An idea hatched over a few glasses of home brew by an isolated old gold miner has ensured that all 1,000 gold medals awarded in Sydney carry some historic precious metal.

And after a six-year battle to help give away 10 kilos of gold, the bearded, pot-bellied Mr Noel Rawlinson of the Gunnadoo mine received a visit from Swiss triathlon winner Brigette McMahon and her medal.

"I can see where my medal came from. My medal has a history, it's not just a medal," Brigette told a beaming Noel, who was the brains and brawn behind the unlikely scheme to revive the fortunes of a forgotten goldfield called Ophir.

The dusty site, named after King Solomon's biblical mines and about four hours' drive west of Sydney, was where the first payable gold was found in Australia in 1851.

It went on to spark the gold rush which opened up the continent.

"It's a fantastic feeling, knowing that I've created my own little bit of history and some of my gold is in every one of those medals," he said over a jar of his ubiquitous brew in the corrugated iron shed - without doors or windows, but with a satellite TV - he lovingly calls home.

"You could say the saga of the Ophir goldfields is continuing . . . I don't care who wins 'em as long as they're good enough. I'd prefer the Aussies, but if the others are better, so be it!"

Noel's claim wasn't enough to produce all the gold, so the three local councils of Orange City, Cabonne and Blainey clubbed together to form Ophir Gold 2000 and convince the initially sceptical Sydney organising committee for the Olympics, SOCOG, they could provide it.

The International Olympic Committee regulates the composition of medals. The golds are traditionally fine silver-plated with six grams of 24-carat gold.

Usually the big mining companies, rather than mere communities, trip over each other to provide the prestigious plate, but fortunately Noel had an ally in the massive Cadia Hill open-cut gold mine on the other side of Orange City, which donated two kilos of its ingots.

"We went to see SOCOG, and I think they are quite taken by the fact this was something coming from a small community to the world community," said Cadia's general manager, Mr Garnet Halliday.

"It's fitting because the first gold was [found] at Ophir and when you win a gold medal, you are first. There's a lovely connection."

The three councils agreed to underwrite the cost of the gold after contributions from miners large and small and from locals through a series of fund-raising functions. But the volatile price of the precious metal means the final bill - in the region of £70,000 - is still unknown.

Back at the Gunnadoo mine, where Noel relies as much on the visitors as the small nuggets he sells for about £50 to make a modest living, it's hoped the mining community's generous gesture will constitute an investment in the central west's tourist future.

But with so many foreign journalists and TV crews beating a path to Noel's distinctly modest pile, isn't there a danger they might get the wrong idea of how rural Australians really live?

"My lifestyle down here is comparable to none. It might look rough and that, but in these foreign countries I'd be a millionaire compared to what some of these TV interviewers live in," he said proudly on a warm spring day with ample spring water and endless fresh air.

Noel is remaining cagey about just how much gold he gave away, citing security concerns and his fear that "bushrangers" or their descendants still stalk these backwoods.

Apart from the publicity, he "hasn't earned a zac", to use the miners' vernacular, from the years of hard work, meetings and visits to Sydney it took to bring his idea to fruition.

So it would have been nice if SOCOG had invited Noel to join the throng of Olympic freeloaders in at least one of the 300 medal ceremonies.

"Not likely. I never received anything," he said without a trace of bitterness. "But I've had the satisfaction of watching it on the TV. Anyway, I don't want to go anywhere near that traffic in Sydney. It's murder."