Sovereign Hill Australia Info

Sovereign Hill Australia

Name: Sovereign Hill
Address: 1.5 km from city centre on Bradshaw Street
City: Ballarat
Price Per Person: $25 AUS, $18 students, $12 child, $65 family
Type of Museum: History Museum
Most Fun for the Adults: The Mine Tour, and all the period shops and machinery.
Most Fun for the Kids: Panning for Gold. Also the horses working the machinery, farm animals, and all of the people in period costume. Young boys will probably particualrly like watching the soldiers who march through town at 4pm and shoot off their guns in front of the bank.
Best Ages for This Attraction: All ages.
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What it's like:
Sovereign Hill recreates a gold mining town on the site of some the richest goldfields ever discovered. The gold rush played a key part in Australian history and thus many Australians like to come here to experience a bit of their past. As a foreigner, much of the historical significance was lost on me but I still found the place great fun as well as interesting.
There are some seventy buildings modeled after those that lined the streets of Ballarat in the 1850's. And they are run and operated by staff in period costume. I've never seen a recreated town of this magnitude. And they pull it off so well. It really is great fun.
Worth making a point ot visit is the Empire Bowling Saloon where you can try your hand at an interesting type of bowling. All of the shops and machine rooms are quite interesting. You can witness a gold poor, drop in on the blacksmith, the goldsmith, the wheelright, visit the steam powered engine house, etc. And check out the lazy horses operated some of the older machinery when you first come in. All great fun.
Also check out the various stages of mining. There's the pan mining in the creek, which you can try for yourself. Then there's the Red Hill mine, which has a decent underground tour. And of course the deep undergound Quartz Mining Tour.
The place has an air of excitement around it and seems to really capture the spirit of fortune seeking and frontier living. Wonderfully enjoyable.

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