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Published: January 22nd 2011
Sunday 16th January – it was a dry and sunny morning and we had decided to go to Sovereign Hill, the main tourist attraction in Ballarat, to check it out and see how busy it was. Even though we were quite early there were already a lot of cars there. After getting some information from one of the young ladies on duty we bought tickets for the ‘Blood on the Southern Cross’ show for the following night as we thought it might be a quieter night than at the weekend. We then decided we may as well go in to the Sovereign Hill attraction as we were here and joined the queues to enter. Movement was swift so we were soon inside and once through the entry gates it was like stepping into another world of tents, crude shacks, dust, hardship and heartache. As the open-air exhibition was so huge the crowds soon dispersed and we were able to pick our route through the many displays at our leisure.
Sovereign Hill’s fame is based on the discovery of gold in 1851. Many thousands of young men from all over the world had left their homes in the hope of finding
a fortune but most were disappointed. We were able to peep into the tents and huts to get a sense of what living conditions must have been like. In some of the tents continuous commentaries helped us understand the problems faced by the miners - life was tough and life expectancy poor – late forties was the average age that most miners died. To make matters worse the miners had to purchase licences in advance from the Victorian Government. Some were successful but most never made any return on their license payments. The cost of the licence was doubled in 1854 and the police set about hunting down people who didn’t have them. In addition, the large community of Chinese miners was made to pay a separate immigrants tax. All this led to much unrest which culminated in the event which became known as ‘The Eureka Uprising’. We were to learn more about that on our Monday night adventure.
Mining methods ranged from the simple “panning” system through crudely constructed wooden “sifting” contraptions to actual underground excavations. I was able to try my hand at panning but I clearly didn’t have the right method as I came away empty-handed.
At the Red Hill mine we were invited to walk down through the many tunnels several meters underground to experience how some miners worked. It was really well done with on-going commentaries and clever imagery explaining the hazards of mining. The young chap who looked after us was very affable and chatted for some time. His parents had emigrated from Nottingham in the UK when he was very young.
We wandered on through the many tradesmen’s buildings to the top of the town where the fire station, undertakers and candle makers were – the undertaker was describing his life to anyone who would listen and next door a couple of young ladies were busy making candles – all fascinating stuff! All the participants including many casual “passers by” were dressed in the costumes of the time so everything was made to appear as realistic as possible. We had a bit of lunch in a suitably old-fashioned restaurant and emerged just in time to see the platoon of red-coat soldiers marching down the hill. They disappeared from view for a few minutes before re-emerging at the bottom of the town and made their way up through the main street. They
passed by us and stopped a few yards away to perform a brief drill before firing warning shots from their rifles. We had noticed the stage-coach taking people around the streets and I desperately wanted to have a ride but thought I had missed my place in the queue. But the friendly chap in charge remembered that I had been waiting since just before the soldiers re-appeared and, with a polite request from Graham, I had the opportunity to sit on the top next to the driver. It was relatively easy to climb up but I wasn’t sure how I would get down again! Although it only took five minutes to tour round the settlement it was a great experience – I must have looked a funny sight as I struggled to get down again but it was worth it!
After that we wandered along one of the side streets to take a look into some old cottages and then the school where there was an opportunity to try some copper plate handwriting. I was ushered in and told to take a seat and when the teacher found out I was left handed she looked gleeful and said I
would have to use my right hand to write. That brought back terrible memories of when I first started school – I couldn’t do it then just as I can’t do it now! Worse was to follow when she gave me an old-fashioned pen that you dipped into ink. Because I write sort of ‘upside down’ I always used to smudge my work when I used a fountain pen and it was no different now. The teacher thought I should stay behind to practise but I had other ideas and escaped as soon as I could!
We continued our stroll taking in other interesting cottages, workshops and shops, finishing at the ice-cream parlor. We felt exhausted by this time or we might have gone round again but we still had more to see – we also had a ticket to visit the Gold Museum which was a two minute walk away. That was another amazing place but we were probably too tired to do it justice and take it all in. We had thoroughly enjoyed our day at Sovereign Hill and, even though a little pricey, would go again if the opportunity arose.
We finished the day by
taking a picnic to Lake Wendouree and happened upon a large group of people gathered to listen to a jazz group who were getting ready to perform. It was organized under the banner of “Arts in the Park”. We were soon sat amongst the crowd enjoying the music – the group was very good but we never managed to find out who they were. What a great end to a wonderful day!
When we woke on Monday morning we were greeted by totally different weather – it was cold and grey with a hint of drizzle in the air. We popped into the city to the information centre – another great place. They had a map on the wall that clearly showed the roads that had been closed because of flooding and also an up-to-date printout. They were very helpful and suggested an alternative route to Hamilton (our original next destination of Horsham was almost cut off with flood water). Then we nipped over the road to the city’s Fine Art Gallery where entry was free. It was very extensive over two floors and full of wonderful works of art, old and modern. Although I always enjoy wandering around
galleries the main reason for our visit today was to see the original ‘Eureka Flag’ but we were to be disappointed! It had been sent to Adelaide for restoration work and the flag now before us was an excellent replica. However, in the same room was a huge, very detailed and impressive painting of the Eureka Stockade uprising by George Browning.
The main event of the day wasn’t until 9.15 but at 8.15 we were ready to go having dressed in long trousers, pullovers, fleeces and anoraks! We were going back to Sovereign Hill to see the famous sound and light spectacular. It only took a few minutes to get there but we weren’t the first as there were already plenty of other cars there. We were able to go in straightaway and wander through lots of interesting displays. We bagged some good seats in the auditorium and by the time the show started we were surprised to see it was a full house. The time soon went by as the young lad next to me chatted away. His name was Ben and he was from St Albans in Melbourne. The show started with a film depicting the origins
of the original gold strike and detailed the build-up of tensions between the miners and the Government who saw an opportunity to raise money by taking a financial levy in the form of a licence from all miners working in the gold-field, whether they had found gold or not. We then went outside so that, with running commentary, we were able to visualise how tensions mounted. The government employed soldiers and police to enforce the tax and then added insult to injury by suddenly doubling the licence fee. The miners became rebellious and formed a committee to debate matters with the government. But things got out-of-hand and the miners demonstrated by publicly burning their licences. They built a stockade to provide some security and designed a flag of resistance – The Southern Cross. We then boarded some electric coaches which took us on a journey of about 5 minutes, still within the Sovereign Hill compound, to another location where there was another brilliant re-construction of Sovereign Hill but this one included The Eureka Stockade – the area where the miners thought they would be safe. Other events were portrayed which heightened the tensions still further resulting in a full-scale attack
on the stockade by soldiers and police. The miners were hopelessly out-numbered and the confrontation soon came to a conclusive and bloody end with many miners and a few soldiers dead. We were then transported back to the centre of the first Sovereign Hill where, from the balcony of the United States Hotel, the miner’s leader, Peter Lalor (an Irishman), who survived the onslaught but not without injury, gave a finishing speech seemingly justifying the miner’s stance. It is generally accepted that the events of The Eureka Stockade led to the establishment of true democracy in Victoria at the expense of government rule by force. Whatever the political significance, it had been a truly entertaining and brilliantly well done show and was well worth the fee. Because of the numerous changes of location I didn’t see my ‘friend’ Ben again – I wonder what he thought of it all!
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