The man is genius with a camera.

Bang bang bang at the door. Four fooking thirty?

“Come on, mate. Get your runners on and have a go,” Was his insistent day off cry.

Jim Mac worked hard and long over the weekend just so he could take weekdays off to go walkabout. Although walkabout was in the company of his Toyota Troop Carrier, he did get in the klics shanks mare.

The Troop carrier worried me.

Actually ... the location of the intake and exhaust pipes worried me ... and the water tight cab. With the stacks two feet above the top of the cab, I worried about the places Jim Mac drove through to get to the places he prospected.