City of Gold
Apr. 23rd, 2011 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithBecause I can....
This is Bendigo, on of Victoria's gold mining cities. Population is somewhere between 80,000 and 110,000 people, depending on what and how it is measured, but slightly bigger than Launceston seems to be a good marker (for me anyway).
Text in italics is from the Victorian Heritage Register
There are two problems with this post. Firstly, I've forgotten the details and, secondly, most of the photos where taken when I went walking first thing in the morning.
This creates a bit of problem with lighting at times.
Gold was discovered in Bendigo Creek in 1851. Like most places, alluvial gold was the big draw at first, with shaft mining coming later. In the earliest years, there was a lot of agitation between miners and authorities: protest rallies, monster meetings and the like; and I think some expectation that if things would blow up, this is where it would happen. (Think busy, noisy, muddy creek banks there.)
At the other end of the mining scale, Central Deborah Gold Mine, where we've already visited
The central point of the city, the visual focus that is, seems to be this fountain (Charing Cross). The street in this direction is, according to the map, High St, and the section seen here which runs between Rosalind Park and the CBD is Pall Mall. I have a feeling it might have been part of the highway at one point, but I'm probably confusing my cities.
This fine streetscape has retained its charm in spite of modern facilities such as traffic lights & power poles. Decorative tramway standards have been retained intact since 1901 and the tramway tracks and restored trams help to retain the unspoiled atmosphere of this charming street.
Like an good mining boom town, the central/older areas are full of elaborate Victorian architecture. Public buildings here.
Completed in 1896 the Law Courts were designed by the Public Works Department in the Neo-Classical style with both Italian and French influences, and were built in rendered brick on a Harcourt Bluestone Base.
The Bendigo Post Office was erected in 1883-87 by the Public Works Department. The architect was G W Watson. The contractors were McCulloch and McAlpine.
The Bendigo Post Office and Law Courts comprise the finest Boom style public buildings in Victoria. The Post Office, with its elaborate facades and decorative roof forms pioneered a new era in Public Works Department design; an era free from the austerity of the Wardell years. Many later public buildings were based on its architectural composition and decoration.
And shop fronts on the opposite side of the road. (A little skew-whiff because there always seemed to be a truck parked here, so it was a quick photo). On the left, Ex-National Bank (1887). The middle one I don't know. I love the details on these buildings.
The Beehive Stores were built in 1872 to the design of Charles Webb, principally as a drapery store and secondarily as a mining exchange, and stood on the site of the earlier Beehive Store and mining exchange which had been destroyed by fire.
Behind the visitors' centre, this building has to make my shortlist of "Most Interesting Public Toilet Blocks".
War memorial & military museum.
"This Sculpture was refurbished and restored and presented to the people of Bendigo, to celebrate the 140th Easter Procession on the 5th April 2010."
I found a helpful bystander to pose with it.
At the other end Pall Mall.
Entrance to the Golden Dragon Museum
The adjoining Rosalind Park is home to some interesting buildings.
Also some other interesting creatures.
Primary school.
A large school by Henry Bastow of the Public Works Department in hybrid brick Gothic, incorporating a conspicuous Tower designed as a fire look-out, and superbly sited on a considerable eminence over-looking Rosalind Park.
Ex-Supreme Court, now used by adjoining secondary college.
Shell of former Sandhurst Courthouse of 1858, in rendered masonry in simple classic style with two-storey central block and single storey rooms on either side.
The Bendigo Gaol was erected in stages from 1858-64 from designs prepared by the Public Works Department. The buildings erected at that time comprised the Central Hall, principal cell blocks, the perimeter and some internal walls, towers, gateway, gaoler's and warden's quarters and the chapel wing.
The cell wings etc. and gateways are constructed in stone. The walls and quarters are of red brick construction with granite footings, slate roofs.
This is one of the finest of a series of gaols erected by the Public Works Department in the period 1858-64. The plan and form is typical of gaol designs during this period. The cell block is one of the largest structures in the area erected in the local stone. The picturesque towers and massive gateways are particularly notable features. The stone dressings and gateways contrast superbly with the fine colour of the brickwork walls.
A very fine gaol? Now it seems to be in use by the adjoining secondary college.
Queen Elizabeth Oval
Built in 1901 to the design of J R Richardson, the City Surveyor, the Bendigo Grandstand is a typical late nineteenth century grandstand but in this case with four entry stairs leading from the oval to the tiered seating above.
More in Part II
This is Bendigo, on of Victoria's gold mining cities. Population is somewhere between 80,000 and 110,000 people, depending on what and how it is measured, but slightly bigger than Launceston seems to be a good marker (for me anyway).
Text in italics is from the Victorian Heritage Register
There are two problems with this post. Firstly, I've forgotten the details and, secondly, most of the photos where taken when I went walking first thing in the morning.
This creates a bit of problem with lighting at times.
Gold was discovered in Bendigo Creek in 1851. Like most places, alluvial gold was the big draw at first, with shaft mining coming later. In the earliest years, there was a lot of agitation between miners and authorities: protest rallies, monster meetings and the like; and I think some expectation that if things would blow up, this is where it would happen. (Think busy, noisy, muddy creek banks there.)
At the other end of the mining scale, Central Deborah Gold Mine, where we've already visited
The central point of the city, the visual focus that is, seems to be this fountain (Charing Cross). The street in this direction is, according to the map, High St, and the section seen here which runs between Rosalind Park and the CBD is Pall Mall. I have a feeling it might have been part of the highway at one point, but I'm probably confusing my cities.
This fine streetscape has retained its charm in spite of modern facilities such as traffic lights & power poles. Decorative tramway standards have been retained intact since 1901 and the tramway tracks and restored trams help to retain the unspoiled atmosphere of this charming street.
Like an good mining boom town, the central/older areas are full of elaborate Victorian architecture. Public buildings here.
Completed in 1896 the Law Courts were designed by the Public Works Department in the Neo-Classical style with both Italian and French influences, and were built in rendered brick on a Harcourt Bluestone Base.
The Bendigo Post Office was erected in 1883-87 by the Public Works Department. The architect was G W Watson. The contractors were McCulloch and McAlpine.
The Bendigo Post Office and Law Courts comprise the finest Boom style public buildings in Victoria. The Post Office, with its elaborate facades and decorative roof forms pioneered a new era in Public Works Department design; an era free from the austerity of the Wardell years. Many later public buildings were based on its architectural composition and decoration.
And shop fronts on the opposite side of the road. (A little skew-whiff because there always seemed to be a truck parked here, so it was a quick photo). On the left, Ex-National Bank (1887). The middle one I don't know. I love the details on these buildings.
The Beehive Stores were built in 1872 to the design of Charles Webb, principally as a drapery store and secondarily as a mining exchange, and stood on the site of the earlier Beehive Store and mining exchange which had been destroyed by fire.
Behind the visitors' centre, this building has to make my shortlist of "Most Interesting Public Toilet Blocks".
War memorial & military museum.
"This Sculpture was refurbished and restored and presented to the people of Bendigo, to celebrate the 140th Easter Procession on the 5th April 2010."
I found a helpful bystander to pose with it.
At the other end Pall Mall.
Entrance to the Golden Dragon Museum
The adjoining Rosalind Park is home to some interesting buildings.
Also some other interesting creatures.
Primary school.
A large school by Henry Bastow of the Public Works Department in hybrid brick Gothic, incorporating a conspicuous Tower designed as a fire look-out, and superbly sited on a considerable eminence over-looking Rosalind Park.
Ex-Supreme Court, now used by adjoining secondary college.
Shell of former Sandhurst Courthouse of 1858, in rendered masonry in simple classic style with two-storey central block and single storey rooms on either side.
The Bendigo Gaol was erected in stages from 1858-64 from designs prepared by the Public Works Department. The buildings erected at that time comprised the Central Hall, principal cell blocks, the perimeter and some internal walls, towers, gateway, gaoler's and warden's quarters and the chapel wing.
The cell wings etc. and gateways are constructed in stone. The walls and quarters are of red brick construction with granite footings, slate roofs.
This is one of the finest of a series of gaols erected by the Public Works Department in the period 1858-64. The plan and form is typical of gaol designs during this period. The cell block is one of the largest structures in the area erected in the local stone. The picturesque towers and massive gateways are particularly notable features. The stone dressings and gateways contrast superbly with the fine colour of the brickwork walls.
A very fine gaol? Now it seems to be in use by the adjoining secondary college.
Queen Elizabeth Oval
Built in 1901 to the design of J R Richardson, the City Surveyor, the Bendigo Grandstand is a typical late nineteenth century grandstand but in this case with four entry stairs leading from the oval to the tiered seating above.
More in Part II
