VICTORIA'S
GREATEST DRIVING TOURS AND HERITAGE TOWNS
Historic...
RUSHWORTH
It’s said that last century a couple of prospectors explored the north of Victoria, well beyond Seymour, and local aborigines showed them some “pretty stones.” Whether that’s true or not, there’s no doubt gold was discovered here in 1853 and - once the tales of a rich alluvial field went around - a rush ensued. Gold was found in almost every hill and gully, and at its peak 26 mines were operating.
Depending on who you talk to in town, or which history book you read, the new settlement was initially called Waranga or Whroo. The other point of contention is whether gold commissioner Daly named the town - or was it Richard Home, an English poet but at that time an officer in the Gold Escort which carried the diggers’ wealth back to civilisation. Was the remark that named a town simply: “a gold rush worth while”?
Another story is that Home named the town after Henry and Rose Rushworth, his fellow passengers on the voyage to Australia in 1852.
The town named Rushworth had its golden era a long time ago, and today the pace is slower. Drive in from the east and your first sight of the main street is the mellow red handmade bricks of the Criterion Hotel. Still offering cheap lodgings and cold beer, the old pub lost its broad verandah back in the sixties. Down the street, the grey facades of closed shops stare blankly at the neatly tended, palm-studded central gardens and circular bandstand.
But Rushworth is not all gloom, as long as you like your towns with a little decaying history attached. Most of the main street buildings, even the ones open on a daily basis, are looking a little weathered - and that’s probably the way the National Trust likes them. There’s no doubt, in the eyes of a history buff the street is still a gold mine.
The town’s museum, in the Mechanic’s Institute building, is only open for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday “admittance by a gold coin” but worth a visit. Opposite is the office of the Rushworth Chronicle c.1869; then, as you walk past old cottages and shops to the high end of town, continue a little further to a timbered hill where handsome St Pauls church is built.
On weekends Rushworth still attracts gold prospectors, but they come gold pans and metal detectors these days. Six kilometres out of town is the Waranga Basin, where the fishing is good, and there are many wineries in the area. South of town is the Balaclava Mine where remnants of a puddling maching, an old cemetery, and aboriginal waterhole can be visited. The nearby gold town of Whroo has been reclaimed by the bush, with little to indicate that last century thousands thronged its streets and 130 buildings.
Rushworth’s Golden Guinea Art-craft festival is held each October.
Rushworth is located 163 km north of Melbourne on the Hume Fwy/Goulburn Highway via Murchison East, 2 hours drive.
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.
