How a Country Town turned from Sheep to Gold
The population of Victoria exploded as its focus went from sheep to gold.
The two regional cities of Ballarat and Bendigo were built from the profits of gold, and have some of the widest avenues, beautiful boulevards and gracious buildings in Australia.
Traveling Victoria
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Kelly Country : Travel Victoria
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Up in the north east of Victoria is Kelly Country, where the bushranger, Ned Kelly, roamed and the Kelly legacy lives on. But there's more to Kelly Country than Australia's greatest folk tale - the northeast of Victoria is a favourite destination fo...
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Looking for Gold : Travel Victoria
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It's been worshipped, plundered, fought over and traded for thousands of years and the search for gold is as eager as ever. In the Victoria of 1851 gold was literally oozing from the ground in almost inexhaustible quantities. Wealth was everywhere,...
The Diggers in the Roaring Days
The gold rushes of the nineteenth century and the lives of those who worked the goldfields - the 'diggers' - are etched into our national folklore.
The gold rushes had a huge effect on the Australian economy and development as a nation. They also had a profound impact on the national psyche.
The camaraderie, the mateship, that developed between diggers on the goldfields is still integral to how we see ourselves as Australians today. The diggers' defiance and open disdain of authority during this time is still a dominant theme in any discussion of our history and national identity.
Indeed, mateship and defiance of authority have been central to the way our history has been told. But the idealisation of goldfield life excludes the greed, crime, self-interest and racism that were part and parcel of those times.
Henry Lawson links our history and mythology :
The night too quickly passes
And we are growing old,
So let us fill our glasses
And toast the Days of Gold;
When finds of wondrous treasure
Set all the South ablaze,
And you and I were faithful mates
All through the roaring days.
Henry Lawson,The Roaring Days, 1889
Ballarat
It has a quite distinctive provincial feel and yet it's just up the road from Melbourne, a drive of approximately 75 minutes along the excellent Western Freeway, a duel lane carriageway for almost all of the 110 kilometres.
It's a safe, secure drive although I prefer the Fast Train from Melbourne to Ballarat which takes me at 160 km/h in carpeted comfort. Completed in time for the rise in visitors during the Commonwealth Games in March of 2006, it's now a very popular commuter train.
I've been coming up on a pilgrimage to the Eureka Stockade since the 1950s and it's only the last few years that I've seen this city change immensely.
It's much closer to Melbourne with the freeway, you can easily commute, and a much more cosmopolitan atmosphere has appeared.
Cosmopolitan Comfort
The number and variety of restaurants has exploded and now offer a range which includes Thai, Greek, Italian and Fusion styles. The diners have moved outside.
Sitting out on the footpath sipping superb coffee and enjoying the Passagiata, you could almost be in Lygon Street on a quiet day.
Please note, don't expect to get traditional Chinese food anywhere in Ballarat. Strangely, despite the considerable influence of the Chinese, you can't get a decent Chinese meal anywhere. If you're like me, and used to the best of Cantonese and Schezuan cooking in Melbourne, order a pizza instead.
Ballarat Wildlife Park
Sunday is a popular day, at 3.00 pm the crocodile keeper feeds the 4.2metre saltwater crocodile and there are always extra shows during school holidays. There are more wild creatures in the Reptile House, frogs. lizards, snakes and turtles. I prefer the Koala Nursery. (You can have your photo taken with one of the resident koalas).
Eureka Stockade Centre
Eureka on Wikipedia
The rebellion by gold prospectors at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia on 3 December 1854 was prompted by grievances over heavily priced mining items, the expense of a Miner's Licence, taxation (via the licence) without representation and the actions of the government and its agents (the police and military). "The government was forced to abandon the license substitute it with a cheaper miner's right which also conferred on men the right to vote" The Victorians: Arriving; Richard Broome, 1984. P.92. Withers, WB History of Ballarat and some Ballarat Reminiscences, Facsimile Edition Published by Ballarat Heritage Services 1999, First Published 1870, Pp 63-64. While the events which sparked the rebellion were specific to the Ballarat gold fields, the underlying grievances had been the subject of public meetings, civil disobedience and deputations across the various Victorian gold fields for almost three years. The miners' demands included the right to vote and purchase...
Eureka Stockade Gardens
The Gardens, and the Eureka Centre, are an important pilgrimage destination for both national and international visitors retracing the steps of their forebears associated with Eureka and the Ballarat goldfields.
In an official acknowledgement of its historical significance the Eureka Stockade gardens precinct was added to the Australian National Heritage List on the 3rd December 2004 - 150 years after the Rebellion.
Bendigo
Just down the highway from Ballarat is Bendigo, (a 90 minute drive north west of Melbourne) and a charming, elegant regional city. An ideal base to explore Victoria's golden heritage.It is known as a "City within a Forest", being completely surrounded by National and Regional Parks. There are kilometres of interweaving walking and cycle paths through the Bendigo bush, many leading to lookouts with breathtaking views of the city and countryside.
In the centre of town, gold rush era architecture nestles among century-old gardens, sidewalk cafés, art galleries and antique stores.
There's a significant Chinese heritage here, as there is in Ballarat.
Photo : St. Mary's Cathedral, Bendigo, built with money from gold.
Bendigo Tram
Bendigo Tramways
The Bendigo Tram Depot is now the oldest operating depot in Australia, and each tram tour includes a stop at the heritage listed depot to explore history dating back to 1903.
Bendigo Dragon
Sam Clemens writes on Ballarat and Bendigo
BY SAMUEL L. CLEMENS
Read the whole section here on Gutenberg :
- Following the Equator
- The approaches to Ballarat were beautiful. The features, great green expanses of rolling pasture-land, bisected by eye contenting hedges of commingled new-gold and old-gold gorse--and a lovely lake.
Ninety-two in the shade again, but balmy and comfortable, fresh and bracing. A perfect climate.
Thanks for dropping by ...
Thanks very much for dropping by to read about the Victorian cities of Ballarat and Bendigo. You're more than welcome to leave a note in the guest book above and, if you're a member of Squidoo, you can also rate this lens :)It's all much appreciated, Susanna
For more pages like this, my lens collection is at Susanna's Lensography
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