Barkerville—a historic gold rush town

The road east from Quesnel to Barkerville was deserted except for a few deer and grazing cattle. The town had been named after a miner who discovered the richest deposit of gold back in 1861, nevertheless, he died penniless. At the peak of Barkerville’s gold mining days the population swelled to 5 000—the majority of the people being Chinese. 

The casual ambience of Dawson City

Dawson City was once a booming gold rush town. I’d visited other gold rush towns—Ballarat, Bendigo, Hill End, Barkerville, but this one oozed natural friendliness.

Ballarat’s shocking recent history

Ballarat had been at the centre of child sexual abuse committed by its Catholic dioceses. A Royal Commission uncovered a culture of secrecy according to ABC News where the church did anything to avoid scandal to protect the church and its priests’ reputations. Sadly, this story is not unique.

Ballarat’s art gallery

The gallery was opened in 1890 and was impressive considering the size of the town. Art work was displayed in mixed combinations. For someone like me who doesn’t linger by older examples, this forced me to notice all work on show. Most art was Australian with a splash of English artists. 

Why was part of ballarat closed off?

We hoped to park near Ballarat’s art gallery, but the road was closed. Police stood patrolling. People in iridescent green vests waved potential drivers away, but what was going on was hard to guess. 

A city founded on gold

North-west of Melbourne was Victoria’s Ballarat, home to over 100,000 residents. The first Europeans settled in the area in 1838, but thirteen years later after an Aborigine found a nugget of alluvial gold, Ballarat’s gold rush brought thousands of hopeful prospectors from around the world. Although the alluvial gold became scarce after several years, underground mining continued until 1918.

Another site to visit that’s free

Inside Melbourne’s old treasury building was a museum situated within the last free tram stop along Collins Street. For those interested in early European settlement and the gold rush era, there was room after room dedicated to this section of Victoria’s past.

Britannia Beach Mine

Located north of Vancouver on the Sea to Sky Highway, Britannia Beach isn’t the sort of beach you’d actually want to swim at. The place is all about the mine. I decided to explore the tiny site I’d often driven past.