I've got two words for you. Road trip. And Bendigo is the chosen destination. Bendigo is located in central Victoria, in the Victorian goldfields area approximately 2 hours northwest of Melbourne. The Bendigo you see today was built on the back of the gold rush. Back in the 1850's, the discovery of gold changed the face of Bendigo. An influx of people, from all over the world, led to a surge in Bendigo's population, increasing from a few hundred people to a population of 20,000 between 1851 & 1852. As the alluvial gold began to disappear, deep reef mining began. The experience of those miners from Cornwall & Wales was invaluable here, in developing techniques for extracting gold from underground mines. By the 1880's, the combined wealth from the alluvial gold & that from the deep reef mines saw Bendigo become one of the richest places in the world. With the increase in wealth came an increase in development. It was during this era that Bendigo underwent a face lift with the construction of many public buildings. The architectural grandeur of these buildings is reminiscent of European cities. This late Victorian style is very ornate & rather austere. Buildings such as the Town Hall (1885), the Post Office (1887), the Capital Theatre (1889) & the Law Courts (1896), just to name a few, still exist today but have undergone elaborate restorations to return them to their former glory.
Photo: The Military Museum
Photo: The Capital Theatre
Photo: Alexandra Fountain
Rosalind Park is a beautiful park located right on the edge of the CBD. Within its 60 acre area of grassy open space you'll find a conservatory (1897), meandering paths & a lush open-air fernery complete with ferns & palms, rockeries, gravel paths & a cascading waterfall. At the moment, Bendigo has its annual spring tulip display, with numerous beds of tulips numbering up to 50,000 bulbs. Mind you, the warm weather stints we're having has played havoc with them & they're looking a tad sad.
Within the grounds of Rosalind Park & a short walk up the hill is Poppet Head Lookout. The tower was erected in its current location in 1931 & is an artefact from the Garden Gully Mine. Climbing the stairs up to the top landing offers spectacular 360 degree views of Bendigo. At the base of the tower is a heritage mosaic that depicts aspects of Bendigo's history. It is designed to be viewed from above, on one of the landings.
Photo: Poppet Head Lookout
The Chinese Museum portrays the contribution & role of the Chinese in the community, from the gold rush era to present day. The Chinese comprised approximately 17% of the people that surged into Bendigo in their lust to find gold. At the time, China was a place of political unrest & economic hardship, so migrants believed they were escaping their old life for a better, more prosperous life. Europeans, however, had a deep mistrust of the Chinese, as their appearance, their dress & their way of life was so different. The Chinese were heavily taxed to try & discourage them, but still they came. Some Chinese made their fortune & returned home, but those who weren't successful or who weren't married remained in the area.
The museum houses pieces of Chinese art, furniture, artefacts from the gold rush period, photos & newspaper articles & dioramas of a gold rush camp & Chinese places of business. There is also a Chinese garden & a Chinese temple to honour Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy.
Photo: the entrance gate to the Chinese Museum
Photo: this carriage was hand carved from serpentine jade. Exquisite.
Photo: the Chinese garden
The museum also houses a number of Chinese dragons. It boasts the presence of the oldest & the longest Imperial dragons. Loong is Cantonese for dragon. Loong, the dragon is a symbol of Imperial power & of male vigour & fertility. Sun Loong is the longest dragon in the world, measuring over 100 metres in length. He requires 60 people to carry him. The dragons are brought out to celebrate different occasions. Sun Loong is brought out on Easter Sunday. This date has no religious significance to the Chinese, they simply use it to further their charity work in the community. In essence, they see it as repaying old debts, for the care by the local hospital of those single, aged men who were destitute with no one to care for them in the gold camps.
Photo: the dragon, Sun Loong, the longest Imperial dragon in the world
The museum was purpose built to house the dragons. The heads of the two longest, Loong & Sun Loong are located on the bottom floor of a round room. The bodies then wind up a ramp following the curve of the wall, to a second level, where the tail finishes. The other dragons are arranged on different areas on the ramp.
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