From the info board, later added to the left: “The Gold Rush mural replaces a paramilitary image of two silhouetted gunmen representing Scottish Brigade. This new image by artist Tim McCarthy represents an event in July 1969 in Christopher Street when children digging in the rubble of the then demolished ‘Scotch Flats’ discovered a hoard of gold sovereigns. Word spread quickly and thus began ‘the Gold Rush’. The project was funded by the Re-imaging Communities programme of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and delivered by Belfast City Council with the support of the Lower Shankill Community Association. The project would not have been possible without the support and participation of the local community.”
There is a short series of BBC radio programmes on the finding of the sovereigns and how they came to be in the chimney.
With support from the Arts Council, Belfast City Council, and Lower Shankill Community Association. By Tim McCarthy/Verz in Hopewell Crescent, Belfast.
(small image)
Copyright © 2009 Extramural Activity
text: X00298 [X05054] ’69 gold rush
Extramural Activity 