Place Called Moonlight: Stories from the Moonlight/Atarua are Told by People Who Live There

- Blurb -

George Moonlight's discovery of payable gold in Moonlight Creek in April 1865 was followed soon after by the typical "rush" as diggers again sought their fortunes in new ground. What set the Moonlight goldfield apart was the course gold it yielded, particularly the large nuggets. Peter Passeni's eighty seven and a half ounce Victory Nugget of 1917 remains the largest single piece of gold picked up by and of the Moonlight diggers. Tales are told of old diggers, often down on their luck, who were among those fortunate enough to unearth these golden lumps from the vaults of the Moonlight. "Like potatoes in a dish" was how Hindmarsh described a collection of Moonlight nuggets when viewed in a Greymouth bank. While Moonlight still gives up seme promising "colour" and the odd small nugget to modern fossickers, arguably the real treasure lies in the pages of this book. Within its covers is a fine collection of stories and photographs that tell the history, the hardships and eventual settlement of a community and district that still proudly calls itself "Moonlight".