Webinar Series: Unearthing Gold Histories

Webinar Session 1: Unearthing Hidden Histories on the Goldfields

It’s now 175 years since gold discoveries in California and Australia stirred excitement across the globe and set in motion an unprecedented wave of human migration to the goldfields of the Pacific. In this session, Sharni Brownbridge and Ben Mountford from Australian Catholic University will reflect on their latest research on some of the hidden histories of the goldfields. 

Sharni Brownbridge is a PhD Candidate at Australian Catholic University, studying at ACU’s the Ballarat campus. Her PhD focuses on womens’ community contributions in the Ballarat region between 1830 and 1860, as well as those connected to it during the gold rushes. As part of her research, she works with Sovereign Hill museum and collections to find stories which have been previously overlooked. 

Ben Mountford is Director of the Centre for Regional Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (RHASS) and Associate Professor of History at Australian Catholic University. He is the author of the award-winning book on Britain, China and Colonial Australia (2016), has coedited three books in the fields of global and imperial history, and was co-editor of the journal History Australia 2022-24. Ben is currently working on a history of how the nineteenth century gold rushes impacted Victorian Britain. 

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Webinar Session 2: Uncovering lesser-known stories of Victorian Goldfields towns, How Gold Created a Town 

This presentation will describe how the discovery of gold in May 1855 on the Emu Hill pastoral run, about 35 kilometres south-west of Ballarat, commenced a transformation of this peaceful landscape. By then already occupied by pastoralists from Scotland who had displaced the original Wathawurrung people, this place became known as Lintons’ Diggings, a feverish hive of gold seekers living in tents. Ultimately, it developed into a permanent settlement that became a town called Linton. 

While a ‘three cheers’ approach to the history of the gold rush tends to celebrate enormous gold finds and quick riches, I will use the history of this one small town to illustrate a more nuanced picture. I will include the often-forgotten role of women on the goldfields, the influence of the Chinese, and the impact on children and the environment. And I will challenge the Australian ‘progress story’ about gold seeking as stimulating ‘a spirit of individualist enterprise which militated against class and industrial conflict.’  

Jill Wheeler has a PhD in History from the University of Melbourne. Her thesis was a history of a small goldfields town in South Western Victoria called Linton, which resulted in a publication entitled Linton Makes History: an Australian Goldfields Town and Its Past in 2015. It received a Commendation in the History Publication Award category at the Victorian Community History Awards in 2015.  Jill has been President of the Linton and District Historical Society since 2010 and with her co author Del Atkinson has since published Linton: A Photographic History in 2017 and An Historic Walk-Drive Tour of Linton in 2019. Jill takes an active interest in the preservation of history and heritage in Linton and the Golden Plains Shire and has twice received a Senior Citizen of the Year award for her services to local history preservation and promotion in the Shire’s Australia Day awards. 

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Webinar Session 3: Unearthing World Heritage, Victorian Goldfields World Heritage bid journey so far 

Join us for an engaging talk on the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage bid, exploring the rich cultural and historical significance of this remarkable landscape. Discover how the region’s unique heritage, shaped by the nineteenth century gold rush and the enduring custodianship of Victorian’s First Peoples, is being recognised and conserved. We’ll share insights into the collaborative efforts, challenges faced, and the vision for safeguarding this vital part of Australia’s history for future generations. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the journey toward securing World Heritage status! 

Members of the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage bid; Susan Fayad, World Heritage and Regional Development Lead, City of Ballarat, Trevor Budge, World Heritage – Strategic Projects Officer, City of Greater Bendigo, and Lana Epshteyn, World Heritage Engagement Officer, City of Ballarat. 

Register for the Webinar here.

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