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Join
the gold rush:
Move back a century and join the Gold Rush to Ballaret, invites
Ranjita Biswas
A horse-drawn buggy flashed by. Yonder was a board announcing
"Bath's Hotel Stables". On the somewhat muddy tract, men,
women and children in Victorian attires walked up and down
tending to their chores. A little up the road, a streetside
entertainment programme was on, while onlookers guffawed at
the earthy jokes, much like in a Dickensinian world. Where
was I? It was almost a schizophrenic experience. Just a few
minutes ago I was in a modern air-conditioned coach travelling
from Melbourne and enjoying the Australian countryside. Then,
how come I was in the midst of this "English" town, that too
a century old? Oh yes, in Ballaret what else could I expect?
For this old gold town is a place famous as a 'living museum,'
which doesn't just show its relics, but breathes and lives
it. Call it play-acting, call it touristic - some 550,000
people visit here every year, Ballaret is a unique 19th century
town in a 21st century Australia.
Gold was discovered Down Under in 1851. The principal fields
were in Bendigo and Ballarat in the Sovereign Hills, in the
Victoria State. Within five years it was a booming gold-town.
It was the destination for hordes of prospectors from all
corners of the world in search of their El Dorado. The sizeable
Chinese population in Melbourne today can be traced to the
forefathers who came in search of gold. In fact, the prosperity
of Melbourne, capital of the Victoria state, was closely linked
to the discovery of the gold mines in the Sovereign Hills.
Today, the place has exhausted all its gold reserves (the
die-hards still believe a nugget may pop up somewhere in a
nearby hill and so keep looking) but the Sovereign Hills Museums
Association has found a way to keep the legends of the gold
trail alive by preserving a piece of history.
To good effect too. Gold has always kept man captivated.
Remember Charlie Chaplin's "Gold Rush,'' and the Western "McKenna's
Gold,'' ? Or legends about the fabulous gold treasures of
the Incas that ultimately brought their destruction at the
hands of the invading Spaniards?
Even today, the lure of gold is very much evident if you go
to the Red Hill Gully Creek at Ballaret. People of all ages
line the narrow sliver of water panning for gold. The creek
is salted regularly with fine alluvial gold. So the lucky
ones may go back home with a bit of gold. If you want to see
liquid gold, literally, don't miss the live demonstration
of how gold is smelted, which is performed at regular intervals.
As I looked at the golden glow of gold molten in the intense
heat and then poured into a biscuit pan to solidify, it suddenly
was clear why the metal arouses such passion. It was pure
beauty, not avarice, that captivated the soul for a moment.
But the romance of gold (and all those glittering showrooms
in the cities) lost a bit of glitter when we took a tour of
an underground mine through a tunnel. This is how the miners
worked, bending, groping in dim lights, hour after hour, with
not enough air and rest. The 'lifts' that used to take down
the workers to the deep fields seemed nothing but traps. Understandably,
most of the miners died young. The families too suffered because
those days the labourers didn't have any insurance or compensation-cover.
They simply starved if the man died at work.
But as we emerged to light again, to look at a pretty lass
getting photographed in a lovely gown, watch a woman potter
churning out cups and saucers the way the 19th century folk
liked, or bought "The Ballaret Times'' (Saturday, October
21, 1854, priced 1s) printed in the same old style printing
machine, the tunnel faded in memory. Even the restaurants
serve the kind of confectioneries popular those days. Don't
miss a dainty cake or a tart at the Hope Bakery, even now
baked in a wood-fired Scotch oven. The Victoria Theatre down
the path used to attract Europe's finest artistes and even
today the hall is kept exactly as it was with regular performance
by locals.
Indeed the place is a living lesson from the pages of history.
And it was obvious from groups after groups of school children
chaperoned by the teachers that this was a sagacious way of
teaching history even to the most unenthusiastic child.
Still a little curious about gold? Hop across to the Gold
Museum on the other side. Audio-visual shows take you back
to the history of gold. The eyes dazzled at the intricately-
worked, priceless items on display, gold nuggets, coins, et
al.
Back to the coach again on way to Melbourne, it took some
time to adjust back to reality. Smiling I thought, what a
clever way of making you forget your PCs and cell-phones!
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FACTSHEET:
How to get there Australian Pacific Touring coaches leave
every morning for the day- tour from the Swanston Street,
Melbourne. Pick-up facilities from hotels are also available.
Entrance fee to the Sovereign Hills is covered in the ticket.
At the entrance of the Gold Museum the ticket of the tour
is checked. So retain it.
Shopping: Curios replicating everyday use articles of the
era, gold coins, etc.
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