While The Billy Boils

While The Billy Boils

                  

               I like visiting the quiet, small towns of Victoria.  Too quiet you don't seem to hear squirks, blaring horns, loud music or boisterous laughter. You don't see people roaming the streets or walking through the grasslands. From all appearances, they look deserted.  But they are not.  

               What used to be mining towns or business centers at the height of the gold rush in the 1800s are now townships that have reverted to being agricultural in nature. They are now sleepy towns and that quaintness and historic charm are what lure visitors to these villages northwest of Melbourne. 

               There is a unique music cafe in the town of Gordon and it is called While The Billy Boils. Here you can listen to country music from local entertainers while sipping locally-produced coffee. Or you can recite love poems in a specially designated corner. Or you may want to see the old hotel still operating in the area.  Or buy Irish hat at Wild Trout's Gordon Hat Shop. Or you may go fly fishing.

                At the main road of the town of Dean is a very old hotel which had shut down but tourists still take time to visit.  A farm with fine horses roaming freely can be viewed from the road.  In Ballan, a farm has big Llamas, which are animals related to the camel. Ballan, in the days of the Victorian gold rush, served as a trading center for gold and a stopover point for those doing business in Ballarat.  It is said that gold discovered here and other parts of the Goldfield region was more than the gold discovered in California for that particular era. 

                 The township of Buninyong came into the limelight first before the big ones like Ballarat and Bendigo came into the picture.  This is on account of the gold discovery.  Here is another story:  Before that much heralded Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, residents of the above-mentioned inland towns were already digging gold secretly and did not report this to authorities for fear that their valuable find would be confiscated by the government.

               After the gold rush, economic activity in this region dwindled and the residents began tilling again the land.  The villages returned to being peaceful with the inhabitants contented with other resources that mother nature has endowed these inland towns. Population decreased as others moved elsewhere.

               Of these hitherto mining towns, Ballarat became the most progressive and is now classified as a city. Actually, it is not a small town. In fact, it is the largest inland town.  What with the tons and tons of gold discovered there, it is now one of the richest cities in the state of Victoria.

- Konted

Road leading to the town of Gordon

Big country house in Gordon

Typical house in Gordon and in nearby areas

Extra cautious not to cause deadly bushfires 

Cemetery is not congested

Vast farrm land is what you normally see in Gordon and in the neighboring towns

Wild Trout makes fine Irish/Scottish hats

Wild Trout is housed in what used to be an Anglican church

Sports Cap for $88 at Wild Trout

Floppy Breton Cap for $88 at Wild Trout 

Old Gordon Hotel

Drive- in liquor store adjacent to the hotel

Gordon''s General Store. Gordon has a population of about one thousand.

The lone General Store in the entire town

Clarke's makes square pies

Pauls' Milk is a famous Australian brand

Unique music cafe in Gordon--While The Billy Boils

Music Cafe has real countryside setting

Reminiscent of good old English casual get2gether

"Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, and the rock melts wi' the sun; i will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o' life shall run.. "

Gravel walkway

There is an indoor food and drinks station plus an antique shop

Gordon's Old Post Office built in 1890 

A very old structure in the town of Gordon

Police Station looks like a private house

To the next town

Kryal Castle is located  on the foothills of Mount Warrenheip.  It is a replica of  a medieval castle.

Kryal Castle functions as an inn, museum as well as the site of various social events

Wide farmland can be seen in background

An uphill country road

Wealth of the town partly comes from agricultural activities

Agricultural equipment helps maximize farm yield

Road to the town of Dean

Bales seen in the town of Dean


Closer shot of a bale of hay


John Deere is popular in Australia

Dean's main road

General Store at Dean

Old Hotel Dean which had shut down

Dean Hall & Mechanical Institute erected in 1891

Horses can be seen from the main street

Patiently waiting for the photographer

Entry point to the town of Buninyong

Town center of Buninyong

Buninyong was the center of gold diggings in Victoria before Ballarat and Bendigo  grabbed the limelight

Bakeshop in Buninyong

Buninyong's old town hall 

Served as Councillor for 40 years !!!

Old Post Office built in 1845

Crown Hotel near a roundabout in Buninyong

Story of Buninyong

Australian cows in Buninyong

Road to the town of Ballan

Llamas in Ballan

Llamas belong to the family of camels

Ballan's main road

 

The town center of Ballan

Old hotel in Ballan built in 1851

Ballan's Old Post Office opened in 1853

Beautiful flowers

Town hall of Ballarat

No one to frisk or accost you as u enter the town hall

Carpeted stairway to the offices

Stoddard was a wealthy Ballarat resident who donated expensive marble statues  to the  city

The Mayor is out of the office

Vintage rifles on display

Monument to The Eureka Uprising .where more than a hundred protesting miners were killed by the police  

Colorful flowers in Ballarat

Ballarat's business center

Structures with Victorian architecture were built out of proceeds from the  sale of gold

Marble statue of Irish poet and song writer Thomas Moore

A lonely country road at the outskirt of Ballarat with windmills in background

Filipino migrant Cris S's farm in Ballarat

Big tract of land

Cris S's farm house in Ballarat

Good to pitch tents during vacation

Chopped woods used for various purposes

Good old way of generating heat

Eiffel's car with his Bianchi bike on top

Eiffel's other bikes 

Eiffel joins bingo game

Eiffel pedals his way to Ballarat town proper.  He is a professional cyclist.

Aiming at the target

Changing position for firm hold of the rifle

And the prize catch? An Australian deer.  Really? Oh come on !!!

Farm owner Cris S. is an engineer and a long- time Melbourne resident

Cris's wife Viring and daughter Donna

Outlaw Ned Kelly is idolized by some Ballarat residents

Old reliable tractor

Cris's American Bulldog

Road to the small town of Maryborough

Maryborough is a former mining town

Bull & Mouth Hotel in Maryborough erected in 1904

Town Hall of Maryborough

The Post Office opened in 1854

Typical houses in Maryborough

Maryborough is now classified as a city