Fryerstown courthouse
The good folk of Fryerstown needed community facilities built locally, so that the citizens would not have to travel to the next big town every day. The Fryerstown National School opened in Feb 1853 in a tent at the Commissioners Camp at Golden Gully with 27 pupils. By 1865 locals decided that a proper new schoolhouse was needed and in July 1866 a new building was erected. Fryerstown State School No 252 was probably never very beautiful but in the late 1860s the school enrolment was 450 pupils, so this building was very important to the Fryerstown community. By 1874 the Education Department had to build additional rooms. The school served the town well until 1967 when it closed for lack of interest; the last 3 students were relocated.
Fryerstown School
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A Post Office was opened in 1854, a courthouse and police lockup were built in 1880. The court was later converted into a private residence, but we can guess from photos what it looked like back then - ornate bluestone foundations, baltic pine timber, pressed metal ceiling, slate roofing, cruciform shape, cathedral ceilings and leadlight windows.
By the late 1850s, surface gold in the area was beginning to diminish, so if gold mining was to continue, they would need larger companies to raise finance. From Britain. Richard Luke Kitto was a Cornish immigrant, engineer and surveyor who arrived in 1856, and started mining. He was appointed the Mining Registrar at Fryer's Creek in 1860. Kitto obtained the lease of the Duke of Cornwall Quartz Mining Company, to raise capital to dig out the deepest gold. In 1867 he sailed to England to raise the capital required, forming the Australian United Gold Mining Company in 1868. It may not have been the greatest of successes, financially speaking, but the Duke of Cornwall Mine still stands.
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By the late 1850s, surface gold in the area was beginning to diminish, so if gold mining was to continue, they would need larger companies to raise finance. From Britain. Richard Luke Kitto was a Cornish immigrant, engineer and surveyor who arrived in 1856, and started mining. He was appointed the Mining Registrar at Fryer's Creek in 1860. Kitto obtained the lease of the Duke of Cornwall Quartz Mining Company, to raise capital to dig out the deepest gold. In 1867 he sailed to England to raise the capital required, forming the Australian United Gold Mining Company in 1868. It may not have been the greatest of successes, financially speaking, but the Duke of Cornwall Mine still stands.
The Methodist Goldfields Chapel church was built in 1861 when gold prospectors were flooding into the area. The stone building was used as a church until 1971 when it was sold and turned into a holiday retreat.
Perhaps the nicest facility arrived when the local inhabitants of Fryerstown decided to build a memorial to show their sorrow for the fate of the explorers who had sacrificed their lives in crossing the continent. The doomed explorers, Burke and Wills, both died in June 1861, so it was amazing that the money was raised by the end of that year! There was actually an outpouring of grief for these heroic men across the state. By 1862 monuments had been erected in Back Creek Cemetery Bendigo, on the hill overlooking Castlemaine, in Beechworth and of course Fryerstown. Then Ballarat erected their Explorer's Fountain.
Perhaps the nicest facility arrived when the local inhabitants of Fryerstown decided to build a memorial to show their sorrow for the fate of the explorers who had sacrificed their lives in crossing the continent. The doomed explorers, Burke and Wills, both died in June 1861, so it was amazing that the money was raised by the end of that year! There was actually an outpouring of grief for these heroic men across the state. By 1862 monuments had been erected in Back Creek Cemetery Bendigo, on the hill overlooking Castlemaine, in Beechworth and of course Fryerstown. Then Ballarat erected their Explorer's Fountain.
Mechanics Institute,
named in honour of Burke and Wills
Victorian Places
Dreamstime
And there are still some other Fryerstown sites of great interest to the history buff. The state school had to be restored in 2011 as part of a service for tourists i.e to improve accessibility to the Goldfields Track, a walking & mountain bike track connecting Ballarat and Bendigo via small towns in between. And to provide support for the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid that was largely focused on Castlemaine’s Diggings National Heritage Park.
These days the Fryerstown Hall is best known for its annual antique fair every Australia Day long weekend, attracting a nationwide commitment by stall holders and thousands of visitors. It is an old building which requires maintenance and that is why the fair, which is a huge undertaking for a small town, is run each January. The fair will ensure that the hall is kept going and maintained for future generations. First held in 1975, the Fair is one of the largest in Australia. And the recently refurbished old Fryerstown School was also opened for inspection.
These days the Fryerstown Hall is best known for its annual antique fair every Australia Day long weekend, attracting a nationwide commitment by stall holders and thousands of visitors. It is an old building which requires maintenance and that is why the fair, which is a huge undertaking for a small town, is run each January. The fair will ensure that the hall is kept going and maintained for future generations. First held in 1975, the Fair is one of the largest in Australia. And the recently refurbished old Fryerstown School was also opened for inspection.
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26 comments:
Fascinating period,
it's good that the buildings have been preserved and some are used to buy antiques.
I really like places like this,
thanks for the presentation and photos!
It was an interesting read!
Thanks Hels. Very interesting.
"Fryerstown decided to build a memorial to show their sorrow for the fate of the explorers who had sacrificed their lives in crossing the continent."
I'm actually surprised that these explorers were crossing the Australian continent. At what point, could we say that Asutralia had been fully explored by the non-natives?
I like the idea that the creek and the town were named after a pre-gold rush pastoralist, Peter Fryer. What did he do that was so special, his name was honoured for ever?
I like this town very much! I'd like to visit it too!
How interesting Hels. I'm pleased to read the town is being preserved, so many are not and hardly anything remains of many mining towns of the past.
Katerina
The Victorian gold rush lasted from the 1850s-late 1860s. It was a period of great prosperity and great population grown in the Australian colony. Migrants from around the world came, particularly to Central Victoria, in search of sudden wealth. By 1852, serious architecture was arriving.
Liam
Of course the history of Indigenous Australia went back thousands of years before formal British colonisation arrived in 1788. But Australia was treated by the British as a colony of settlement, not of conquest. So there was no place the Europeans could not go and no time when they couldn't fully explore the continent.
Deb
The town is located on the banks of Fryers Creek, also named after pastoralist Peter Fryer settled in the area during the 1840s. This was years before gold was ever heard of, and people for very grateful for Fryer's warm support. Many of the settlers were Methodist, there being Wesleyans, Bible Christians etc.
Irina
The best time to visit is the Australia Day Weekend at the end of every January. The Fryerstown Annual Antique Fare attracts antique traders and collectors who are attracted to the area every year, attending stalls all over the place. Then visit all the fascinating 19th century facilities. Wear summer hats :)
It sounds a fascinating town to visit. Lots of historical places to get your teeth into.
Margaret
Visit Melbourne said "The best place to witness the legacy of the gold rush is in Victoria's Goldfields region, where ornate buildings, historic gardens and a Chinese heritage proudly proclaim the discovery of gold. Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine have some of Victoria's best examples of the architecture that gold built. Some small towns like Maldon, Dunolly and Talbot have exquisitely preserved Victorian streetscapes."
I lived in Bendigo and visited Ballarat very often, but never Fryerstown.
It's true, I had never heard of Fryerstown, though we often travelled through Victoria and NSW on trips between Qld and SA. "Captain Leadfoot" was always in a hurry to get there and again to get home, so side trips were unusual.
Fun60
Welcome :) The history and architecture of all of central Victoria is wonderful. But Fryerstown was lucky in that many of the important buildings were preserved and protected.
River
Going from one capital city to another is an efficient way of travelling, I suppose, but you miss out on some of Australia's unique landscape, towns and history. Tell Capt Leadfoot that some of the pubs in gold rush towns are totally gorgeous - he should take his camera, sit outside an 19th century pub and drink some icy beer.
Boa tarde uma excelente terça-feira, com muita paz e saúde. Parece uma cidade e lugar maravilhoso. Quem me dera visitar um dia.
Hello Hels, It seems that Fryerstown has preserved its history without making a tourist trap of it. I would gladly attend that antique show to support the town, and would like to live in the old court house. (If you buy the court house, does that make you judge, jury, and executioner?) But most of all I would like to see a photo of that 1863 band, and if extant some of the instruments.
--Jim
I did not know about this place, but it is a place I would like to visit, the photos are wonderful
My normally reasonable all round knowledge has failed me on this count, so thanks for highlighting what remains of an important town, and its history.
Luiz
You would love the experience. In fact you might find the Australian seasons, gold rushes, important mining history, deserts and difficult issues for indigenous populations .. very familiar.
Parnassus
Fryerstown doesn't have its own history museum, but the nearby city of Castlemaine (10 ks away) does. Thus people visit Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park in the Victorian Goldfields region. Their publication called "Reminiscences of Fryerstown" may include information about the band.
Jo-Anne
Drive south as slowly as you'd like, or take a train from Sydney to Castlemaine.
You will have an excellent time.
Andrew
Fryerstown was only an important town if you are interested in Australian history - colonialisation, gold rush, agriculture, 19th century architecture etc.
Needless to say, I am VERY interested :)
I love old towns like this and am especially appreciative of Gold Rush towns. The school was big! Considering that I went to a very large high school and we were 2000, that is a large school for those days. I like the photo of the old mine
Major gold rushes were all over the New World in the 19th century including Australia, South Africa, USA, Canada and Brasil etc. In all of these places, gold seekers played an important role in the settlement of the frontier, the development of colonies by people who had presumably struggled financially in their old countries. Jobs, schools, churches, agriculture etc became vital.
Wow, is this now a ghost town? The building look really well kept, but I suppose if people lived there into the 1960's (or later) they wouldn't be too derelict. I love old towns and trying to picture in my mind what it was a like earlier.
Erika
it was a very busy rural town during the Gold Rush, and although it is much smaller this century, we cannot call it a ghost town. However people have to shop in nearby towns and buy their petrol elsewhere. I suppose the most useful source of local information is Fryerstown's Community Notice Board.
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