Before the Hand of Faith nugget was found, Kevin and Bep Hillier were living and travelling around Australia in a renovated bus they called ‘Gus’. Towing their 67 HR Holden on the back, they left Western Australia during the summer of 1978 with their four children, Kim, Natalie, Brendon and Lance.
Their sense of adventure and leap of faith would eventually lead them to the Central Victorian Goldfields two years later.
Many of our friends were concerned for us, leaving a good job, selling all of our possessions and taking our four children away from all they knew with just $1000 in our pockets. I wasn’t worried, I have faith in God and I pray about everything we do. I asked God to bless this adventure and if it wasn’t the right thing to do we would have known, but we were all at peace and things seemed to fall into place, so we set off on our journey.
Bep Hillier, Hand of Faith Story, p.10.