The 29th instalment of the famous Kalgoorlie event looked shaky even as recently as eight weeks ago, but went off without a hitch. Due to COVID-19, this year’s event was held two months later and lacked interstate and international attendees, but it really wasn’t that different to previous years.
The noticeable differences included the heat – it got to a sweltering 37 degrees on the Wednesday – and a few measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Hand sanitiser was included with the delegate bags and sanitiser stations were located around the venue. The venue – comprising the Goldfields Art Centre and two marquees – had separate entry and exit points to control the movement of people.
A thermal body scanner took everyone’s temperatures on the way in. Diggers chairman Jim Walker said over 11,500 temperatures were taken.
“We had a couple of false negatives and believe it or not, it was our policemen and policewomen, but we figured out it was because they were wearing hats,” he said.