4.27.2012

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