Henry Newman had only 12 shillings and six pence in his pocket as he headed home to Sydney after two fruitless years hunting for gold on the Forbes fields.

He stopped at the Wentworth gold fields at Lucknow in 1862 to try his luck. He sank the Homeward Bound shaft. It produced 28,000 pounds from gold in just nine months.

Orange and District Historical Society former treasurer Les Hughes wrote in the 1980s that Mr Newman invested the money in stores in Lucknow but "his inexperience proved fatal and he lost all his money."

Unperturbed he continued searching for gold, and several years later made fresh discoveries at Lucknow, and this time was successful in running the Lucknow store.

Mr Newman went on to manage many successful mines at Lucknow.

In 1891 Mr Newman was elected to Parliament as the federal member for Orange for 14 years until his death at Lucknow in 1904, aged 64.

An obituary in the Orange Leader newspaper the day after his death described him as "everybody's friend."

Born in England, Thomas Ellard emigrated to New Zealand then Queensland where he was involved in gold mining.

Mr Hughes wrote he followed the gold rush to Parkes before moving to Orange in 1873 where he erected a brick making kiln.

"For years he held the government contract for the supply of bricks on the western railway line and he also supplied the bricks for the Orange Town Hall and Duntryleague," he said.

George McKay and his parents were among the early settlers of Orange.

His connections to mining stem from him going to the California gold fields in the US in 1849 to work, not as a miner, but in a store.

Mr Hughes wrote Mr McKay returned to Australia in 1851 and ran the Bush Inn at Summer Hill before buying the Colwood property.

He was part of Orange's first council in 1860, the second mayor in 1862-63 before being elected to parliament as the member for Orange for two years.