Historic tours: Convict era v the gold rush

By Mal Chenu

At the Tower of London, the Beefeaters conducting the tours like to ask, "Are there any Orstralians here?" before adding, "Well, you'll feel right at home, won't you?" As much as these carnivorous comedians might like a Limey laugh at our expense, the destitute, desperate souls the British justice system transported to "the colonies" to serve harsh sentences for pinching a loaf of bread to feed their starving children carved out the humble beginnings of the prosperous nation that now kicks their arrogant pommy arses at cricket.

Now, I don't want to pan the gold rush (or sift through the boring alluvial details) but these gilded treasure hunts happened in lots of places. Travelling Aussie history buffs worth their tot of rum should focus on the felons.

Around 166,000 men, women and children were sent here between 1787 and 1868. The significance of our convict era was confirmed in 2010 when UNESCO inscribed 11 penal sites in the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage listing, one of only 20 such listings in the whole country, none of which are gold-digging holes in the ground.

These fascinating sites can be found in Fremantle, Tasmania, Norfolk Island and, of course, Sydney, where our story begins with the landing of the first fleet - and 775 convicts - in 1788.

A guided walking tour around The Rocks and Circular Quay will acquaint you with the earliest days of this dodgy relocation experiment, and show you relics and monuments, cobblestone alleyways, sandstone ruins cut by hand, secret hideouts, historic pubs and doss houses. Cadmans Cottage is one of the few remaining buildings from the period and is an early example of Sydneysiders' obsession with harbourfront property.

From the Quay, you can catch a ferry to the Cockatoo Island Convict Site, or walk to Hyde Park Barracks, which was designed by convict architect Francis Greenway during the harsh but productive tenure of Governor Macquarie.

Read more on Explore:

Port Arthur Historic Site, about 90 minutes from Hobart, was a nasty place for convicts but is now one of Australia's favourite tourist destinations. It was built in the 1830s, and the cruelty here even extended to psychological torture in the Separate Prison, where prisoners were hooded and kept in silence, or subjected to endless religious instruction at the Convict Church.

About 1400 kilometres east of Sydney, Norfolk Island was reserved for "the worst description of convicts", many of whom were given a choice between the gallows and life on the Pacific outpost. The ruins and restored buildings around Kingston are a riveting testament to what Marcus Clarke described as "Hell in Paradise" in his novel For the Term of His Natural Life. In a further thrill for history buffs, the island is also home to the descendants of mutineers of HMS Bounty, another black eye for the poms.

By Amy Cooper

Last month a tourist in country Victoria went home with a far better souvenir than he'd expected: a 2.6-kilogram gold nugget worth $240,000, fossicked with his metal detector. Australia's gold rush history really is the gift that keeps on giving. Our country's convict past is undoubtedly educational and unique, and let's hope we've learnt from it. But on holiday I'd rather my vibe was happy, not haunting. Call me a gold digger, but wouldn't you prefer a keepsake that might pay off your credit cards to a replica cat o' nine tails keychain?

Let's start where that fortunate fossicker struck gold: Victoria's "golden triangle", scene of major 19th-century gold fever. It was a real pan-demic with almost two million kilos of gold extracted between 1851 and 1896. The crazy rich history makes for scenic drives through rolling countryside punctuated by handsome, attraction-packed boomtowns like Ballarat, Bendigo, Beechworth, Castlemaine and Maryborough. You can picnic where the word's largest nugget, the 69-kilogram Welcome Stranger, was found, beside a monument to the lucrative lump.

In Ballarat, the huge open-air museum Sovereign Hill vividly re-creates an Aussie gold rush town. For a deeper dig - 61 metres down, to be precise - into history, descend to the atmospheric underground tunnels at Bendigo's Central Deborah Gold Mine. Bendigo's Golden Dragon Museum charts the crucial role of Chinese immigrants in the gold rush era (and beyond).

The aptly named and sweepingly beautiful Golden Outback covers 54 per cent of WA. A day's drive from Perth leads to the Goldfields region's famed Kalgoorlie-Boulder and its rich seam of gracious architecture and historic pubs - a key feature of any gold rush town worth its nuggets. Kalgoorlie's Museum of the Goldfields is a glimpse into the history of WA's Golden Mile and you can have a blast from a lookout at working mega-goldmine Super Pit, where spectators watch scheduled explosions.

The Aussie gold rush kicked off in NSW at the OG (in this case, Original Gold) source, Bathurst - and today you can bypass the petrolheads to admire the fruits of that wealth: glorious old mansions and gardens, many open to the public. In 1867, a gold find in Gympie triggered Queensland's gold rush. In this delightful slice of Sunshine Coast hinterland, you can pan in the same gully, ride the vintage Mary River Rattler train and visit Gympie's Gold Mining and Historical Museum.

Tasmania had its fair share of the shiny stuff, too. It's bequeathed us a world-class immersive experience at Beaconsfield Mine & Heritage Centre, and a genuine treasure: Corinna Wilderness Village, a ghost goldmining town turned into an eco resort. Ancient rainforests, tranquil riverbanks and space to breathe - now, that's gold.