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Sovereign Hill

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Step back in time and experience Australia's exciting goldrush days at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat. Set on a former goldmining site, this award winning outdoor museum recreates in fascinating detail the hustle and bustle of life in the 1850s.

In the diggings you can pan for REAL gold! Witness $50,000 of molten gold being poured into a bullion bar on the hour at Sovereign Hill's Goldpour. Go 13 metres underground on a tour of the Red Hill Mine, which uses life-size, moving "holograms" to reincarnate battling Cornish miner, Richard Jeffrey as he stumbles on what was the biggest gold nugget ever found, the Welcome Nugget - at 69 kilograms, still the second largest nugget in the world.

At night, Sovereign Hill stages the spectacular sound and light show "Blood on the Southern Cross", which tells the story of Australia's only civil uprising - the Eureka Rebellion of 1854.

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Further Information: Sovereign Hill's Main Street is busy with people in colourful costumes and horse-drawn vehicles. Craftsmen are at work throughout the township, with a wide variety of shops and businesses open to purchase goods - grocers, candlemaker, blacksmith, tin smith's and jewellers to name a few. At the Hope Bakery, pastry cakes and breads are freshly baked each day in the wood-fired brick oven. You can play bowls, be photographed in Victorian costume, enjoy live street performances and ride in horsedrawn coaches.
Further Information: Across the road from Sovereign Hill is the Gold Museum which houses an extensive and valuable collection of gold nuggets, alluvial deposits, gold ornaments and coins. Beyond the gold experience, you can also explore a series of galleries offering new and fascinating exhibitions drawn from the Gold Museum's extensive historical collections, along with a number of touring exhibitions.