Clunes
Historic goldmining town full of charm
Clunes was the site of Victoria's first gold strike. It is located in a steep valley surrounded by rounded hills which are actually extinct volcanoes (they can best be seen 3 km south along the road to Ballarat). It also happens to be one of the most intact 19th-century towns in the Central Goldfields boasting numerous sandstone, bluestone and brick buildings. Fraser St, the commercial centre, is wide and elegant, full of 19th-century shops with original store-fronts and distinctive verandahs, and lined with oak and elm trees planted last century. Film devotees may recognise Fraser St as, like the railway station, it was used in one of the Mad Max films.

Once a thriving gold town with a population well into the thousands Clunes is now down to about 1200 in an area principally given over to agriculture. It is located 147 km north-west of Melbourne via Creswick and 36 km north of Ballarat at an elevation of 311 metres.

Once occupied by the Wemba-Wemba people, the first European settler was Donald Cameron, an overlander from Sydney who took up a pastoral run in 1839, naming it Clunes after his birthplace in Scotland. Gold traces were first found on this property by a friend, William Campbell, in March 1850, although news of the find was concealed.

James Esmond was later shown the site of the find. Like Edward Hargreaves, who was involved in NSW's first gold strike, he was one of the few men in Australia who had some experience of gold-bearing quartz reefs as he, like Hargreaves, had been on the Californian goldfields. Esmond's tests verified the existence of the reefs and his findings were announced in the Geelong Advertiser on 7 July 1851, thereby initiating Victoria's first goldrush.

Individual prospectors found the reefs too deep, so major production only proceeded under the auspices of large companies using the latest equipment and skilled Cornish miners. The first was the Port Phillip and Colonial Gold Mining Company which, in 1857, struck a deal which gave them the exclusive right to mine some of Cameron's privately-owned land. The company in turn employed a syndicate of local miners to work in the underground mine. However, others began burrowing down into Port Phillip territory from outside the perimeter; a practice which led to some major subterranean fisticuffs.

Another major disturbance occurred in 1873 when the employees of the Lothair Mine went on strike over the mine owners' refusal to permit a cessation of mining at midday on Saturday. The company tried to use Chinese diggers from Ballarat as strikebreakers but they were pelted with debris when they arrived under police protection and were persuaded to depart. The strike was soon settled.

Whereas, with the success of the deep-lead mining, the population had increased from 1800 to 6000 in the 1860s, it started to decline when the mining slowed down in the 1880s . By 1900, when it had virtually ceased, 50 metric tonnes of gold had been extracted from 3 000 000 tonnes of quartz ore.

Interestingly, Peter Lalor, the leader of the Eureka Rebellion, became a resident of Clunes and the chairman of its water commission.

Notable portraitist John Langstaff was also born here in 1862. He won the Archibald Prize on five occasions and was the first Australian artist to receive a knighthood (1928). The town's Agricultural Show is held in November and the Gold Festival in March.

Things to see:  

Bottle Museum and Tourist Information
The Clunes Bottle Museum, at 70 Bailey St (at the corner with Suburban St) has over 6000 rare and unusual bottles dating back to the early goldrush era. This is reputed to be the largest collection of bottles in the Southern Hemisphere. It is housed in the 1870s schoolhouse of South Clunes State School which was a knitting mill from 1923 until very recently.

It also functions as the local information centre. There is, moreover, a woodwork gallery, a ceramic workshop, an art display, a restaurant and a gift shop. It is open from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. daily, tel: (03) 5345 3896.

Brochures available here outline walking tours of the town, Creswick Creek, the historic buildings and goldmining relics. There are also signposts around town which indicate sites associated with the gold era, such as the Port Phillip Mine (where gold was first found and where there were underground riots), the Lothair Mine (where the Chinese strikebreakers were repelled by local miners), the South Clunes Mine, the old gasworks and the cordial factory.

Bailey Street Buildings
Bailey St runs parallel to the town's main road (Fraser St) but at a higher elevation. It contains the prominent Mannerist courthouse and town hall (both completed in 1872). The latter was designed by the architect responsible for the Ballarat town hall.

The Italianate post office (1878), at the corner of Bailey and Service Sts, is now a second-hand bookshop. St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church dates from 1873.

Fraser Street
Commercial development began along the creek flats at the western end of Fraser St in the 1850s. However, few of those buildings remain. Business shifted further east along Fraser St in the 1870s and it is from this period that many of the present buildings date. Fraser St is wide and elegant, full of 19th-century shops with original storefronts and distinctive verandahs, and lined with oak and elm trees planted last century.

The former London Chartered Bank (1871), now the RSL clubrooms, is a two-storey cement-rendered building centred on a projecting porch with Tuscan columns and fronted by an iron-palisade fence.

The Club Hotel (1870) is a two-storey Classical Revival rendered building with an interesting verandah that is one of the few surviving examples of its type.

Other buildings in Fraser St are the 1865 Union Bank building (at the Templeton St corner), the former National Bank (1871), and the National Hotel (1862).

The Weavery Studio and Gallery features award-winning hand-woven wool items, including wall hangings, shawls, jackets and scarves, tel: (03) 5345 3414.

Clunes Museum
Next door to the Club Hotel, at 36 Fraser St, is the Clunes Museum, situated in a two-storey bluestone building that was originally a warehouse (c.1868). It contains an interesting collection of memorabilia from the gold era, a family research department and a craft shop. Tourist information can be obtained here, including maps and a brochure outlining a walking tour of the town. It is open from 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on Saturdays, 11.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on Sundays and all public and school holidays, or by appointment, tel: (03) 5345 3592 or, after hours, (03) 5345 3020.

Other Buildings
The Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church (1863) in Service St is a Gothic Revival structure with elaborate ornamentation, particularly on the octagonal tower with its weighty spire of patterned slates. St Andrew's Presbyterian Church (1861) is also located in Service St opposite the old Masonic hall (1868). St Paul's Church of England (1871) is in Alliance St.

The historic primary school is a splendid building which has recently been restored. It is situated in Canterbury St.

Parks
Victoria Park and Queens Park line the northern bank of Creswick Creek and are divided only by Cameron St. Both make ideal picnic areas. Queens Park was constructed out of earth removed from the creek when it was deepened to prevent flooding. The European elms and silver poplars were planted in the late 1870s and 1880s.

Creek Walk and Scenic Drive
A walking tracks meanders alongside Creswick Creek (where platypus can occasionally be seen), through the pleasant environs of Victoria Park, and up to the lookout which affords panoramic views of the town.

Nearby is the site of the old Port Phillip mine which produced over 16 metric tonnes of gold. A marker on the roadside indicates the proximity of the mine site which is on private (but unused) land behind the lookout. On the other side of the fence is another marker, established by the miners in the town's early days, which indicates the precise location of the original find which was the first gold strike in Victoria.

The lookout can also be accessed by car along Scenic Drive (go to the western end of Fraser St, cross the ford over Creswick Creek, then take the first right). There are information boards at both the foot and the crest of Scenic Drive which display photographs of how the area looked from these two perspectives in the gold days.

Butter Factory Gallery
The Butter Factory Gallery is located in Cameron St.

Mt Beckworth
Mount Beckworth State Park, 7 km south-west, is noted for its many birds and spring-time wildflowers and as the hideout of bushranger 'Captain Moonlite'. It is a good spot for picnicking, rock-climbing, birdwatching and bushwalks. Short-stay camping is available at Cork Oaks.

Head out of town along the Learmonth Rd and the signposts will appear after about 4 km (only the last section of road is gravel and that is of good quality).

Wineries
Mt Beckworth Wines, established in 1984, is located at RMB 915 Learmonth Rd. It produces chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet and shiraz and is open on weekends and public holidays from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and on weekdays by appointment, tel: (03) 5343 4207.

Further south on Clunes Rd, at Coghills Creek, is Eastern Peake Vineyard which was established in 1983 . It produces pinot noir, chardonnay and a blanc de noir known as 'Persuasion'. The cellar door is open from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. weekends or by chance, tel: (03) 5343 4245.

The Swamps
Merin Merin Swamp and Middle Swamp can be seen from the Newstead Rd about 10 km north of town. Walks and 4WD tracks lead into the area which is noted for its waterbirds.

Black Duck Hotel
18 km north-east, on the Newstead Rd, is the charming Black Duck Hotel which virtually constitutes the village of Campbelltown. Its somewhat isolated location is owing to the fact that it was built by a local property owner who was fed up with his employees travelling to Newstead and Clunes for alcoholic beverages. There are some other historic sites nearby such as the old school and football field.

	Motels
	Clunes Motel 46 Talbot Rd Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3092 Rating: **
	Hotels
	Club Hotel 34 Fraser St Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3250
	National Hotel Fraser St Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3203
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	Keebles Of Clunes Guesthouse (B&B) 114 Bailey St Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3220 Facsimile: (03) 5345 3200 Rating: ****
	Caravan Parks
	Clunes Caravan Park Purcell St Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3278 Rating: **
	Restaurants
	2Chefs of Clunes Fraser St Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3063 Facsimile: (03) 5345 4751
	Club Hotel 34 Fraser St Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3250
	Keebles Of Clunes Guesthouse 114 Bailey St Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3220
	National Hotel Fraser St Clunes VIC 3370 Telephone: (03) 5345 3203