- Address: Bradshaw St, Ballarat VIC 3350, Australia;
- Website: sovereignhill.com.au
- Phone: +61 3 5337 1199;
- Open: from 10 to 17 hours;
- Cost: 54 dollars
In the middle of the XIX century, Australia became the new Eldorado for fans of quick profit. In 1851, near the town of Ballarat in the state of Victoria, gold was found, after which thousands of gold diggers rushed here. The provincial small town quickly turned into the largest city in this region. The open-air museum of Sovereign Hill, opened in the suburb of Ballarat Golden Point in 1970, is designed to acquaint tourists with the way of life and the peculiarities of the life of gold miners who came here from 1851 to 1860 and turned the settlement into a real local Klondike with its luxury and isolation from others cities. The main street of the town is Main Street - an exact copy of the same street in Ballarat, destroyed by fire in the 1860s.
What is Sovereign Hill?
The museum complex covers an area of 50 hectares. This is a real mini-city in a city with a population of about 300 people, consisting of 60 historical buildings, erected in the 1850s and carefully restored. They are located: shops, smithy. a cinema, a library, a pharmacy, hotels, pekran, workshops, theater, banks, a printing house and a goldsmith's workshop.
The heart of the museum is a gold mine near a stream where visitors have the opportunity to try gold themselves. In 1958, they found the nugget "Long-awaited", which is the second largest in the world. He weighed 69 kg, and his cost was estimated at 700 thousand US dollars.
You will be able to see with your own eyes how old gold products were cast, and even try to independently coin out your own coin. The village has its own foundry, where not only the real pieces of jewelry art, but also various household products are cast. Qualified tinsmiths at you will produce trays for baking, special knives for cutting biscuits, candlesticks and lanterns.
A small candy factory is opened here, where you will be treated with delicious freshly prepared candies. The pharmacy will impress tourists with an exhibition of surgical instruments that were used in Ballarat almost two centuries ago. From here you can take away natural soaps and lotions with herbal extracts and even hair brushes.
On the streets of Sovereign Hill you will be met by guides - men and women dressed in costumes of the XIX century who will kindly answer all the questions of tourists and even take pictures with them. There are also special rooms for photographing where you
You can change into your favorite old clothes and take a picture for memory.
Entertainment in the style of the 19th century
Here you will also be offered to ride a cart transport around the city. Travelers who like extreme, should go down to the deep mines, where once extracted ore. All the details related to the life of gold miners in those days are recreated as realistically as possible, up to the policeman guarding the city, soldiers dressed in the uniform of that period and marching through the streets, and scammers who try to steal the purse (this is just a stylized idea). A full immersion in the atmosphere of that era is provided by several saloons, where local residents, dressed as gold hunters of the XIX century, drink whiskey, playing with copies of real old revolvers.
After a short lecture on the laws that were in effect during the active gold mining, you can practice shooting from a real old musket. Also, the local theater expects its viewers to take a costume show, and the culinary master classes for making sweets are held in the bakery.
In addition, tourists have a unique opportunity to watch the work of real steam engines that set up ore mining equipment, and get acquainted with the production of wheels for a cart, horseshoes and decorative garden fences in the smithy and real wax candles. If you dream of returning to childhood, visit a local school where you will be able to try to write something with a real ink pen and again sit at the desk. Connoisseurs of modern entertainment in the city expects bowling.
In Sowrein Hill, there is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the crash at the Kreshuiik mine in 1882, when the collapse and flooding of underground passages led to the death of 22 people.
"Zest" of the city is the camp of Chinese gold miners, which provides a unique chance to immerse themselves in the life of those times and get acquainted with the peculiarities of life.
Visiting rules
For a visit to Sovereign Hill, you will have to pay A $ 54 for an adult ticket and $ 24.5 for a child. This is the cost of a one-day visit, a two-day stay here will cost $ 108 and $ 49, respectively. A family consisting of 2 adults and 1 to 4 children can get here for $ 136. The city is open for visitors from 10.00 to 17.00.
Shopping
In the town, travelers interested in the times of the "gold rush" can buy books, products, souvenirs and even gold nuggets. Also available for purchase are crafts made by local craftsmen, lanterns, associated accessories and various types of soap. In a special store for sale are hats, children's and adult clothing, stylized during the Victorian era, as well as real Chinese porcelain.
How to get there?
You can get to Sovereign Hill by car: from Melbourne you should walk about 90 minutes by Western Highway. Also many travelers arrive here by train and go to Ballarat station, where they are waiting for a special cart. It will take visitors to the city directly to its gates.
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