On our way from Armidale to Canberra, a lengthy distance of some 850 km, we had three major stop-overs: the old gold mining town of Hill End, an over-night in Orange, and the Japanese PoW camp and gardens in Cowra. The first and last of these are the subject of this and the next post.
Hill End is in the lovely rolling high country of the NSW Central West, much of which lies in the region of 700 to 800 m asl. It was also the site of a major gold discovery in the middle of the 19th century and prospered greatly until the easily worked deposits began to run out in the first decades of the 20th century.
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All that remains today is a shadow of its former self - but rather lovely in a way. It's a time-capsule of Australia at Federation in 1901 and, for that reason, an important tourist attraction.
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The former hospital, seen here, is now an important museum of life in the gold-fields in its heyday. It was impressive. The pub below also looks a museum piece, but not in a derogatory sense. It is absolutely typical of its period and well-maintained, a with the grocer's business below. On looking around it I got a real feel of life a century ago.
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And the town is dotted with period residences like these.
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Hill End is in the lovely rolling high country of the NSW Central West, much of which lies in the region of 700 to 800 m asl. It was also the site of a major gold discovery in the middle of the 19th century and prospered greatly until the easily worked deposits began to run out in the first decades of the 20th century.
All that remains today is a shadow of its former self - but rather lovely in a way. It's a time-capsule of Australia at Federation in 1901 and, for that reason, an important tourist attraction.
The former hospital, seen here, is now an important museum of life in the gold-fields in its heyday. It was impressive. The pub below also looks a museum piece, but not in a derogatory sense. It is absolutely typical of its period and well-maintained, a with the grocer's business below. On looking around it I got a real feel of life a century ago.
And the town is dotted with period residences like these.
Brian and Daphne were impressed.
AS
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