Without the many volunteers, tour options would be limited, relying on paid staff.

Volunteers make the tours more affordable, encouraging a wider audience to enjoy the area.

But mainly volunteers are what make the tours unique, as each guide brings their own creativity to each group.

National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Gloucester’s Visitor Information Centre (VIC) work together to ensure the Copeland area is open to the public and the volunteers add their personal touch to individual tours.

The Copeland Mountain Maid Gold Mine tour has been running, thanks to the volunteers, since 2013 and recently tour options have expanded.

NPWS Ranger for Copeland, Coralie De Angelis has been working on developing a variety of tours that highlight the “Hidden Treasures” Copeland has to offer.

The new Copeland Hidden Treasure tours have been designed based on feedback past tour-takers have given about what they’d like to see in the area, tours like the new cultural bush tucker tour which ran for the first time on Saturday, June 9.

Without Aboriginal volunteers Boe Clarke and Glenn Jonas, this tour wouldn’t have happened.

Boe agreed to take on the challenge of running a bush tucker tour as a way of learning about his culture.

His grandfather, Uncle Jimmy was a traditional Worimi elder with a strong presence in the Gloucester community, and Boe looks at the tours as a way honouring his heritage.

“Most of my cultural inspiration comes from Pop,” Boe said.

“Reconnecting myself with the land and my cultural heritage, it’s something I’ve wanted to do since school.

“I want to show people how beautiful country is,” he said.

For Glenn, the tour means more time in the bush, a place where he feels at home.

He works for Taree Indigenous Development and Employment (TIDE), spending time nurturing the land, and this tour, for which he volunteers, means he can spend even more time in nature.

“I work on country,” Glenn said. “I love country.

“It’s a way to teach people about country. It’s about balance,” he said.

“It makes me feel whole, being on country.”

Both Boe and Glenn learned the tour route from Steve Brereton, an Aboriginal culture and language teacher for the Department of Education who had worked with Coralie to develop a bush tucker tour specific to the area. 

Steve ran the first tour, giving the volunteers an opportunity to experience it before taking it on for themselves.

MidCoast Council marketing officer for the Gloucester Visitor Information Centre (VIC), Thomas Davey was on the inaugural tour.

“The experience at Copeland wouldn’t be the same without the passion and connection to the area that the volunteers bring to it,” Thomas said.

Glenn and Boe have joined a growing list of volunteers who run the mine tour, as well as the new rainforest tour and seasonal twilight tour, which looks to capture a glimpse of glow worms and fireflys.

The volunteers come from the Gloucester, Barrington and Copeland area, some with experience and some who are just learning the ropes.

Newcomer Sera Smith decided to become a volunteer after joining the 50^th year anniversary tour that NPWS organised in November 2017.

She also has a special connection to the area as her mother, who is now deceased, was one of the first volunteers to trained as a guide.

“I’m walking in her shoes,” she said.

Long time volunteers, Terry Hardwick and Carol Bennett have been running tours in Copeland Tops since the beginning.

“We love this place, “ Carol said. “We want to share this special place with others.” 

Terry said she was volunteering at the Gloucester VIC when the opportunity to run the tours came up.

She looked at it as an chance to expand her knowledge about Copeland’s history and unique vegetation.

“It helps with my education about the area, which means I can teach it to others,” Terry said. 

In January, a group of volunteers completed a training session which encouraged them to walk the tour path as if they were children, the idea being that it would give them a different perspective of the tour.

The following month, after 40 years of silence, the original ‘Stamper Battery’ machine was brought back to life by volunteers from Hunter Valley Vintage Farm Machinery Club.

After the refurbishment of the diesel engine that powers the battery of stampers, a mere pull of a level starts up the rhythmic pounding of the metal cylinders designed to crush the quartz taken from the mountain.

The machine is due to become part of the regular mine tour.

Anyone can book a tour, which typically run every Wednesday and Sunday from 10am until noon, with a minimum of two people required to run the tour.

Tours run more frequently during school holidays and long weekends. Tours can also be arranged outside of those times, if required. The bush tucker tour and twilight tours run on a slightly different schedule.

For information about any of the tours including cost and how to book, call the Gloucester VIC on 02 6538 5252.