Ararat, Vic

Day 3 Sunday 21/12/2025 Ararat, 10 – 20 wet

It’s quite a bit cooler today and by mid-morning the rain sets in.

Woody drops me off at the Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre and heads off for a ‘veranda walk’ of the town. Leaving me to soak up some history.

Ararat is the only Australian town founded by Chinese. Because the Victorian government had put a tax of £10 on Chinese arrivals (anti-Chinese immigration legislation*) the simple solution was to disembark in Robe, South Australia and walk overland to the goldfields around Ballarat and Bendigo. Ballarat was roughly 100Kms from Melbourne**, whereas Ballarat was a 400Km walk from Robe. In 1857 a group of Chinese miners from Taishan in Southern Quandong Province were nearing Ballarat when they stopped to rest. To their surprise they found enough alluvial gold to make camp and name the place Gum San, Gold Mountain. They had stumbled upon what would later be called the Canton Lead, an enormous field of alluvial gold.

In honour of their founders, Ararat volunteers and their sister city Taishan worked hard to create a lasting monument and museum to those Chinese miners. The building respects Chinese culture and superstitions and for authenticity Chinese roof tiles were needed. The skills required weren’t available here. The people of Taishan donated 56,000 roof tiles and sent four tilers to Ararat to lay the tiles and the roof decorations.

The students of the cities of Ararat and Taishan now take part in cultural exchanges.

We spend the wet afternoon indoors. Dinner is chicken rissoles cooked on the camp’s outdoor BBQ. The indoor camp kitchen is a tad busy tonight with holidaying families.

Accom: $38.00, Fuel: $82.45

*Eureka the Rush for Gold Minority miners | State Library of New South Wales.

To put it simply, there was a fear of difference at play. Miners of European descent didn’t trust the more diligent Chinese who through their patience obtained more gold. They looked different, spoke differently and their culture and customs weren’t understood. Many Chinese went back to China when gold became scarce, but many stayed to become a valuable part of our now multi-cultural society.

**With the thousands of miners trudging towards Ballarat in the 1850’s it is no surprise that there is a town part way, called Diggers Rest.

To see the extent of the gold leads in the Ararat area State Library Victoria – Ararat gold field [cartographic material] / geologically and topographically surveyed by Ferdinard M. Krausé under the direction of R. Brough Smyth, Secretary for Mines, The Honorable W. Collard Smith Minister for Mines ; lithographed by E.R. Morris.

For further info see also Ararat Goldfield Prospecting Maps – OzGeology

Footnote: Many thanks to the people of Ararat for creating this fabulous insight into their history.