The Fossickers Way Visitor Guide Volume 1 | Page 13

Bingara Did you know? School children in Bingara are known as the ‘Orange Police’, as they maintain and harvest the orange trees that line Finch Street. The town also hosts an Orange Festival B ingara is a pretty place with a friendly and healthy environment that oozes peace and tranquility, but a sleepy town it is certainly not. Like the river upon whose banks it is built, there is an undercurrent that reverberates through Bingara, creating a vibrant, energetic and productive community. Things get done in Bingara; ideas and dreams come to fruition. Take, for example, the many stunning art deco fast facts • What You Might Find: Gold, crystals, garnets, rhodonite, petrified wood, serpentine and diamonds • Equipment Needed: Gold pans, fine sieves for the garnets, pick and hammer, shovel buildings on the town’s main street. The most significant of these is the Roxy Theatre Complex, a striking feat of deco architecture that was faithfully restored to its former splendour and reopened in 2004 as a cinema, performing arts venue and function centre. Meander down the main street of Bingara and you’ll be dazzled by the countless examples of art deco shop fronts with charming, ornate pressed tin awnings and THREE CREEKS GOLD MINE Three Creeks Gold Mine is a small, working commercial mine that opens its gate to tourists looking to experience gold panning for themselves. Run by the warm, friendly Joy and Paul Myer, guests are welcome to find a place to camp in the natural bush setting, and are offered lessons in panning for gold and digging for crystals. Equipment is available to rent or buy, and there are several stations set up for cleaning and sorting. The drive in via Upper Bingara is very scenic on an unsealed road that weaves through forests of statuesque, thousand-year-old grass trees and passes historic schoolhouses and homesteads. 13