Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields
(
www.ballarat.com/organs
;
mid-Jan)
A week of recitals and musical celebrations, held outdoors,
in grand cathedrals and churches, in mid-January.
MUSIC
Summer Sundays
MUSIC
Jan)
Free music on the foreshore of Lake Wendouree every Sunday
in January.
Begonia Festival
(
www.ballaratbegoniafestival.com
;
Mar)
This 100-year-old festival, held over the Labour Day
weekend in early March, includes sensational floral displays, a street parade, fireworks,
art shows and music.
STREET FESTIVAL
Ballarat Antique Fair
(
www.ballaratantiquefair.com.au
;
mid-Mar)
Three days in mid-March, with exhibitors and an-
tiques, buyers and sellers from all over Australia. There's a smaller version in October.
ANTIQUES
Royal South Street Eisteddfod
(
www.royalsouthstreet.com.au
;
Sep or Oct)
If you lived in Victoria and learnt music as a child,
you were probably dragged off to Australia's oldest eisteddfod.
MUSIC
VICTORIA'S GOLD RUSH
When gold was discovered in New South Wales in May 1851, a reward was offered to anyone who could find
gold within 300km of Melbourne, amid fears that Victoria would be left behind. They needn't have worried. By
June, a significant discovery was made at Clunes, 32km north of Ballarat, and prospectors flooded into central
Victoria.
Over the next few months, fresh gold finds were made almost weekly around Victoria. Then in September
1851 the greatest gold discovery ever known was made at Moliagul, followed by others at Ballarat, Bendigo, Mt
Alexander and many more places. By the end of 1851 hopeful miners were coming from England, Ireland,
Europe, China and the failing goldfields of California across the Pacific.
While the gold rush had its tragic side (including epidemics that swept through the camps), plus its share of
rogues (including bushrangers who attacked the gold shipments), it ushered in a fantastic era of growth and
prosperity for Victoria. Within 12 years, the population had increased from 77,000 to 540,000. Mining companies
invested heavily in the region, the development of roads and railways accelerated, and huge shanty towns were
replaced by Victoria's modern provincial cities, most notably Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine, which reached
the height of their splendour in the 1880s.
