That traditional home of the game in Tenterfield – the Royal Hotel – attracted some avid punters around the ring chalked on to the carpet of the public bar, and the 5, 10, 20 and 50 dollars notes were flying around pretty freely.

John Munro – the ‘boxer’ – kept the mob in order, calling around the ring for bets to be covered ‘heads’, ‘tails’ or ‘odds’, and ensuring the ‘spinner’ did the right thing.

It wasn’t too far a stretch to imagine diggers around a circle drawn in some mud or sand, calling out for their bets to be covered, with two coins the only equipment required to play the game. (It also wasn’t too hard to imagine fights breaking out over whose bet was where around the circle when it came time to collect the winnings.

Sarah Townes was the star of the show while the Tenterfield Star was there, spinning three sets of double-heads to win her the pot. Not sure where the pot comes from, but Mr Munro offered to explain the rules if I had time to pull up a keg of beer to wet the conversation.

It all becomes a bit clearer after watching a few rounds…