Gold Mines Hotel Bendigo and other Victorian treasures.

The Gold Mines Hotel Bendigo

Bendigo in Central Victoria was literally built on a mid C19th Gold Rush legacy. The wives of 2 workers from the Mt Alex­ander North past­oral property changed history in 1851, washing alluvial gold nug­gets in Bend­igo Creek while doing the family washing.

Visit Victoria Hill Reserve to see open-cut shafts, poppet heads and an hist­oric gold battery feat­ure along walking paths cut through quar­tz reefs. c$8 bil­lion worth of gold in today’s value was found here, in an area that once boasted the world’s deepest mine. The mining res­erve is located 1 k from the CBD, opposite our hotel.

Climb up Rosalind Park’s poppet head, of­f­­ering a great view over Ben­d­igo. The local icon was origin­ally from one of Bendigo's rich­est min­es, and was moved to the park in 1931. Rosal­ind Park had been the or­ig­­inal tent settle­ment that arose when c800 miners ar­r­ived by Ch­ris­t­mas 1851. Within 6 months, 20,000+ people (Chinese, Ger­m­an, English, Ir­ish, Scottish, Welsh and American) descended on the goldfields to find their fortune.

Bendigo yielded more gold between 1851-1900 than anywhere else in the world. Much of the wealth remained, leaving a legacy of grand archit­ect­ure, historic gardens, fountains, statues and stately homes. Cent­ral Deborah Gold Mine was one of 5,500 registered gold mines on the famous goldfields, extracting 929kg of gold. In its long operat­ing era, the very deep Victoria Hill Mine yielded c$8bn worth of gold in today’s values.

Front entrance

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Dining room

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Gold Mines Hotel is part of the wealthy Victoria Hill. The hotel was designed and built in 1872 by famous Bendigo arch­it­ect­ural firm, Vah­land & Getzchmann. The Victorian-style hotel is separ­ated into pub­lic and commercial spaces on the 1st fl­oor incl­ud­ing the Gentleman’s Bar, Ladies Lounges, Victoria Room (orig­in­ally a board room) and Nor­folk Room (originally a sophist­icated Music Room). 2nd floor guest rooms include a private formal living-room, 2 bath­rooms, 4 bed­room suites, direct access to the lovely 3 ms wide balcony from west-fac­ing rooms, and rear access to the 1857 miners’ ballroom.

The hotel quickly represented the prosperity derived from Bendigo gold. Held by a family for 140+ years, the property stands as test­ament to self-made David Sterry and the energetic Sterry women who continued his legacy after his death. The elegant Vic­torian Gold Mines Hotel was funded by Sterry while he was Bendigo Mayor in 1878-79, min­utes from other beauties: View St Arts Prec­in­ct, Fortuna Villa, Sacred Heart Cathedral and Alexandra Fountain.

Gold Mines is a double-storey stucco brick hotel, featuring a formal en­t­rance with the original glass lantern and the hotel’s name. The façade, with its very ornate veranda and glass pan­el­ling, was the focus of recent restoration works - to the floor and balcony, and the recasting of broken cast iron lace panels.

Inside a grand cedar central staircase with fine st­ained glass wind­ows, opulent os­trich feat­her marble-look walls in the grand en­t­rance and up­st­airs hall­ways, hand grain­ed pine panel doors, deep architraves, frames and skirts, ar­ch­ed sash windows, rich Victorian detailing inc­luding dec­or­ative pl­asterwork and arch­ways with gold leaf trappings. Note the ornate ceil­­­ing roses and herit­age light fitt­ings, tim­ber and brass picture-rails, brass footstands, built-in cedar cabinetry and arched built in robes, tall height ceil­ings, orig­inal thick Bal­tic pine floors and pressed metal dad­os. There are 10 fire­places, beautiful marble and timber mantles, cast iron inserts and decorative mirrors.

The Mining Exchange, 1872

architect Charles Webb

Open House Melbourne

1.2 acres of historic gardens were designed and laid out by the St­­erry family as their private retreat, and made public later. They include garden rooms sep­ar­ated by sandstone walls, tiered garden beds and stone paths. Majestic peacocks used to roam­ around, but now the garden features gazebos ov­er­looking a stream. A covered area was made into an out­side bar, to cater for larger fun­ctions. This space was created from the stone-walled court­yard gar­den that adjoins the beautiful two storey stone building. This was part of the original 1857 Iron Bark Hotel housing the min­ers’ ball­room on the 2nd floor and now the comm­ercial kitchen and beer garden bar below. Its used for alfresco dining and live music.

The Gold Mines Hotel is of hist­oric sig­nificance through its re­lation­ship with the large Victoria Hill dig­g­ings and with Sterry, Mayor of Bendigo and Member of Parliam­ent. The Gold Mines Ho­te­l is arch­itectur­ally distinguished via its stucco facade and el­eg­antly proportioned cast iron veranda and bal­c­ony. Note the slend­er columns, and the pair­ed columns and pediment in the central bay of the veranda and balcony. And note the small bar rooms charact­eristic of hotels back then.

Rosalind Park poppet head, Bendigo 

Conclusion
The Nat­ional Trust listed Gold Mines Hotel as having a unique place in Bendigo life. The Heritage Protection Statement of Significance said: The prominent and free­­st­anding Gold Mines Hotel, designed in 1872 by the important Bend­igo architect­ural firm Vahland and Getzsch­mann for David Sterry, is a largely original example of a Victorian gold­­fields hotel. Some elements date back to 1857.

Only 19 UNESCO recog­nised sites are in Australia, including Uluru, Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House and Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne. Now historians say gold rush era architecture over the region should be included in the bid for listing by UNESCO­’s World Heritage Con­vent­ion, to recognise the collective import­ance of widesp­read sites inst­ead of only individual buildings.

So the imminent gold­­fields’ UNESCO bid should include mines, architectur­ally signif­icant buildings and natural landscapes i.e the Mining Exch­ang­e, stock ex­change of the Gold­fiel­ds, historic street­scapes hotels, churches, post off­ices, town halls and court houses.

Bendigo Town Hall

by architect William Vahland

completed 1885

margaretrivermail

Shamrock Hotel, built 1855 and rebuilt 1864

architect Phillip Kennedy

Victorian Heritage Register