If You Go To Victoria You Have To Go To Ballarat

[mn90403]

Reg said I should go to Ballarat when I was there and I was very glad that I did.  If anyone else is in Victoria you should go too!

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/centenary-of-gold-discovery-monument 

[phrunt]

When I lived in Melbourne as a whippersnapper we went to Sovereign Hill, a tourist attraction in Ballarat, it's an old gold mining town beautifully restored and it felt like you were actually there, if I recall correctly we had our photo taken where they had us dress up in all these old timer clothes and the photo looked like we were in the early 1800's, my parents will still have it somewhere I'd guess.  They do all the touristy things you'd expect in an old gold mining town like gold panning.  Their marketing on the website is pretty funny, they show what I can only assume are Asian tourists finding a giant nugget in their pan 🙂

https://www.visitballarat.com.au/explore/sovereign-hill/

It's probably the best thing I can recall to do in Ballarat although I haven't been there in years now.

 

[geof_junk]

      There was or is a section were visitors can try panning Carol had a crowd of Asian watching how fast and the gold that she got. This was in the early 1980s. What I liked was nuggets that an old timer had on display for the public that he had found with a pick and shovel. Well worth the time to visit, when we went with the Kids the entre fee was reasonable too.

[mn90403]

There is a large section of Sovereign Hill that is the Chinese area.  Just as in the United States the Chinese miners were 2nd class where they were allowed to live (down stream) but they took advantage of it by being diligent and efficient.  I spent a considerable amount of time when I was there speaking with the guides in the Chinese section.  It is pretty well documented they lifestyle and treatment they received which was different than other parts of the camp.  The very high fees all miners had to pay in Australia created a bit of resentment that I bet still runs through the country today.  The fee collectors certainly didn't enforce it equally and caused much strife in the gold towns.

The gold towns of the US were mostly lawless in the early stages with many records of Chinese miners being thrown off their claims or worse.  I'm more sensitive to these issues now because my wife is Chinese as you know.

While I was there I did see the kids dressed up as Simon said.  They were being led through the streets to play as if they were in the 1800s.  It is well researched and a living history lesson.  I take it to be an example of one of many gold towns that dotted the landscape.

[Norvic]

Aye, Bendigo was the place I enjoyed more than Ballarat, more laidback and the Whipstick Forest was magic, sort of out in the wilds but glow from  the City just over yonder. Tis tops how the Victorian Govt. had catered for fossickers and campers back last century i don`t know about now.

[mn90403]

Welcome back to Australia after Feb 21!

 

 

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/australia-latest-covid-travel-rules-as-borders-reopen?utm_source=lpemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-2.9 

[phrunt]

States may have their individual say about that yet, WA is unlikely to play ball.

[madtuna]

If or when WA does open, many parts will most likely be declared bio security risk areas and be locked off still. This will rule out large areas of the gold fields.

As much as I’d love to see it open and see my kids and grand kids, it’s not worth the risk at this stage. Laverton Hospital has  one ventilator.