dazjet 'n family: Small Goldfields Towns

Following from the last post, we had the rest of the family visit for a night, so we showed them around Maryborough and went to the little bit fancy Bull & Mouth hotel for morning tea.

Because Zac has summer work commitments, they were not able to stay more than a night, but will catch up with us again at our next destination.

While staying in Maryborough, Ethan and I went to visit some nearby small towns. When people think of the Victorian goldfields, most people would recall Ballarat and Bendigo, but there are other significant towns such as Castlemaine and Maryborough - then there are the somewhat forgotten smaller towns. The ones we visited were just a small selection.

Newstead: This was about half an hour east of Maryborough. It is situated on the Loddon River, but was not successful for gold miners, so largely grew as a crossing point on the river. A hotel was established, called the Newstead which the town grew around.

Talbot: Fifteen km's south of Maryborough, was given its name in the 1860's and was known as Back Creek Diggings prior to that. Its population was over 2300 in 1881, but these days it's only around 200. There are many old buildings. The main street, Scandinavian Ave is unusual as it curves its way through town.

The day we called in it was a virtual ghost town. The only sign of life was around the post office / general store. A geocache led us out to the old train station - which has got to be the most eclectic, unusual collection of bric-a-brac I've ever seen. It advertised itself as a coffee shop. There was a coffee machine among the rubble! Various rusty machinery and bits and bobs sat in the long grass. The station building was open, the rooms equally full of all sorts of things with price tags on. The station platform was crowded with more things. It was fascinating. An old train carriage out the back is where the owner apparently lives. We saw no-one there on our wandering around!

Avoca: On the junction of the Sunraysia and Pyrenees Hwys, Avoca is just 25 kms west of Maryborough. Gold was found here in the 1850s and the population soared to 14000 briefly. Today it is known as the gateway to the Pyrenees and its wine region. The welcome to town likes to remind you of that.

We discovered the small but nice Chinese Gardens, which pay tribute to the Chinese influx during the gold rush.

As is the fashion these days, if you want tourists and you have some old silos lying around, then commission an artist to do a mural or two. They do look good. The one at Avoca features a local native Barking Owl species. Apparently it's not finished yet, as the artist is going to include some luminous paint so it glows in the dark.

We had lunch at the self promoting pie shop. They had all sorts of unusual pies. We could have had crocodile and satay pie, camel pie (one hump or two?), buffalo pie or even mandarin duck pie... but boring as we are we chose regular pies! They were good though.

Carisbrook: Just 8 km's east of Maryborough, it started as a police lock up in the 1850s. We visited the old log prison which survives to this day. It took off as a town as it had a good water supply, not so much because of any gold found. Unfortunately those abundant water supplies became to much in both 2010 and 2011 when the area was flooded with much of the town underwater.

On the way back from Carisbrook, taking the scenic route we visited Tullaroop Reservoir. It was caches that took us that way, where we discovered some old school sites and gold sites. We also discovered the old bluestone Bucknall church, at the side of the reservoir in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately it is on private land and I don't know the story behind it, but an unusual place for it. Flew the drone in for a closer look.

Back in Maryborough, to escape the heat over a couple of afternoons we spent time at the local outdoor pool and also went to the cinema to see the new Spiderman movie at the old Paramount Theatre.

Maryborough has a bit of Scottish heritage to it - they have an active pipe band and the local bowls club is the Highland Club and holds within it the Pipes Bistro. So Ethan and I went there for dinner. I had a Highland Schnitzel - sounds like a blend of cultures! Outside is this cool metal sculpted piper.