Sovereign Hill
Ballarat is a majestic provincial city built on gold, Sovereign Hill is a recreation of this town, much like our Fort Langley at home in Vancouver, it is a town the city created for tourists to be able to understand the life and times of the gold mining community back in the 1800's.
It costs $35.each to get in and you can spend all day there, checking out the town shops, do a bit of gold panning, take a carriage ride, watch them making new wooden carriage wheels, turning some steel bowls and plates, a stop off in the bakery, go down some old mine shafts, watch a bar of gold worth $140,000 being melted down and finally check out the gold museum. It was done very well, we thought it would be tacky but it was really very interesting. Gold is still being mined here today.
The second largest deposit of gold was found here, they called it the "`Welcome Nugget``.
Sold for 10,500 pounds sterling, it found a home in Melbourne until being sold again on March 18, 1859. It weighed 68.28kg and fetched 9,325 pounds sterling at its resale. From there it was conveyed to Sydney and exhibited there before being transported and exhibited in the Crystal Palace in London. The Royal Mint bought it in November 1859 and minted gold sovereigns out of it, imagine what that would of been worth today.
Panning for gold.
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