VICTORIA'S
GREATEST DRIVING TOURS AND HERITAGE TOWNS
Historic...
CHILTERN
On the banks of the Black Dog Creek, a humble wooden
shack called - aptly - the Black Dog Inn, was set up as a horse
changing station for mail coaches on the Melbourne-Sydney road
in 1844. A few years later the more substantial brick hotel Horse
and Jockey was built, with a police camp on the pub grounds alongside.
In 1854 the few residents of Black Dog were no doubt pleased
to change the town’s name to Chiltern - after England’s
rolling green Chiltern Hills. Gold was discovered by John Conness
at nearby Indigo in 1858, causing the focus of regional settlement
to shift from Black Dog Creek to the Chiltern gold lead.
The inevitable rush, of some 10,000 miners, established rudimentary
encampments along the muddy diggings track (now Conness Street)
towards the Beechworth and Indigo gold fields. At its height,
Chiltern had a population of 20,000.
In 1862 Chiltern was proclaimed a municipality, with the elected
council represented by miners - believed to be a first in Victoria.
The Victorian gazette of 1865 lists the town as having a County
and Police Court, Court of Mines, reading room, telegraph station,
post and money order office, its own newspaper (the Federal Standard),
and banks.
Two decades later, Chiltern was described as an important township
containing five churches, twelve hotels, two newspapers and a
population of 1243 engaged in mining, agriculture and grazing.
Easily-won surface gold had long gone, leaving mechanical methods
and the more enduring deep quartz mining to persist for some 60
years; the Golden Bar mine yielded 10,200 ounces, the Pass Poy
mine crushed 1757 tons of quartz for 2843 ounces of gold.
The wealth generated during Chiltern’s golden decades produced
many buildings which are today classified or owned by the National
Trust. A ninety-minute historic walk takes in Conness Street’s
heritage shops including Dow’s Pharmacy built in 1859 which
operated until 1969, the Star Hotel and billiard saloon, the 1877
Bank of Australasia, the Athenaeum (now Chiltern’s museum),
Kilgour’s Blacksmith and Implement factory, and the police
lockup.
A fine example of colonial brick residences can be seen in “Lakeview”
at Lake Anderson. The childhood home of writer Henry Handel Richardson
(real name Ethel Florence Richardson), the house is featured in
Richardson’s book “Ultima Thule.” Now restored,
the home is occasionally open for inspection.
The Chiltern Regional Park encircles the town with several walking
tracks through box-ironbark forest encountered by miners last
century. It’s also home to two of Victoria’s rarest
birds - the regent honeyeater and the turquoise parrot. The park
is particularly noted for its spring display of wildflowers.
A 25km historic drive takes in Donkey Hill lookout, the pioneer
cemetery, the Magenta Mine which produced 13,000 ounces of gold,
and the State Battery site where mine ore was crushed.Chiltern
is central to the Rutherglen and Barnawartha wineries, Mt Pilot
where Ned Kelly and his gang hid for months prior to capture,
and the Yeddonba aboriginal art site.
Chiltern is located 275km north-east of Melbourne off the Hume
Highway, about three and a half hours drive.
STAY THE WEEKEND AT:
Tuileries, at Rutherglen. Big, luxurious themed
rooms with spa, overlooking vineyards. Restaurant, pool.
COPYRIGHT PETER ROBINSON 2007
see my images at www.australianplaces.net
For the past
25 years Peter Robinson has travelled far and wide but Australia,
being home, is his first love. As an experienced travel writer
and professional photographer, his wealth of knowledge is revealed
in travel and accommodation reviews that have freelance integrity
and honesty. The main focus of this site is to present brief reviews
of a select group of places to stay for the weekend. Each place
has been visited at least once and evaluated for high standards
before inclusion - and after reviewing over 600 places Peter has
done the hard work so you can enjoy Great
Weekends Away.
