Jan 28 2008
Sovereign Hill
Sovereign Hill
You never find me at home in the first week of December. I’m up in Ballarat. My grandparents used to take me, way back in the 1950s, for Nana had a particular tie to the town, her grandfather was there, at the barricades, in the bloody days of the Eureka Stockade. I still attend the annual remembrance of the only armed uprising in Australian history. White history, that is.
However, nowadays I spend most of my time at the recreated 1850s goldfields township of Sovereign Hill. That’s me in the photo, panning for gold. I haven’t found any yet. And neither did my great-great grandfather, more’s the pity.
My children loved Sovereign Hill when they were small and I still like to spend a day wandering around the streets, in and out of the working shops, hotels, the schools, theatre, workshops and the bakery (you get the best steak and kidney pie in Australia here). And I still love to pan for gold and see the little flecks of gold in the chilly water. Sadly, my flecks always turn out to be quartz.
There’s a candlemaker here, and a confectioner too. The costumed street entertainers are wonderful, whether they are trying to sell you shares in a plum pudding mine, demonstrating electricity or playing a wild Irish fiddle. You can watch a spectacular $50,000 gold pour, go underground on a fully-guided gold mine tour, take a ride on a Cobb & Co coach drawn by gigantic Clydesdales, and get yourself a Wanted for Armed Robbery poster with your ex-husband’s name on it.
How to get there
Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, is 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.
I’m a train traveler. On most journeys I am accompanied by small children, and I prefer the stress-free comfort of the Fast Train from Melbourne to Ballarat which takes me at 160 km/h in carpeted comfort. From Ballarat Station, I take the free “Goldrush Special” which meets the train, and delivers visitors directly to the front entrance of Sovereign Hill. This courtesy service coach also picks you up and returns you to the station in the afternoon. So you can go up just for the day, it’s cheap enough.
Blood on the Southern Cross
At night, Sovereign Hill presents a sound- and-light show, Blood on the Southern Cross, the dramatic story of the 1854 Eureka Uprising. It’s worth the journey just to see this spectacular production, it’s eerie, almost frightening, and always inspiring.
Real gold flows in the creek, if you find some you’re luckier than I have been, but you’ll love the way history comes alive at Sovereign Hill.
Like to shout me a cold beer?
