Goldfields Tourist Information
Goldfields Tourist Information
Welcome to the Goldfields
You'll love the Golden Piece of Victoria, beginning just one hours drive via the Western Highway from Melbourne. Steeped in history and legends, Victoria's Goldfields region retains the character and charm of the gold rush period.
You'll wonder at the extravagant expression of wealth. Those who prospered from their discovery of the precious metal or made fortunes providing the diggers with their everyday needs built monuments to celebrate their wealth. The Goldfields towns boomed with grandeur. Extravagant architecture and stately homes with showpiece gardens grace broad tree-lined avenues. For some, wealth came and went with blistered hands and their blood shed at the place where Australia's only civil battle took place, Ballarat. Nowhere else in our country can you stand and experience the emotion, the frustration and the pride of that event known world-wide as The Eureka Rebellion.
Today, you can walk in the footsteps of the heroes and villians who stampeded to the region when James Esmond discovered the first gold nugget at Clunes in 1851. Bounded by Ballarat, Bendigo, Stawell, St Arnaud and Ararat, the region caters for many tastes; the adventurer, the historian, the gourmet food and wine enthusiast and the lovers of art and culture.
You can experience Sovereign Hill at Ballarat, a living museum of an 1850's mining town which will set the mood for things to come as you tour the region. Visit Ballarat's newest attraction, The Great Southern Woolshed, and witness the rich heritage of the Australian wool industry. Take a drive to the wine producing region incorporating Avoca, the Grampians, Ararat, the Pyrenees, Moonambel and Red Bank.
Maryborough, heart of the Central Goldfields with links to Ballarat, Bendigo and the Pyrenees, is the perfect blend of history and scenery. It extends a warm welcome to travellers and offers many opportunities if fishing, bushwalking, cycling or alluvial gold prospecting appeal.
In no other place was the impact of gold discovery so dramatic as it was in Bendigo. The prosperity of the town during the Goldrush days is reflected today in this absorbing city where the grand architecture of the time has been faithfully preserved.
Immortalized in poem and song, Castlemaine needs little introduction. The Old Town Market, Botanic Gardens and Theatre Royal make it everything you hoped it would be.
There are many other twns and places you must visit. You'll love the quaint Bed and Breakfast's dotted throughout the region. The hotels, restaurants, theme parks, lakes, creeks, rivers, hills, forests and people blend beautifully to form the Golden Peace of Victoria. Come to the Goldfields - Living history awaits you.
