A CHILDREN’S book written by local author Lauren Mitchell and illustrated by collaborator Geoff Hocking has been earmarked for international distribution via Nottingham charity The Bendigo Heritage Project.<\/p>\n
Go’Bendy’Go tells the little-known tale of how the city came to be named after a 19th century Nottingham boxer, William ‘Bendigo’ Thompson, with The Heritage Project choosing to dispense copies of the historical hardcover title to every primary school in the English shire.<\/p>\n
The book will now be available to tens of thousands of children in the place of origin of Mr Thompson.<\/p>\n
“We always hoped our book would spark an interest in goldfields history for locals, young and young-at-heart,” Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
“Now it has a further purpose of sharing the story in its birthplace, and in turn promoting the unique connection between Nottingham and our home city of Bendigo.”<\/p>\n
Bendigo Heritage Project chair Alan Dawson said the group had many followers across Australia, with a number of them alerting him to the book’s existence.<\/p>\n
“So, we got in touch with the people behind it,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There’s an irony to the Bendigo story in that whilst he never actually travelled to Australia, his name did.<\/p>\n
“Another irony is that whilst many books have been written about him, the first one written for children was published in Bendigo, Australia and not Nottingham, England.<\/p>\n
“This initiative for us to distribute the books will take the Bendigo story to a new generation and hopefully get our school children to pick (it) up and learn about our sporting history in an entertaining way.”<\/p>\n
Go’Bendy’Go can be purchased at independently owned bookstore Bookish in Hargreaves Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A CHILDREN’S book written by local author Lauren Mitchell and illustrated by collaborator Geoff Hocking has been earmarked for international distribution via Nottingham charity The Bendigo Heritage Project. Go’Bendy’Go tells the little-known tale of how the city came to be named after a 19th century Nottingham boxer, William ‘Bendigo’ Thompson, with The Heritage Project choosing […]<\/p>\n