Bendigo - Victoria
- Castlemaine Diggings
National Heritage Park - Macedon Ranges - Mount Alexander - alluvial gold-mining
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Victorian Government -
The Bendigo Corridor
contains some of Victoria’s finest historic heritage places. Built heritage,
gardens, archaeological sites, towns and rural and industrial landscapes
contribute to the distinctive character of the Macedon Ranges, Mount Alexander
Shire and Greater Bendigo. Historic transport routes, infrastructure and water
systems are tangible evidence of the shared histories of the communities in the
Corridor.
At the heart of the region is the outstanding Castlemaine Diggings
National Heritage Park recognised by the Victorian Government as a site of
potential for nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
There are over 250
heritage places within the Bendigo Corridor that have been included on the
Victorian Heritage Register; a further 1400 archaeological sites have been added
to the Victorian Heritage Inventory and another 1750 places are recognised for
their local heritage significance in the heritage overlays of the Macedon
Ranges, Mount Alexander and Greater Bendigo planning schemes.
Many of the
heritage values of these places are associated with the gold rushes of the 1850s
and 1860s and their aftermath. However there are heritage places in the region
which still bear testimony to the initial European exploration and the colonial
pastoral activities of the 1830s and 1840s. Plaistow Homestead, Newstead and
Stratford Lodge, Metcalfe are surviving homesteads of pastoral runs taken up in
the 1840s. During the 1840s pastoralists and woodcutters heading north to the
Macedon Ranges followed the Mount Macedon Track.
In 1851 this became the route
to the Mt Alexander (Castlemaine) diggings, renamed Mt Alexander Road in 1854.
Towns such as Kyneton and Woodend were established to provide for diggers along
the track. The present day Malmsbury Mechanics Institute is the site of one of
ten Caroline Chisholm shelter sheds erected in 1855 to provide cheap
accommodation for families travelling to the gold fields. The track is now the
Calder Highway, one of Victoria’s most significant historic routes.
The
Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park is the rich alluvial gold-mining
landscape of the Mt Alexander goldfields, the catalyst for the Victorian gold
rush of the early 1850s and by mid-1852 was renowned as an internationally
significant goldfield.
In 1854 Mt Alexander became the first Victorian goldfield
on which Chinese miners converged in large numbers. The Park has an abundance of
mining relics that form subtle landscapes comprising shallow alluvial diggings,
burial grounds, huts and fireplaces, puddling machines, sluices and tail races,
early quartz mining and battery sites. I
n recognition of the international
significance of the Park’s heritage values, the Victorian Government is
supporting nomination of the Park for inscription on the World Heritage List.
The city of Bendigo, or ‘Sandhurst’ as it was known in the 1850s, and
surrounding landscape is rich with heritage places and features that reflect its
being Victoria’s premier quartz gold mining centre.
The symbolic heart of the
Bendigo goldfield is the historic site of the Victoria Hill Quartz Gold Mines.
The site contains relics which span nearly sixty years of mining
(1854-1913) and document the richest and most significant years of Bendigo's
world-famous quartz mining industry. Bendigo’s substantial and at times
flamboyant 19th century architecture such as the Shamrock Hotel and the Beehive
Buildings; the grand streetscapes of Pall Mall and the Rosalind Park precinct
are a tangible expression of the wealth and civic pride that gold brought to the
region.
Less obvious but none the less significant are places associated with
the Chinese miners, the Bendigo Chinese Masonic Temple and the Chinese Kiln and
Market Garden archaeological site. Together with the many cemeteries of the
goldfields such as the Pennyweight Flat Cemetery and Vaughan Chinese Cemetery
these places are important reminders of the cultural diversity of in the region
past and present.
Many towns in the region also reflect their 19th century
wealth and civic pride in public buildings, such as the Eaglehawk Town Hall and
Mechanics Institute; in churches such as the Uniting Church, Long Gully; in
commercial buildings like the former Bank of New South Wales, Castlemaine and in
outstanding botanical gardens such as those of Kyneton and Malmsbury. These
heritage places make a significant contribution to the historic townscapes as do
the many small vernacular buildings such as Tute’s Cottage, Castlemaine a rare
stone cottage on land obtained under a Miners Right.
Many towns in the Bendigo
Corridor such as Maldon, Chewton, Eaglehawk and Malmsbury have intact 19th
century streetscapes that warrant careful management to retain their heritage
values.
The Bendigo Corridor also contains significant engineering heritage. The
economic importance of the goldfields was confirmed by the construction of the
Melbourne-Echuca rail line (1859-1864), one of the Colony’s first two main trunk
lines which reached Bendigo in 1862. Along this historic line are grand railway
stations such as Malmsbury and infrastructure including the viaduct at Harcourt
forming a fine collection of Victoria’s railway heritage.
The historic Coliban
Water Supply System was constructed between 1866 and 1877 to bring water to
Bendigo from the upper Coliban River via Castlemaine. This vast, gravity
operated channel system is one of the earliest water supply systems in Victoria
and contains a large collection of intact features and structures.
At Mount
Macedon to the south of the goldfields the wealth gold brought to Victoria is
expressed in stately homes and gardens such as Alton and Bolobek and guest
houses such as Braemar House. These places provided retreat for Melbourne’s
wealthy from the heat and pollution of the city in summer, beginning a long
association of the Macedon area with outdoor recreation. This association is
epitomised by the iconic landscape of Hanging Rock, immortalised by Joan
Lindsay’s 1967 novel Picnic and Hanging Rock and the 1975 film of the same name
directed by Peter Weir.
The rich diversity of these heritage resources has
created the unique cultural landscapes of the Bendigo Corridor. These landscapes
continue to evolve with the social and economic life of the region. Recognising
the heritage values of these urban, town and rural landscapes enables this rich
heritage to be managed appropriately now and into the future.
Reference
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