Beautiful Gardens and Moving Memorials

We stayed at all three free or donation camps near Ballarat, and this third camp at Haddon, is where we met up with fellow caravaners, Caron and Pete. We first met Caron and Pete in Maclean, NSW over a year ago, and we have kept in touch. It was great to catch up with them again, and as we are both planning on the same places at roughly the same times later in the year, we are sure to catch up again.

Ballarat has two festivals this time of year: Begonia Festival, and White Night. White Night is like Sydney's Vivid, and it covers the historic city centre area. We thought about going as we were here on the night, but the cold and the crowds put us off. We did go to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens.

The first week we were in Ballarat was just before the Ballarat Begonia Festival and most of the gardens were closed to set up, so we came back a week later. So glad we did. The gardens were beautiful. The Ballarat Begonia Festival is held every March and is free. The Festival has food stalls, live entertainment, talks, markets, and heaps of activities for kids. A bonus during the festival is free park and ride, and free vintage tram rides. We were fortunate that the main begonia display was still there. We have never seen so many huge begonias.

With the discovery of gold in 1851, the area grew rapidly. In 1856 a committee was formed to create a botanical garden, and in 1858 the old police horse paddock was converted the gardens. The 40 hectacre site was divided into three sections:- the central planted section; and a clear open area each end. There was once a zoo also located there. The gardens have lovely statues – Ballarat is known as the city of statues – all with a story. One of the statues is of William Wallace depicted standing on Abbey Craig in Stirling in 1297. It was meant as a tribute to James Russell Thomson and his Scottish heritage, and at the time of its creation in 1889, it was believed to be the biggest statue in the Southern Hemisphere.

There is a display of 12 white marble statues that came from Italy in 1884 and were gifted by Thomas Stoddart. It was his gift that inspired many others to follow making Ballarat a city of statues. Also of interest is the Avenue of Prime Ministers. Some were very recognisable and others not so. One needs to get the free brochure available at the gardens to get more detail of each Prime Minister.

The most moving part of the gardens was The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial. Located just inside the gates at the southern end, the memorial was officially opened in 2004 and contains all known names of Australian POW's from the Boer War - 193; WW1 – 4,220; WW2 – approx. 31,600; Korean War – 31; Military Nurses – 61; and Merchant Navy – 245. It was a very moving place and so beautifully done. All is made of stone and water (sadly most of the water has been turned off – drought). There is a log pathway with stone on one side and native plants on the other. The stones list the names of the POW's. The pathway is made to look like railway sleepers and in the centre of the stone names is a large row of stone obelisks to act as sentinels overlooking the POW's forever. Each sentinel has the names of countries where the POW's were held. There is a fallen sentential to symbolise those that have fallen as POW's. A very visual and moving memorial.

The Arch of Victory and Avenue of Honour are located not far from the Botanical Gardens. The Avenue is 22 kilometres long and is the longest commemorative avenue in Australia. It is located on the road to Burrembeet. The idea for the avenue came about in 1916 to honour those who enlisted in Ballarat to serve in WW1. Fund-raising and donations lead to 3771 trees being planted by 1919 – one for each local soldier, sailor, airman and nurse who served in WW1. Over the years other memorials have been added to the avenue as well as more trees. Bronze plaques have also been added with the names of servicemen. The Arch of Victory was officially opened by the Prince of Wales on 3 June 1920. It took only three months to build the grand entrance to the Avenue of Honour. It stands 17.4 metres high, and 19.5 metres wide.

More details can be found at: www.honouringouranzacs.com.au

The Garden of the Grieving Mother is located to the left of the Arch of Victory. It is a new garden, officially opened in 2017 by Governor General Peter Cosgrove. It commemorates the mothers and families of those who lost loved ones in the war. Of the 3,801 servicemen and women honoured in the Avenue of Honour, 742 soldiers and 2 nurses gave their lives. Those that did return often suffered from physical and psychological wounds that also impacted on the families. The statue was created by sculptor Peter Corlett. The garden is still being improved and is a fitting memorial garden.

Other things to see in and around Ballarat include MADE – Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, is the home of the original Eureka Flag and is located on the site of the famous stockade. Cost is $12.

Did you know at the age of 60 years, Mark Twain visited Australia, including Ballarat in 1895.

The weather turned windy a few nights, but the days were lovely. We went to the Smythesdale historic area markets, and then had a look at a few other historic features of the area: Scarsdale, Historic Bridge, and Jericho Historic Gold Mine.

Ballarat and the Victorian Gold Rush

As we were staying a few nights at Smythesdale we drove into Ballarat to have a look around. Gold was first discovered in Australia in 1823 near Bathurst, New South Wales. The first 'official' gold claim in the Victorian Goldfields was made in 1850 near Clunes by James Esmond. We did visit Clunes, so will talk more about that in future posts. It was the discovery of gold in Ballarat in 1851 resulted in the rushes to the gold fields and the richest alluvial goldfield in the world. Late 1851 saw a discovery at Castlemaine, and 1852 finds in Bendigo. 1853 there were discoveries at Daylesford, Creswick, Maryborough and Maldon. Late 1850's saw strikes at St Arnaud, Ararat, Stawell, Rutherglen, and Chiltern. Early 1860's saw discoveries at Beechworth, Jamieson, and Walhalla. Along with these discoveries came an influx of migrants, particularly Chinese, to work in the gold fields. Many miners resented the Chinese presence, however the Chinese contributed a lot to the gold rushes in Australia. It was often the Chinese who provided food for the miners with their market gardens. For a number of years the Victorian gold fields output was only second to that of the Californian fields. As alluvial gold dwindled, mining for gold expanded. We won't be visiting all these towns this trip, but will be coming back again another time to explore some more.

Ballarat saw many miners joining forces, as the Chinese had already done, to form syndicates. This proved particularly beneficial after alluvial gold was dwindling and mining was becoming more common. However, it also led to conflicts that resulted in the Eureka Stockade Rebellion in 1854, and mining rights. I must admit I know little about the Eureka Stockade. It is my understanding that the government of the day imposed a tax on all diggers and miners of a licence fee of 30 shillings a month to 12 pounds a year, with severe penalties for not having a licence. Many of the miners could not afford this, so the grievances grew and riots took place at Beechworth and Castlemaine. Ballarat, with its large mining population was usually peaceful, that was until October 1854 when a Scottish miner named James Scobie was killed at the Eureka Hotel, and the publican Bently was accused of the murder. This is where my uncle's family came into play, although I am still in the early stages of researching. Adam Loftus Lynn was the first solicitor in Ballarat, and he was the solicitor for the Scobie family in the first court case – a lead up to the Eureka Stockade. Lynn's Chambers was originally built in 1870, as a one story dwelling and office and some time after Adam Loftus Lynn died in 1878, a second story was added.

See https://www.realcommercial.com.au/news/ballarat-office-comes-with-unique-gold-rush-history
for more information and photos.

Bentley was discharged and the miners felt that Bentley had paid off officials, so a meeting was called and a demand for a new prosecution was made. The meeting was orderly and towards the end of the meeting police tried to disperse the miners. The miners became angry and pushed back at the police. As a result there was much property damage and three men were arrested as ringleaders and they were imprisoned for three, four and six months. Of course the miners were not happy and events escalated leading to the rebellion and the formation of the iconic blue and white Eureka Flag. There are so many twists and turns in this rebellion that I still don't fully understand it. More reading I guess. Evidence of the gold rush in Ballarat can be seen in the beautiful and varied architecture along the main streets. I was surprised that there was very little – if any – mention of the Chinese in the goldfields. We didn't go to Sovereign Hill recreation village (at a cost of $55 each it was way out of our budget for the three of us), there may have been mention there of the Chinese. So we did the next best thing. After having a lovely lunch at Lake Wendouree, we went to the old Ballarat Cemetery to search for something Chinese, and of course the burial site of Adam Loftus Lynn.

There is so much to see in Ballarat that one would need weeks, if not months to see it all. The information centre had some pamphlets with only brief information, however information plaques and boards are available at most historic buildings. I suggest online research to find out more. The information centre is located in the historic town hall, and well worth visit just to see the building. This building is the third town hall on the site and was opened in 1872. There is limited parking for caravans in the town, so I suggest one of the three donation camp sites close by, or one of the many caravan parks.