The Weekend Australian
2-3 October 2004

Lee Mylne gets into the spirit of Ballarat’s Sovereign Hill

There’s a roaring trade being done in hats, gloves and scarves on the goldfields of Sovereign Hill, as temperatures plummet in the recreated Victorian gold mining town outside Ballarat. Luckily, the eclectic stock of the Waterloo Store – which includes mining gear, mirrors, food stuffs and more – stretches to winter woollies because we know we’re in for an even colder night.

Rain has turned the unpaved roads into mud and the Clydesdale horses are the only sure-footed ones in town as we slip and slide from colonial store to blacksmith shop to bakery, working our way around the town. Costumed townsfolk keep up a brisk banter about the weather and other gossip as they weave their way among the darting tourists. As a hailstorm hits, we dodge into the stamp battery and join the crowd pretending an inordinate interest in the noisy workings of the machinery as they take shelter. Kids cluster around the windows watching the hailstones bounce off everything outside. When it clears, we sprint cautiously to the next building where we are warm and dry to watch a liquid gold pour.

There are few takers for gold panning as the rain clears and we poke around the diggings, peering into small white tents for a glimpse of how life was here. Sovereign Hill faithfully depicts Ballarat's first 10 years after the discovery of gold in 1851 and it’s easy to see why it has been a popular family destination since it opened in late 1970.

The diggings at Ballarat were the richest in the world, but the influx of visitors expected this year will be coming not for gold, but in homage to a faded and torn piece of blue and white cloth which hangs in the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.

December will mark the 150th anniversary of the battle of the Eureka Stockade and of the flag which symbolises that – and much more – for Australians. Ballarat will become the focus for a range of events celebrating arguably one of the most significant events in Australian history.

More than half a million people visit Sovereign Hill each year, with about 100,000 of them also seeing Blood on the Southern Cross, Sovereign Hill's spectacular sound and light show. Our dinner-and-show package ($176 for a family of four) starts with a short walk from our room at the Sovereign Hill Lodge (which has direct access to the township) to the Charlie Napier Hotel in Main St. After a buffet dinner, we join the throng in a theatrette for an introduction to our journey into the past. Outside again, we walk around the diggings now lit to effect, as the voices and sounds of the miners daily lives – the ring of the pick against rock, clip-clop of horse hooves, angry or disappointed conversations - echo around us. It’s eerie and effective.

But the real action starts when we sit down in the outdoor theatre to watch a story of murder, corruption and rebellion. Shadowy trapeze artists are silhouetted against the circus big top, the Eureka Hotel explodes into flames, a runaway wagon hurtles towards the audience, and if I sometimes wish for an actor’s face to show over the 90 minutes, perhaps I’m being fussy. The special effects are stunning and after a ride back to the main street I’m finally rewarded by the appearance of a “live” Peter Lalor, striding across the first floor verandah of the United States Hotel, giving us a taste of why he went on to become a Member of Parliament.

The Eureka Pass ($35.50 for an adult or $92 for a family of six) gives two days unlimited entry to Sovereign Hill, the Gold Museum across the road, The Eureka Centre and the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. The Gold Museum is unexpectedly interesting, giving a real insight into the social history of Ballarat as well as the story of gold throughout the world.

The Eureka Centre, in East Ballarat, is built on an historic reserve on part of the land where the Eureka rebellion took place. The striking modern building, emblazoned with the blue-and-white Eureka flag, houses a series of galleries which use multi-media to tell the story, present varying opinions about it and its significance in Australian history.

The flag was first raised on November 29, 1854 when thousands of diggers protested against their unjust treatment at the hands of the colonial administrators, angry at the steep licence fee they had to pay for prospecting, and at the brutal way it was being collected. The flag was flying defiantly inside the hastily built stockade on December 3 when 280 troopers and police attacked the 150 miners. About 30 miners and five police died in the brief but bloody fighting.

The original Eureka flag, torn is now permanently displayed at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. The gallery has an extensive collection of works interpreting Eureka, central to which is last year’s acquisition of 30 portraits by Sidney Nolan, depicting the main characters of the rebellion.

But what I’ve come to see, above all else, is the flag itself. Torn down by Trooper John King during the battle, pieces were cut and torn off as souvenirs. King’s widow loaned the tattered flag to the gallery in 1895 and his descendents made it a permanent gift in 2001. The blue flag, with its white Southern Cross, became a symbol of nationhood, solidarity and resistance to tyranny, and is now preserved in a kind of dimly-lit shrine in the gallery.

Its origins remain uncertain, but it is believed to be have been sewn by the miners’ wives. The flag is made of fine blue woollen mohair with a “silky” sheen. The stars are transparent white lawn, the sort of stuff petticoats were made of.

“There is no flag in Europe, or in the civilised world half so beautiful,” wrote Henry Seekamp in the Ballarat Times on November 30, 1854, just days before it was torn down. I’m inclined to agree with him.

CHECKLIST
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www.eurekaballarat.com