VICTORIA'S
GREATEST DRIVING TOURS AND HERITAGE TOWNS
Historic...
CLUNES
In 1838 Scotsman Donald Cameron was the first settler in a new pastoral district north of Ballarat. He named his sheep run Clunes, Gaelic for “pleasant place,” and no doubt thought there was a quiet living to be made here.
With the benefit of hindsight, we could have told him to forget the sheep, just go for gold. On the 28th June 1851, James Esmond announced the discovery of gold on Cameron’s property, and it soon had people flocking to the district. Esmond, meanwhile, was rewarded with the princely sum of One Thousand Pounds ($2000) - a considerable amount in those days.
It was Victoria’s first commercial gold strike and within months the precious metal was found at Ballarat, Castlemaine and Daylesford, prompting the Gold Rush to start in earnest.
Clunes is still a pleasant place. Thanks to the wealth of gold mined here last century today’s visitors can explore a small town bursting with heritage. Laid out along Deep Creek valley, the town boasts some splendid public buildings. The old Post Office, Town Hall and bluestone churches take the high ground above Fraser Street - the commercial centre of town.
Fraser Street is undergoing a revival. After decades in the doldrums when the gold mines closed, shops are re-opening and the streetscape is far from comatose. Mad Max movie fans might remember this wild west-style street in a film scene, but this is one of the most intact 19th century Gold Rush streets in Victoria.
Fraser Street houses the humble Clunes Museum, a good place to embark on a historical journey to Victoria’s golden past. Staffed at weekends and holidays by enthusiastic volunteers, the museum houses an impressive collection of historic photographs, maps and exhibits which help visualise the living conditions of the early miners. For forty cents, it’s worth buying the local walking and historic map of Clunes.
When you step onto the street again, imagine up to 40,000 people tramping through Clunes in search of their fortune in the 1860s. It’s a wide main drag, lined with old shops shaded by broad verandahs, and you can get everything from an expresso coffee to fine art and craft. The Weavery at 63 Fraser Street is the studio and gallery of award-winning dyer and weaver Gillian Robson, and you can browse and buy direct from the artist.
Always eager to slake a hard-earned thirst, the miners had a fair choice: by 1873 there were forty licensed hotels and innumerable grog shanties in Clunes. Hotels such as the Club (c.1870) and the National (c.1862) are still there, serving the locals and today’s transient population some good country pub grub and a cold beer.
But you couldn’t do much better on a fine day than grabbing a meat pie and a cream cake from Joy’s Country Bread Kitchen and heading down the a shady picnic spot by the creek. There’s a delightful walk which leads past a swing bridge to some historic step once used by miners on their way to work in the hillside mines. Today they lead to a lookout with a bird’s eye view over Clunes.
Nearby, within walking distance, is the location of the Port Phillip & Colonial Gold Mining Company which operated from 1857-93. Two vertical shafts, 525m deep, lead to several kilometres of tunnels which bore gold to the end - until flooding forced closure. Only surface mullock heaps remain as a clue to the mine’s existence.
From a simple sheep run called Clunes to the focal point of Victoria’s Gold Rush. It’d be interesting to know whether Donald Cameron choked on his mutton or a gold filling.
Clunes is about 150km north-west of Melbourne, less than two hours drive on the Western Hwy - turn off towards Creswick. An alternative return route is via Maryborough and Castlemaine.
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