Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Bellbird miner Mark King has shovelled his way to glory, once again, at the Lightning Ridge Easter Festival. Mark has won the miners challenge grand final for the sixth year in a row. The Lightning Ridge Easter Festival Miners Rickshaw Challenge is held annually, during the Easter long weekend, and draws hundreds of visitors to Lightning Ridge. Opal and hard-rock miners from all over Australia take part in this annual competition.

With temperatures in the high-20s, Mark said it was a great weekend. There's always plenty happening at the festival, according to Mark. Mark has mined opal in the ridge for more than 20 years. He also works as a miner for Yancoal, at Mount Thorley Warkworth open-cut mine, just near singleton, my old workplace.

The rickshaw challenge begins with participants holding jackhammers for a predetermined period of time before sprinting into a large heap of opal tailings while pushing a miner's rickshaw. Every contestant then shovels opal dirt into the rickshaw, before racing back to where they manoeuvre the dirt into a 44-gallon drum. Mark completed the task in the fastest time—five minutes and three seconds—to take out the miner of the year title for the sixth year in a row. And a prize of $2,000 went his way. Well done, Kingie! I look forward to having a beer with you soon. Keep up the good work.