Cup Day crowd rallies for Foster museum

More than 80 people helped raise funds for the Foster museum during a Melbourne Cup Day garden party on Tuesday, November 3.

The fundraiser, held at Bruce and Kate Crowl's garden in Foster, supported the Foster & District Historical Society's Building Fund, with proceeds going towards fitting out a new vault to house 125 years of ‘The Mirror’ newspaper and other important local documents.

The weather played its part, with guests enjoying an afternoon of live music from Toora Teskey's, fine food and Cup Day festivities.

And there was plenty of history on offer.

Bruce and Kate Crowl entertained the crowd with the story of Harold Lasseter, whose claims of a vast gold reef in Central Australia became the subject of their presentation, ‘Lasseter's Life - Fact or Fiction.’

Lasseter spent several years working in the Toora and Foster area following the First World War.

His work boat, which he used to replace shipping markers in Corner Inlet, is now on display at the Foster museum.

Although Lasseter claimed to have surveyed Corner Inlet, the work had actually been completed more than 50 years earlier.

In 1930, he convinced backers that a huge gold reef existed west of Alice Springs and set out to find it.

After initially receiving assistance with the search, Lasseter continued with only local Aboriginal people for company and, according to the story, eventually died in the Petermann Ranges.

Back at the garden party, a Melbourne Cup sweep provided plenty of excitement as well, while a raffle and afternoon tea kept guests entertained.

The $20-per-person event ran from 1.30pm to 4.30pm, with the money raised set to help the historical society preserve important records of the district's past in its new vault.