Sovereign Hill
I enjoyed my first cup of coffee in rather more comfort than I'd originally planned, although the 'deluxe' studio isn't exactly the height of luxury.
I also looked into the doctor's consulting rooms, noting all the various implements: pliers for pulling teeth, saws for amputations. I was told that the blacksmith would pull teeth cheaper than the doctor!
My travelling coffee maker does make a very good cup of coffee even if it is a little fiddly to use.
After my shower I poked my head out of the door and there's a heavy frost outside and BOM says that it's currently -1 feels like -4. Brrr.
The location of this facility is remarkably close to Sovereign Hill, even closer via the back gate shortcut and creek-side walking track.
At Sovereign Hill, I started by checking out the butcher shop. Mutton was on offer, with the same recipe for boiled mutton as for turbo chook, although since turbo chook (aka native hen) is endemic to Tasmania, this comparison is meaningless to Victorians.
On to the Chinese Quarter, where living conditions certainly would have been 'cosy', sometimes with 3 beds to a tent. I guess the more 'substantial', partly bark, partly wood, usually canvas roof, huts would have belonged to those who had already had some success. Some of the huts had little vegetable gardens adjoining them, and little beehives, I think.
One of the ladies, with whom I later talked, suggested that the antagonism towards the Chinese (or Celestials as they were then known) was triggered by jealousy - in many ways the Chinese were more organised, with their gardens, their traditional remedies for malaise, and their, by necessity, close knit community.
An early guided orientation tour was a very useful introduction.
I then popped over to look at one of the schools; a visiting school group, all dressed up appropriately, were sitting in the school benches. Their teachers proceeded to instruct them to recite the 16 times table.
I visited the Mechanics Institute and Free Library, which has a wonderful collection of old books, behind locked glass doors of course, including a classic old natural history book.
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| Inside the theatre |
I had a lovely conversation with the lady in the apothecary and we speculated on the 'hit and miss' nature of the remedies of the day,
I also looked into the doctor's consulting rooms, noting all the various implements: pliers for pulling teeth, saws for amputations. I was told that the blacksmith would pull teeth cheaper than the doctor!
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| The Doctor's Desk |
I visited a couple of the houses where the middle class lived and had some very informative conversations with the ladies there, and we reflected on how difficult life would have been for the women who were widowed.
I stopped to greet a lady and gentleman in the street; one knew she was a lady by the crinoline defined skirt, and one knew he was a gentleman of some importance (and wealth, he informed me) by the height of his hat!
And as for discussions about toilet arrangements, probably the least said the better!
The candlemakers originally used tallow, which did not smell particularly sweet, and the identification of the associated business as Fellmonger interested me - it's a great word and one I first encountered in James Herriot's books when he talks about Jeff Mallock, the knackerman, who preferred to designate himself a 'fellmonger'
I went on down to watch the gold pour and that was rather interesting; hugely high temperatures required to melt gold.
I managed to visit the sweet shop when it wasn't besieged by school children and purchased some aniseed drops to supplement the lovely ginger drops that I had purchased at the apothecary.
I then crossed the street to check out the Welcome Nugget, at 2217oz, still the second largest nugget every found.
A sign advertising baths had me wondering what the arrangements were for women. They, apparently, were just expected to manage as best they could in their own at home. Water was of course difficult to procure, often fairly polluted and needed to be used very conservatively.
I stopped in at the blacksmith and watched him work for a little, including putting what he was working on in a barrel of water. That prompted a question that I thought of when I was watching the gold pouring: why, when the ingot of gold was put into water to cool the white hot ingot, didn't it cause the water to boil. Apparently, while it boils the water immediately around it, it creates a little air bubble that prevents the heat being transferred to the rest of the water and thus heating it up.
The whole experience here really is delightfully immersive with people in costume and in role as well, in the houses, the shops and other businesses.
A Self-Guided tour of the Red Hill Mine was a bit of a challenge. I didn't realise I would not be able to see where I was putting my feet, and while there was some light along the tunnels it was not a lot, so I proceeded slowly.
I walked up to watch the Redcoats do their parade and their presentation of arms, which of course were fired with not inconsiderable noise.
Then across the road to a fashion tour, and I must admit it was not what I expected. A couple of volunteers took me down into basically what is a museum archive section.
There were a few garments in boxes that had been selected and quite a bit of storytelling to go with them. As we discussed the way in which the garments were made. We also looked at some sewing machines that were in their collection.
The first garment was a day dress from about 1860 belonging to Eliza Perrin. Definitely pre-sewing machine. The interesting story to go with it was about Eliza, who was initially abandoned at 3 months pregnant by her new husband who came to seek his fortune on the goldfields. She followed him to Australia, with her small daughter, and found him on the goldfields. She also found he was not the man she thought she married, as he was partial to excessive drinking, gambling and beating her. Remarkably, she took a complaint to the magistrate and the magistrate upheld her complaint; that surprised me greatly - for that time that a woman's word would be taken in a matter like that. It's good.
Anyway, she eventually made good and bought property in her own right and became quite the entrepreneur. The dress is somewhat remarkable in as much as it seems to have been her only dress for many years, seeing her through seven pregnancies, and is the only daydress that they have in their collections.
We proceeded to another dress that was actually the wedding dress of Eliza's daughter.
And then a third, magnificent, silk ball dress, probably machine sewn, belonging to another Eliza who rather fancied herself as somebody out here in the colonies. This had the most intriguing and beautiful buttons.
I was then shown a late 1960s number and I wondered why. But the local interest factor is very strong! It was made by a woman, who after being widowed twice in the 1970s, created an amazing clothing factory - the House of Lucas, employing hundreds of women, training them well, and the quality of her output was such that she actually made Pierre Cardin designs under licence along with designs of another really well known designer.
She also was the first to introduce the nylon tricot wash and wear fabrics, and while the design of the dress on display was one I was very familiar with, having made one like it back then, and the fabric that dreadful synthetic knit that one sweated just to look at, her story is quite remarkable.
I was also shown a man's outfit, the court dress of the Honourable James Goodall, one of the governors of Victoria, who was responsible for introducing free and compulsory education for primary students.
I returned to the main part of Sovereign hell and explored a couple of areas I had not yet visited and revisited the drapery and milliners, and admired the lovely Clydesdale horses that provide carriage rides for clients.
I then went down to the diggings, looked at the rest of the Chinese quarter and tried my hand at gold panning. I may have had the most microscopic fleck in my pan but it certainly wasn't going to make my fortune or even pay for my lunch.
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| "Other drinks" (aka sly grog) causes the proprietor to be arrested by the constabulary at regular intervals |
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