This group of buildings all of which served as churches at different periods is one of the best visual demonstrations of the rapid growth of Ballarat caused by the boom years of the gold rush following the initial alluvial diggings of the 1850s. The smallest church was built in 1861 followed by the next built in 1867 and finally the construction of the grand church on the corner of Neil and Macarthur streets Soldiers' Hill in the 1890s.methodist church, uniting church, soldiers hill, ballarat.

black and white photo: alluvial diggings in foreground, wheelbarrow, centre field stone building with galvanised iron roof with chimney at rear. 2 stascks of 6 foot timber for boiler. Headframe in front. Man standing under shelter near head frame. Midground, left tank of vertical plants. Hill with 5 whims to rear. A. frame and timber structure at centre left, mullock dumps.batchelderplace, landscape view, mining

Nicholas Caire was born on Guernsey in the Channel Islands in 1837. He arrived in Adelaide with his parents in about 1860. In 1867, following photographic journeys in Gippsland, he opened a studio in Adelaide. From 1870 to 1876 he lived and worked in Talbot in Central Victoria. In 1876 he purchased T. F. Chuck's studios in the Royal Arcade Melbourne. In 1885, following the introduction of dry plate photography, he began a series of landscape series, which were commercially successful. As a photographer, he travelled extensively through Victoria, photographing places few of his contemporaries had previously seen. He died in 1918. Reference: Jack Cato, 'Caire, Nicholas John (1837–1918)', Australian Dictionary of Biography.An original, rare photograph from the series 'Views of Victoria: General Series' by the photographer, Nicholas Caire (1837-1918). The series of 60 photographs that comprise the series was issued c. 1876 and reinforced a neo-Romantic view of the Australian landscape to which a growing nationalist movement would respond. Nicholas Caire was active as a photographer in Australia from 1858 until his death in 1918. His vision of the Australian bush and pioneer life had a counterpart in the works of Henry Lawson and other nationalist poets, authors and painters.‘View of the Township of Mt. Blackwood’ : Views of Victoria (General Series) No.42 : Albumen silver photograph | Photo on card with Title and Description on reverse | Mounted 24 x 30 cm; Photo 12 x 17 cm.On Reverse: ‘The locality which this illustration represents was formerly known as the Blackwood Forest, and has been the scene of considerable mining activity. The shallow alluvial diggings of the early days have given place to the deep sinking in search of reefs. This scene is characteristic of the wild appearance which many of the inland townships of Victoria represent.’nicholas caire (1837-1918), blackwood (vic), mount blackwood, landscape photography - victoria

1864 photograph of the Coffer Dam in the River Yarra situated (approximately) opposite Whipstick Gully. Remains of bridge built in 1860(?) wrecked by 1863 flood in background. Reproduced page 29 of ‘Pioneers & Painters’ Gold was first discovered in this area at Andersons Creek (Warrandyte) in June 1851 by Louis Michel. Discoveries north of the Yarra did not occur until about 1854. Although it took some months for a true rush to develop it was not long before alluvial workings were being carried on in most of the Shire of Eltham. The last area in which gold was discovered was Kinglake. As the gold became harder to find, deep mining took over from alluvial diggings in the gullies. Perhaps the most extensive of the deep workings was the Diamond Creek Mine just outside the boundary of the Shire. This form of mining was continued into the 1930s. There are believed to be some mines in the area still capable of producing gold but present prices make working these uneconomical. Some gold is still found by weekend prospectors. Photo: Carl Walter 1831-1907 – inscribed on tent “C. Walter Photo” The State Library of Victoria holds over 150 photos by Carl Walter, most of which are portraits of Aboriginal natives including William Barak.This photo forms part of a collection of photographs gathered by the Shire of Eltham for their centenary project book,"Pioneers and Painters: 100 years of the Shire of Eltham" by Alan Marshall (1971). The collection of over 500 images is held in partnership between Eltham District Historical Society and Yarra Plenty Regional Library (Eltham Library) and is now formally known as 'The Shire of Eltham Pioneers Photograph Collection.' It is significant in being the first community sourced collection representing the places and people of the Shire's first one hundred years.Digital image 4 x 5 inch B&W Neg (2) Print 20 x 25 cmshire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, anderson's creek, coffer dam, floods, gold mining, other areas, pioneers and painters, warrandyte, warrandyte bridge, yarra river

This image is a reproduction of an 1899 original depicting the 'Williams Good Luck Mine' on the Mopoke Reef (also called 'Morepork Gully') in the Dingle Ranges, approximately three miles from Beechworth. The foreground of the image is littered with piles of smashed rock and detritus, known as ‘mullock’, beside a reinforced mine shaft, a vertical access passageway allowing miners to enter the mine and haul ore out using lifting technology such as a poppet heads, whims or windlasses. A group of miners and a dog appear close to an open-sided miner’s hut. Following the discovery of gold at Beechworth in 1852, rushes quickly followed at surrounding creeks and gullies in the district. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, small syndicates of miners continued to work old or abandoned quartz reefs, often persisting without the assistance of heavy machinery to remove the large amounts of rock, in order to obtain yields at ever greater depths. The group of miners in this photograph are Mr. Roger Williams and Sons, who revived operations at the ‘Old Good Luck’ mine on the Mopoke Reef in the Dingle Range near Beechworth around 1892, working the site for more than two decades. An emigrant from Cornwall with experience in the tin mining industry, 19 year old Roger Williams senior sailed to New Zealand in 1840, then to Australia where he spent time in the Bendigo Gold Fields before settling in Beechworth in the early 1860s. Mr Williams senior worked on various mining activities in the district, including the Rocky Mountain Tunnel project. Conversant with the character of gold-bearing reefs in the area, the syndicate dug an eight hundred foot tunnel, digging down as far down as two hundred feet with little capital save their labour, to connect and provide better working access to the mass of reefs and veins in the vicinity. Progress was hampered by poor air quality charged with fumes from dynamite and large quantities of rock had to be crushed to obtain payable yields. The Victorian Goldfields are filled with ruins and remnants of the area's rich mining history, ranging from small alluvial diggings to the remains of huge mining companies. Site names often changed several times throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some sites were abandoned and forgotten, others were worked continuously over many decades. The names of mines were often repeated at different locations throughout the Victorian Goldfields. For example, there is a Mopoke Gully heritage mine near Fryers Creek, Victoria. 'Mopoke' is a common onomatopoeic name for Morepork and Australian Boobook owls. This image has historical, social and research significance for patterns of emigration during of the Victorian Gold Rush, and the historical, social and environmental impacts of mining at Beechworth at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As gold became scarce and government support and large company investment waned, poor hard-working miners laboured intensively to make a living through periods of high unemployment. This image can be compared and studied alongside other historical mining photographs and objects in the Burke Museum Collection. It has potential to improve our understanding of miners working conditions and the shifting character of mining in the Beechworth district. Black and white rectangular reproduction photograph printed on matte photographic paper.Obverse: Williams Good Luck Mine Beechworth / Roger! / Reverse: 6858 / burke museum, beechworth museum, beechworth, gold fields, gold rush, victorian gold rush, gold ming history, colonial australia, australian gold rushes, mining technology, beechworth historic district, indigo gold trail, migration, indigo shire, good luck gold mine, victorian goldfields, mining syndicates, gold fever, quartz-mining, small-scale mining, old good luck mine, mopoke gully, quartz reefs beechworth

This photograph is of old mine workings on the site of the Spring Creek diggings. Spring Creek is a contact zone for granite pluton and siltstones, shales and standstones; which has, over time, encouraged natural springs to form. Enriched with gold washed out of the surrounding granite, these alluvial deposits achieved fame from 1852 onwards as the Spring Creek Diggings sprang to life (not realised as geographically important until 1871). In Spring Creek that runs behind the main street of Beechworth, near the foot of Newtown Hill a pint pot of gold was discovered on one of these expeditions in 1852 by prospectors Baker and Strickland and the gold rush town of Spring Creek was formed. Australian gold rushes have always created a sense of independence and freedom; as do-it-yourself, off-grid, low-tech adventures. People of all backgrounds were drawn to the gold fields by the prospect of riches and adventure, but they also learned self-sufficiency and found freedom of expression. Industry boomed, new practices were adopted and social norms were upended. This image is of historical significance as it informs on the history of Australian gold mining. It represents the innovation that accompanied the mining industry and the importance of gold mining in town building and regional histories. Black and white rectangular photograph on unmounted board.gold mining, spring creek, mining, geography, geology

Afred D'Alton was the first to discover alluvial good in Stony CreekPhoto shows members of D/Alton family outside lean to at Stoney Creek diggings Left to Right Jim, John and Charles D/Alton, Henrietta and Amy (John's daughters) Galbraith (John's son) Clare (Charlie and Jim's sister)Larger photo taken from original people, d'alton, mining, stoney creek

D'Alton's searching for alluvial gold. Photo shows Alfred and Charles D'Alton at Stony Creek Diggings. Charles is on the right and Alfred is on the left. Records 126 and 127 are enlargements from this photo showing each man separately.Photo shows two men working near a sluice. One man is shovelling into a sluice, on a creek and the other is holding an implement. A gold pan rests against a tree.people, d'alton, mining, stoney creek

Gold was discovered in Ballarat in 1851 when many people rushed to the diggings. A monument commemorates the centenary of the finding of gold at Poverty Point and is dedicated to the memory of pioneer miners of Ballarat. It records gold yields, nuggets and the richest recorded yields of both alluvial and quartz mines. The replica gold nugget on the monument is the `Welcome Nugget`, found in Ballarat in 1858, weighed 2,217 ounces and was sold for £10,500. The memorial, known as the Pioneer Miners’ Monument, was made to commemorate Ballarat's gold centenary. It was proposed that part of the Pioneers' Memorial Fund might be used. This fund was started with £1300 profit from the 1938 centenary celebrations. (Age (Melbourne), The monument was created by John Edward Skilbeck, a toolmaker with Ronaldson and Tippett. John Skilbeck had a deep interest in Ballarat History, and undertook much research with Bert Strange and Keith Stacpoole. Councilllor William Ernest Roff provided the copper for the memorial from scrap copper obtained during his plumbing business. The copper was reworked by John Skilbeck, and was soldered in the kitchen of his home at 14 Frank Street. Colour photograph of the gold monument on the corner of Sturt Street and Albert Street, Ballarat. It commemorates the discovery of gold at Poverty Point in August 1851, and was The monument was unveiled in 1951 and is mainly constructed of large piecesof quartz, with a miniature popper head on the top made of copper. Mounted on the side is a replica of the Welcome Nugget, which was unearthed on the corner of Humffray and Mair Streets, Ballarat on 09 June 1858.FRONT This monument was erected by the Ballarat Historical Society to commemorate the finding of gold at Poverty Point 21st August 1851 and is dedicated to the memory of/ pioneer miners of Ballarat LEFT SIDE Richest recorded yields alluvial mines Band of Hope 303269 Ozs Prince of Wales 168929 Koh I Noor 164157 Great Redan Ex 110111 Albion 107125 Bonshaw Fr 96520 Park 94699 St George 86702 Sir Wm Don 76830 Hand in Hand 76830 Sir Henry Loch 43562 Quartz Mines Star of the East 256758 Ozs Band of Hope 158299 Victoria United 152013 N Woah Hawp 129562 New Normanby 127562 Britannia 103225 Llanberris No 1 100533 Black Hill 91665 Last Chance U 83766 Llanberris 71364 Speedwell 66000 South Star 64444 Sulieman Pasha Companies 62666 RIGHT Recorded gold yield 20606000 ozs Nuggets Alluvial Welcome 2217 ozs Saraha Snads 1619 Lady Hotham 1177 Canadian 1 1117 Canadian 2 1011 Koh 1 Noor 834 Eureka 625 Lady Loch 617 Prince of Wales 606 Bakery Hill 571 Native Youth 540 Faboulous yields of earliest diggings not offically recorded Quartz Nuggets N Woah Hawp 5-- 300 200 Ozs White Horse 500 Woah Hawp 444 266 262 Canton 257 200 Q Victoria lease 410 U Black Hill Coy 315 Tinworths 250 Parade Coy 245gold monument, ballarat, skilbeck, poppet head, j.e. skilbeck, john skilbeck

Views of Bendigo No.41. Scene Taken from St Paul's Tower Looking Eastward. The Free Methodist church. This view represents the locality of the Back Creek gold diggings, and tough at present almost deserted, was once a scene of activity; in consequences of the rich patches of alluvial ground it contained. Photo by N.J. Caire Sandhurst. Casey&Wenborn's Print. On the back a stamp of Ray Dalton BendigoN.J. Cairne

Bethanga was established as a result of the discovery of gold. Gold was first reported in the Bethanga area in 1852. Before 1876 gold mining in the Bethanga district occurred to the north of the town and was known as the 'Talgarno diggings'. Reports of alluvial gold date back to 1852. Early gold fields were worked at Ruby Creek, Gold Creek and Jarvis Creek. The opening of the Bethanga goldfields began with the discovery of a gold-bearing quartz reef on New Year’s Day 1876. The 'Gift' mine site is located southeast of Kurrajong Gap lookout to the west of Bethanga township. The Great Eastern Copper Smelting Works was opened in 1878. Due to the nature of the gold-bearing quartz reef, the gold was difficult to extract, and the discovery of copper led to a change in focus. It was not until the early 1890s that an efficient technique for extracting the gold from the ore was discovered, and once again gold became the focus, with copper as a by-product. Bethanga was removed from the official list of goldfields in 1912, however some mining activity has taken place since.This image reflects an important time in the development of Bethanga and Northeast Victoria.A large mounted and framed image of horse teams and their owners hauling a large boiler to the gold mine near Bethanga, Victoria. On label beneath image: "North-eastern "Gold Days"/ Combined teams hauling a boiler to Bethanga Mines, 1900. Teamsters - Mr. G. Pearce, W. Chapple, G, Bannon." Donated by Ron Saunders and Barbara Cadman"bethanga, gold mining northeast victoria, gold mining bethanga, bethanga history