Hill End, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
town in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in Bathurst Regional Council
Bathurst Regional Council
Bathurst Regional Council administers the Bathurst Region Local Government Area in New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately 200 km west of Sydney and has a population of 37,001 . It is on the Great Western Highway, Mid-Western Highway, Mitchell Highway and the Main Western railway...
. It owes its existence to the New South Wales gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
of the 1850s, and at its peak in the early 1870s it had a population estimated at 8,000 served by two newspapers, five banks, eight churches, and twenty-eight pubs. Its decline when the gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
gave out was dramatic: by 1945 the population was 700. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Hill End had a population of 166 people.
The wealthy Scott Pearson had the foresight to employ Beaufoy Merlin to record daily life in the town at its peak; his photographs can be found in the town museum/visitor information centre. The glass plate negatives are held in the State Library of New South Wales
State Library of New South Wales
The State Library of New South Wales is a large public library owned by the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Macquarie Street, Sydney near Shakespeare Place...
.
In the late 1940s it was discovered by artists Russell Drysdale
Russell Drysdale
Sir George Russell Drysdale, AC was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for Sofala in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1954...
—who painted possibly his best known work, The cricketers
The cricketers
The cricketers is a 1948 painting by the Australian artist Russell Drysdale. The painting depicts three boys set among the buildings in an empty town; two playing cricket and the other watching...
here—and Donald Friend
Donald Friend
Donald Stuart Leslie Friend was an Australian artist, writer and diarist.- Early life :Born in Sydney, precociously talented both as an artist and a writer, Friend grew up in the artistic circle of his bohemian mother...
, and quickly became an artists' colony — the Hill End artist-in-residence program aims to ensure the continuity of this connection. Today, Hill End is a popular tourist destination and the locals are always willing to tell newcomers the story of Christopher Charles.
Modern Day Hill End
National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales)
The National Parks and Wildlife Service is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales, Australia....
(NPWS), however it is still home to a handful of residents operating the local pub, general store, cake store and antique store. The National Parks and Wildlife Service runs a museum just off the main road which contains many original photos and items of equipment from the busy days of the gold rush.
NPWS has installed signs around the town to give visitors an idea of what was once in place on the now empty lots of land. Currently only a handful of buildings remain in their original form. However most of those buildings still serve the purpose they did back during the gold rush. Access to the town's lookouts is via gravel roads. A walking track in the town leads to a mine and other ruins.
The most popular tourist activity in Hill End is gold panning
Gold panning
Gold panning, or simply panning, is a form of placer mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan. The process is one of the simplest ways to extract gold, and is popular with geology enthusiasts because of its cheap cost and the relatively simple and easy process involved. It is the...
, with some of the older members of the community running gold panning tours in the very same fossicking areas that yielded the gold which brought on the gold rush. Metal detectors or gold panning are not allowed within the historic site, however there is a fossicking area just past the cemetery, off the Mudgee Road. Fossicking equipment and tours can be hired from Hill End township.
Due to the extensive mining in the area, it is advisable to stay on marked walking tracks or roads as mine shafts and unstable ground may be found.
Visiting Hill End
The Royal Hotel and the local Bed and Breakfasts offer accommodation, and there is a range of camping options within the town limits.Communications in Hill End are limited to the local payphone and some mobile phones.
Bridle Track
Hill End remains as an excellent 4WD destination. The most exciting of these is the Bridle Track which runs from Duramana (North of BathurstBathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
) directly to the town centre of Hill End. Generally the track can be classified as an easy track, however extreme care must be taken as the road surface has been known to change during the different seasons and after heavy rain during which it can become challenging for the unwary.
The Bridle Track begins as a narrow tar-covered road, however it later changes to dirt. Much of the last 20 km is single-lane, and will not allow any overtaking which makes things awkward to come across on-coming traffic. It is also strongly suggested not to attempt to travel along the track after nightfall or after heavy rain, as the track does skirt around some very large drops. Ideally a vehicle should be fitted with Low Range
Transfer case
A transfer case is a part of a four-wheel-drive system found in four-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive vehicles. The transfer case is connected to the transmission and also to the front and rear axles by means of drive shafts...
to complete this track.
The Bridle Track is currently closed due to a rock slide at Monaghans Bluff.
Access
- From Sofala, New South WalesSofala, New South WalesSofala is a village located approximately 250 km north-west of Sydney, New South Wales, within Bathurst Regional Council. It is located beside the Turon River. Sofala is just off the Bathurst-Ilford Road, with only local traffic through the town itself...
which is ~ 38 km along unsealed road.Most of this road is now sealed.
- From Mudgee which is around 75 km and the route passes through Hargraves.
- From Bathurst, New South WalesBathurst, New South Wales-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
via Turondale is around 75km and fully sealed as of March 2010.
Camping
- The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) provides several camping sites and information can be found at National Parks Service
- The NPWS can be contacted on (02) 6337 8206 for more information.
See also
- Sofala, New South WalesSofala, New South WalesSofala is a village located approximately 250 km north-west of Sydney, New South Wales, within Bathurst Regional Council. It is located beside the Turon River. Sofala is just off the Bathurst-Ilford Road, with only local traffic through the town itself...
- Capertee, New South WalesCapertee, New South WalesCapertee is a village 45km north of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia located on an elevated site above the Capertee Valley. In 2006, the town had a population of 72 people. Situated on the Castlereagh Highway between Lithgow and Mudgee, Capertee is surrounded by National Parks and grazing land...
- Bathurst, New South WalesBathurst, New South Wales-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
- Australian gold rushesAustralian gold rushesThe Australian gold rush started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hammond Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir.Eight months later, gold was found in Victoria...
- Gold miningGold miningGold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...