A heritage trail * Sixtyexpress

Australia

Around Bathurst it has been boom and bust. This is very evident in the next few stop off points. Gold was discovered in Hill End .When people say ‘There’s gold in them hills’, they were talking about this area. The country is rough with quartz outcrops.

At its peak, 7000 people occupied the area. All that remain are shafts, a few pieces of equipment, and walls that held stampers , bridges or spillways. Sorry you got sunburnt……it didn’t look that far on the map.

All that is left of a £4000 stamper building

Hill End has been declared a heritage area . Many of the original buildings are there. Some have found new roles.

Artists are invited to come and stay to use the area for inspiration. This is reflected in the heritage centre that has visual and auditory displays as well as a few static displays.

Sofala, a short distance from Hill End , was also a gold town. Unlike Hill End, it does not have the same sense of history. There are some historical buildings but they are not well maintained so feel a bit lost.

Kandos does not have the history of its neighbours. It does however have a strong sense of comraderie and community. We watched silent films of the area ,listened to some of the local ladies stories and joined the locals at the pub. Everywhere we went in the town, there was a feeling of welcome.

A few kilometres from Kandos is Rylestone. It has history by the buckets. The village has been listed but all the buildings have found a modern purpose either as a commercial enterprise or home. People have just adjusted its purpose. A good example is the community hall…….it has been a meeting place, a wedding venue, dance hall , movie theatre and is still the hub of community events. Each sign has some quirky fact to help you relate to those people of the past e.g when the first police station was built there was no secure jail. Prisoners were attached by a chain through a hole in the wall and the policeman had it around his wrist to jerk it during the night to check the prisoner was still there.

Muswellbrook is a sprawling mining town. The only special feature we saw was the cattle dog statue. Did you enjoy your sandwich? Time to go. Homeward!