We just loved Ballarat – what a majestic city. What stood out for us were the magnificent building dating back to the 1800s that are still in use, and the lovely homes all around the city. Sovereign Hill, the Gold Museum and the Eureka Centre all set out so well the extraordinary history of the city and the glory years of the 1850s. We will be back.
We were at Ballarat on 24, 25, 26 & 27 February 2019.
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting There
Colac > Ballarat ~ 101kms
History
First Nations people inhabited the land in the area which was to become known as Ballarat for thousands of years. This word is of native origin from “Balla” and “Arat” meaning ‘resting place’. It was a camp ground or meeting place where groups gathered.
Ballarat has a long and rich history, too much to cover here. For a summarised history of Ballarat, click here. This covers the pre-European period, the first European settlements in 1838, the discovery of gold in 1851, the establishment of Ballarat as a town in 1852, the Eureka rebellion in 1854 and subsequent mining reforms, the finding of the Welcome Nugget in 1858, and general life in Ballarat after gold mining.
It is estimated that the total amount of gold secured in the Ballarat district from 1851 till today is more than 21 million ounces, or 643 tons; worth at the 2013 price of gold the enormous sum of $28,557,690,000. Indeed, one of the worlds richest goldfields.
Today Ballarat is renowned for its cultural heritage and decorative arts, especially applied to the built environment. Combined with the gold rush, this has created a lovely urban landscape. In 2003 Ballarat was the first of two Australian cities to be registered as a member of the International League of Historical Cities, and in 2006 hosted the 10th World League of Historical Cities Congress
Day 1 – Sun 24 Feb – To and at Ballarat
It was a straightforward drive north to Ballarat on the C146, through Cressy. It was an ok road – a bit narrow, some rough edges and bouncy. So we just kept a steady pace. We could see Lake Corangamite in the distance as well at the hills of Red Rock Lookout. But is was mostly farmlands we drove through.
Coming against us was a car rally, including an old Holden.
At an intersection in the middle of nowhere, with only a handful of houses about, we came to an amazingly large church. Why was it there? Who is supporting it? A mystery. And another old building along the way.
We quickly found the van park, which is very good – the Ballarat Goldfields Holiday Park. A Big4 park. We have a large site and have no problem backing in. Surprisingly, we needed levellers on the concrete slab. The newer facilities are good and clean and the older block is OK. The park was mostly about half full. The cost was $44 a night even with our discount. The Park is quite close to town and we got both Optus and Telstra clearly. The only issue we had was with the entry gates. On the way in the box is so low it is very difficult to reach down and Kerry has to almost crawl out the window to get the key in. On the way out the boom opens as you drive up to it. But you have to have the vehicle almost touching it before the boom rises. Lucky we have the bull-bar and can see where the front of the car is.
After setting up we drove into town. Firstly we went to St Patricks Church where the shame of the molestation of boys by the clergy had seen a large protest the previous day. The iron fencing around the church was covered in ribbons as a mark of respect to the victims of these hideous and unpunished crimes.
Ballarat is a city of churches and there are so many magnificent structures in a small area. A couple are shown the following.
The town hall is a stunning and impressive building. It is actually the third Town Hall in Ballarat, constructed in 1870. The 1860 second Town Hall (Police Court) was incorporated in the new building. The building is dominated by the dome roofed clock tower. It is a local landmark of considerable architectural importance. The building is one of the earliest very substantial town halls in the State, and is one of the very few with a central clock tower. Ballarat Town Hall is believed to be one of a few in the world with a peal of bells. On the ground floor we found the tourist information office, and came away with lots of maps, brochures and ideas.
The legacy of the wealth generated during Ballarat’s gold boom is still visible in a large number of fine stone buildings in and around the city, especially in the Lydiard Street area. This precinct contains some of Victoria’s finest examples of Victorian era buildings, many of which are on the Victorian Heritage Register or classified by the National Trust. One of the suggestions from the tourist office was to do the Ballarat Historic Streetscape walk based on the famous Lydiard St. This really is impressive and we walked from end to the other.
The Craigs Royal Hotel (first photo below) really stands out. It was built in 1852 on the site of the first licensed pub, Baths Hotel, where the Royal Commission into the Eureka Stockage was held. Craigs became a Ballarat icon since Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh stayed there in 1867 and Dame Nellie Melba sang from its balcony in 1908. It has recently been restored to its former glory.
Below are just a few of the magnificent buildings we snapped. It is great to see all the buildings being used or renovated. Others can be see here.
The street-scape is amazing. Lovely wide streets with the main street (Sturt Street) having a wide tree-shaded park right up the middle.
Day 2 – Mon 25 Feb – Sovereign Hill
Today, we had to set up a few repairs to Mobi and my computer. The water tanks in Mobi fill up all the time and overflow, even though we have the input taps turned off. So we have just been using the tanks with the mains supply turned off (which means the pump goes off all the time), or we turn the mains tap down very low. I put this issue up on Caravaners Forum and the overwhelming response was that the non-return valve in the water pump was broken and water was getting into the tanks via that. The recommendation was to not touch the pump but to insert another valve in the line. So we found a caravan place who somewhat reluctantly said they would do this first thing on Thursday when we are leaving town. They are very busy and taking bookings a month ahead, but they will squeeze us in as we are travelling.
The computer has got a few viruses – apparently Macs are no longer virtually virus free. The worst I have is “weknow.vc” which takes over Safari and goes to a lot of strange commercial sites. I rang up a local computer company and they said to drop it down and they would clear all viruses (and didn’t they find some!). I also got them to put on a full blown virus protection system.
Then we went to Sovereign Hill – a very short drive from the van park – we could have walked via a back gate. We got there early so as to try to avoid the mass of tourists that quickly invades this place on a daily basis. Entry was a total of $91.20 with the Big4 discount of 10%, which included the Gold Museum, and was for 2 consecutive days. And we got a small additional discount for seniors.
In 1970 Sovereign Hill was opened as an open-air museum to the gold fields era. Sovereign Hill depicts Ballarat’s first ten years after the discovery of gold. The complex is on a 25-hectare site that is linked to what was the richest alluvial gold rush in the world. The site comprises over 60 historically recreated buildings, with costumed staff and volunteers, who are able to answer questions and will pose for photos. The recreation is completed with antiques, artwork, books and papers, machinery, livestock and animals, carriages, and devices all appropriate to the era. It has become a nationally acclaimed tourist place and is one of Victoria’s most popular attractions.
Firstly, we looked at some of the tent accomodation. A couple of the actors told us all about life in a tent, which also explained to us how come there were so many hotels in town. It was a terrible life especially for the women. Many turned to other things to bring in some money until the gold was found, if ever. Most supplied food and drink to the miners. Some of it was sly-grog “home delivered” wrapped in a bunny-rug as if the woman was carrying a baby.
The gold commissioners tents did not look very secure, but I guess there was nowhere to hide.
We walked along Main Street where all the replica shops and hotels are. It is brilliantly done and so many of the shops were selling stuff from the era. In fact most of these places had something to sell.
The stagecoach is a favourite attraction. We aimed to have a ride but in the end forgot to go back.
We went on the gold mine tour (an extra $7.50pp) and being the early bird we were the only 2 starters so had a very personalised tour. It was very good and the mine section we get to look at was once part of a couple of productive mines. We descended in a tram to about 20m deep (70ft) in total darkness. This was the same type of “tram” that the Scenic Railway used in the Blue Mountains till a few years ago.
Our guide explained that this exhibit represented phase 3 of gold mining at Ballarat. The first phase was alluvial mining from rivers and other alluvial deposits – such as we had seen last year at Bingara in NSW. The second phase evolved to get at the gold stored in the quartz deposits underground, by individuals or joint owners of the mines. The third phase was the underground mining to great depths by mining companies who provided capital and equipment, especially with the advent of steam power. The miners were then working for a wage. Unless they were owner/miners then they got to keep all the profits too.
We walked through the mine to get some idea of the conditions the miners worked in. The tunnel would have been only about 1.5m high and less than a meter wide – maybe 600mm. But when they found a lode then they simple took all of that out for gold extraction above ground. It was mostly pick and shovel with blasting when required.
The thought of being down there for 12 house was pretty appalling. The lunch break areas looked pretty grim.
Finally we got taken out on another tram. At the top we saw the next tour was pretty packed with lots of kids – so glad we got there early.
Next for us was the gold pouring, showing us how a pot of base gold is turned into 24 carat gold or bullion. The original gold contains other metals like silver and copper. The actual practice only takes seconds but the presenter does a great job in stretching this to an entertaining 20 min presentation.
The gold is heated to over 1,000 C which dilutes the gold and all the other metals. As gold is the heaviest it stays at the bottom of the pot, and the lighter metals that needs to be removed float to the top and stick to the flux in the top of the pot. This forms a crust floating on the gold. As the gold is poured into the mould for the gold bar, the crust floats to the back and the pure gold pours out under the crust. It all happened in a flash!
We had lunch at the cafe – the main restaurants all seemed to have large meals that are far too big for lunch. We then went down to the gold panning area, which was mobbed by kids behaving badly. They were just shovelling the stream bed into the sieve, which we knew could not contain any gold. There were no options to purchase a bucket of dirt and give that a go. Disappointing after our great hands on experience in Bingara NSW last year (click here).
We got to the Red Hill Mine tour just as a group were going down, so we tacked on being them. No photos were allowed but the self guided tour was free. I think it was 53 steps down – no tram for this mine. We followed a corridor around the exhibits, which were pretty good. We then came to the main exhibit which used a hologram to show the discoverry of the Welcome nugget. It was well done. Then we climbed up the 53 steps. We walked around a bit more until we found ourselves next to the exit. We took that.
We drove back into town and walked around a bit – we so love looking at these old buildings and homes. A few of the homes follow, but more can be seen here. We made our regular trip to Woollies and also picked up my computer. With anti-virus software duly installed. I spoke to a lady doing the garden in the first photo below and remarked on the beautiful house and did she live there. She was the proudest owner. I’m so jealous.
Day 3 – Tue 26 Feb – a quiet day
Woke to a rapidly warming day. However, Kerry was not up for much so we had a very quiet day. I walked down to the Gold Museum. This is Ballarat’s regional social history museum and part of the Sovereign Hill ticket. Opened in 1978, it provides a diverse range of collections from mining and military history, through to costume and photography. It also shows the beauty and power of gold through an impressive and valuable collection of gold nuggets, alluvial deposits, priceless gold artefacts and gold coins.
The museum acknowledges the Watha Warring people who are connected to the land in this area created for them by Bunjil, the Great Sprit, the Giver of Life and Customs.
Then there was a fascinating panel on the power of gold and a painting showing how the goldfields looked back then.
The following panels summarise the key aspects of the displays.
There was also a summary of the Eureka rebellion – we are going to look at the Eureka Centre tomorrow. There were only a small display of costumes.
Day 4 – Wed 27 Feb – around Ballarat
Another warm day was clearly on the way as we awoke. Today we are going to the Eureka Centre and then to the Botanical Gardens. But first, as we are due to drop off Mobi for repairs tomorrow morning, I wanted to have a look at the repair workshop to see what challenges we might face with getting Mobi in – would there be any major issues. The workshop is on the main road and as I arrive I can see 6 to 7 rigs parked outside waiting for attention. I drove around to the rear and could see that there was plenty of room, although not a lot of turning space. I walked through to the office/shop and talked to the receptionist. No worries, she says, just drive in and drop the van off and they can then move it around. We will see.
The Eureka Centre is close to the van park so we are there a tad after 10, opening time. The Centre is located on the historic site of the Eureka Rebellion. The current exhibits link the Eureka stand with democracy, but we were told that the Council has decided to remove this aspect and just concentrate on the Eureka event, which is a pity. The following photos of the panels summaries some to the key points. I got talking to the receptionist and remarked on how good some of the videoed speeches by Keating, (Redfern Address), Edna Lyons (1st Female Politician), and a few more about democracy etc. But she said the local council had decided to not to do “democracy” any more and concentrate just on the Eureka rebellion. Such a shame as that was probably the first push for democracy in Australia so the rest was relevant too. Sometimes, I suspect, Councils forget they are democratically elected also.
The centrepiece is the viewing area for the Eureka flag, which had been verified as genuine. We were surprised at how big the flag is and at how much of it is missing. Apparently it was the customary to send bits of the flag to important people. The policeman who hauled down the flag from the stockade kept it for years, but took cuttings to send to people.
Peter Lalor escaped and remained in hiding until amnesty was declared. None of the rebels accused of treason was convicted. The Eureka Stockade rising accelerated the enactment of reforms, which followed in 1855.
We went to the botanical gardens after the Eureka Centre. But as we got there we saw that a major rowing regatta was underway and got caught up in some heavy traffic. We drove along Gillies St looking for the entrance – but there is no entrance from that street. The entrance is on the street that goes right around Lake Wendouree Pde, on the north side. You don’t drive through these gardens, you walk.
Before walking through the gardens we had lunch at Pipers on the lakeside. Nice place, but the meals were too much food for lunch. The scones, jam and cream were delicious.
We also enjoyed the collection of bronze busts of all Australian Prime Ministers – named funnily enough as the Prime Ministers Avenue, set within Horse Chestnut Avenue. One of the founding fathers of Federation was Alfred Deakin who was the first Federal Member for Ballarat and the second Prime Minister. The most recent is Julia Gillard, and is not very flattering. And she has to stare across the avenue at one Kevin Rudd. Unfortunately, Abbott was there too which spoilt it all a bit for me, even in bronze, looking smarmy.
It was lovely to walk through the gardens, especially the Stoddart Statue collection. This consists of 12 white marble figures from Italy donated by Thomas Stoddart in 1884. The 12 statues were figures from classical mythology. They were badly damaged by vandals in 2002 and were placed in the statuary pavilion after repair. The statues were returned to their original 1884 pedestals in 2010.
The dominant flower at that time were the dahlias – some brilliant colours.
We drove back into town as Kerry wanted to look in the Rockabilly Shop in Lydiard St. We got a parking spot and fed the meter, only to walk across the road and see a notice in the shop window: “Sorry, closed today”. Back to Mobi.
Day 5 – Thur 28 Feb – leaving Ballarat
We were up early as we had to pack up and then get Mobi to the caravan repair place. We need to get a non-return valve inserted between the water tanks and the pump, and we cannot get the radio to work. We got there by 8:15 pleased to see the place open. We drove in to a large area at the rear of the property and unhitched. A fellow came out on a mini tractor with a DO35 hitch on the front, hooked it under Mobi and backed it into position. So manoeuvrable.
We went back out to Lake Wendouree to pass the time away, and drove through lovely housing areas and walked around for a bit. Then we went back into town to walk around some more. But very soon we got a call that the water problem was fixed but they could not get the radio to work. We hurried back to get hitched and leave Ballarat.
To see photos from this blog, click here
To see photos of the civic buildings of Ballarat, click here
To see photos of a few of the lovely homes of Ballarat, click here