Minelab Wedderburn Detector Jamboree 12 & 13 March
Published on 03 March 2016
Seniors are invited to line up for a gold panning knockout competition at Wedderburn next month, with bragging rights and trophies on offer.
The fun contest is a new attraction at this year’s Minelab Detector Jamboree, an annual celebration designed to shine a spotlight on the district’s rich gold mining history.
Planned for 12-13 March at the town’s Hard Hill Tourist Reserve, the family-friendly event offers a program including prospecting and gold panning competitions and demonstrations, town garage sales, live music and market stalls.
Participants in the junior and open token hunts have the chance of winning new detecting equipment, a gold nugget and gift vouchers, while spectators can take part in children’s activities, tour local attractions and test their luck with a run of lucky draw prizes.
Entry for adult participants costs $45, which covers breakfast on both days and the live entertainment. One-day attendance costs $35, but non-participants are free.
The program gets under way with breakfast on the Saturday morning, followed by a briefing before contestants head out to the bush to search for this year’s allocation of metal tokens.
Town garage sales and detecting demonstrations for beginners will operate all day, while the Coach House Gallery and Museum will open its doors for visitors both days from 10am to 2pm.
A new element this year will be the presence of the Australian Hearing bus, scheduled to visit the Jamboree on the Saturday from 11am to 4pm to offer free hearing checks and help raise hearing health awareness.
Late afternoon sees the introduction of the Seniors Gold Panning Knockout, run in conjunction with the Victorian Gold Panning Association, while evening entertainment will be provided by popular local band “501”.
Sunday sees children aged eight to 16 years encouraged to try their hand at finding the tokens, with prizes of three Minelab detectors on offer.
Market stalls will run during the morning, alongside more detector demonstrations and gold panning competitions for juniors up to 16 years competing for trophies in four age groups.
Prizes in the major draw are a Minelab SDC 2300 detector valued at $3,950, an X-Terra 305 valued $395 and a Go-Find 20 valued at $199, plus donations from Coiltek.
Wedderburn Tourism spokesperson Robyn Vella said panning had become an important part of the Jamboree program.
“We established the junior section some years ago and now want to involve the seniors, with a person from the Victorian Gold Panning Association coming up to run this new event,” Mrs Vella said.
“Pans will be supplied by Wedderburn Tourism, the host body for the Jamboree.
“Numbers attending vary, but we get 1,500 to 2,000 visitors over the course of the weekend, which is staged with the invaluable help of major sponsors Minelab, Coiltek, Loddon Shire Council, Inglewood and Districts Community Bank and Gold Prospecting Australia.”
For further information, phone the Loddon Visitor Information Centre on 5494 3489 or go to www.wedderburn.vic.au