Ararat - Sept 2015

Spring of 2015 found us heading away for another caravan adventure. Our first stop was Ararat. Not too far from home, so we were able to set up camp before a latish lunch on the first day. 

While in town there were several highlights:

Ararat has a number of grand buildings, no doubt financed by the gold rush!

One Tree Hill: Not far out of town, as the name suggests, we found ourselves up a hill, although unlike the name suggests, there was a lot more than just one tree. The view was over Ararat in one direction, including Langi Ghiran – a hill shaped like a pregnant lady lying down according to Aboriginal legend. In the other direction we could see the many ragged peaks of the Grampians, including Mt Sturgeon in the distance that we’d so heroically climbed earlier in the year.

'J Ward': An imposing looking bluestone ‘fortress’, which was originally built to be a gold rush era prison in 1861. In 1866 it become a ‘temporary’ place for the criminally insane… they in fact kept using for this until it was closed in 1991! I guess nearly 130 years is temporary in the context of the history of mankind. The tour included many a gruesome story of inmates and conditions. It was completely macabre, entertaining, tragic, shocking and sad all at the same time.  The youngest inmate was just 13. The oldest lived to almost 108, spending a staggering 60 years in a small cold, damp cell.

Gum San: A completely different piece of history of Ararat was at the Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre. Ararat is a unique Australian town as it was begun by Chinese immigrants who were seeking gold in the 1850’s.    However, to get to Ararat, most Chinese got off ships around Robe in South Australia and walked hundreds of kilometres, just to avoid the Victorian ten pound arrivals tax.

The roof of this complex has 56 thousand genuine Chinese terracotta tiles. Under this impressive tiled roof we had a great time. It was largely interactive and hands on, with the kids dressing up, experiencing Chinese calligraphy and panning for some gold.

Of course, we went searching for all the geocaches in and around Ararat with a high degree of success. Leg one of this holiday was full of diverse history and intrigue!