Victoria’s Goldfields fast-tracked in bid for World Heritage status
Victoria’s non-Indigenous population soared from around 29,000 in 1851 to more than 120,000 within three years. Americans, Germans, Scandinavians, Britons and Chinese made the voyage to Australia.
Golden Dragon Museum in Bendigo, a city enriched by the gold rush. Credit: Visit Victoria
Towns such as Ararat, Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine sprang up, with grand colonial buildings and public parks that testified to the newfound wealth. Melbourne, the port where most migrants came to join the gold rush, became one of world’s richest cities.
Former Victorian Labor premier John Brumby has been campaigning for World Heritage listing since 1988, when he was the federal member for Bendigo.
Old mining machinery at the Porcupine gold dredge and drag line in Maldon. Credit: Parks Victoria
Brumby, along with former Victorian Liberal premier Denis Napthine, is a patron of the campaign.
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“It’s been a long time coming,” Brumby said. “The Goldfields [region] has the best streetscapes, the best architecture, the best-preserved mining sites and buildings, which of course builds on Indigenous heritage as well.
“Apart from the extraordinary wealth that it created, the 1850s gold rush was [one of the] biggest mass movements of people in the world to that time, and people from countries all around the world came to Victoria to hunt for gold, and drove dramatic change in Victoria and Australia.
“It’s an extraordinary global story about the movement of people and the creation of wealth, communities and democracy.
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