Program

The Alchemy of Gold - The Golden Transformation of Victoria
16-18 May, 2025

Day One - Friday 16th May '25

8:30-9:00 Registration

9:00-9:10 Welcome to Country.

Housekeeping – toilets/fire escapes/break times/tea and coffee/going to field trips/where the buses are/finish time

Opening Address (Main Hall)
9:10 -9:45 (30 minutes) Professor Keir Reeves, ‘The Victorian Gold Rushes: A Golden Transformation’

9:45-10:15 (30 minutes) Trevor Budge, ‘Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid – overview, update and announcements’

10:15-10:30 Q&A

10:30-11:00 Morning Tea – Book Sales, Information Stands

First Nations People and The Gold Rush (Main Hall)
11:00-11.25 Professor Barry Golding, ‘Learning about Gold from Six Peaks’

11:25-11:50 (details to follow)

11:50 -12:15 Gordon Ross (details to follow)

12:15-12:30 Q&A

12:30 -13.30 Lunch

Women and Children on The Goldfields (Main Hall)
13.30-13.55 Trevor Budge, ‘Demographics of Women and Children on The Goldfields’

14:00-14:25 Kacey Sinclair, ‘When Women Speak: New ways to see the goldfields through the letters and testimonies of women’

14:30-14:55 Julie Mac, ‘Sarah Davenport Female Digger on the Goldfields’

15:00-15:20 Q&A (panel moderator Kacey Sinclair)

Surveyor-General of Victoria (Workshop Room) To run concurrently with Women and Children on the Goldfields
13:30-14:00 Craig Sandy Surveyor-General and Eddie Cichocki – Deputy Surveyor-General, ‘The history of surveying in the Goldfields’

14:00-14:30 – Craig Sandy and Rafe Benli Manager Geographic Names Victoria, ‘Place naming in the goldfields – including linking to principles of place naming’

 14:30-15:00 Lani Smith and April Taylor Geographic Names Victoria, ‘Women in Place Naming and how your local historical society or other historical groups can work with local government to support in place naming in your community including the Remember a Local – Name a Place Campaign’

Chinese on The Goldfields (Main Hall)
15:30- 15:55 Sophie Couchman, ‘What Verey’s camera lens reveals about Castlemaine’s post-goldrush Chinese communities’

15:55-16.20 Mark Hillyer, ‘Chief Headmen, Chinese Villages and Chinese Protectors’

16:20-16:45 Leigh McKinnon, ‘Chinese and the Missions in Castlemaine’

16:45-1700 Q & A (Sophie Couchman, Mark Hillyer, Leigh McKinnon)

Workshop Room

15:30-17:00 Ken McKimmie, ‘Selected Views of the Mount Alexander Goldfields’ To run concurrently with Chinese on the Goldfields

TOURS 15:30 17:00 To run concurrently with the Afternoon Workshops & Panel
Option 1: Campbells Creek Cemetery Debra Tranter

Option 2: Penny Weight Flat Cemetery

Day Two - Saturday 17th May 2025

8:30-9:00 Registration

9:00-9:10 Welcome to Country

Housekeeping – toilets/fire escapes/breaks times/tea and coffee/ going to field trips

9:10-9:35 Professor Chris McAuliffe with Associative Professor Fred Cahir, ‘The Symbolism of Goldfields Rebellion, and its Lasting, and Changing Modern Legacy’

Goldfields Administration & The Government Camp (Main Hall)
09:40 -10:05 Dr Marjorie Theobald, ‘The Government Camp Castlemaine’

10:05-10:30 Dr Bob Marmion, ‘Commissioner John Edward Newell Bull’

10:30-11:00 Morning Tea – Book Sales, Information Stands

11:00-11:25 Stuart Duff, ‘Gold Escorts & Policing Administration’

11:25-11:40 Q & A Professor Chris McAuliffe, Associate Professor Fred Cahir, Dr Marjorie Theobald, Dr Bob Marmion and Stuart Duff

11:40-12:05 Deborah Kemp, ‘Bushrangers of the Goldfields’

12:05 -12:30 Justin Shortal, ‘Photographers of Early Castlemaine’

12:30-13:30 Lunch

Heritage Assessments, Significance & Protections (Main Hall)
13:30-13:55 Deborah Kemp, ‘National Heritage Listing for the Beechworth Administrative Precinct’

14:00-14:25 Giselle Harris, ‘Regulation or Guardianship? What is the best way to protect our heritage? Case studies: Central Deborah Goldmine and Chinese Joss House

14:30-14:55 Anthony Hemingway, ‘Exloring the history of the Castlemaine Railway Station Precinct using archival material’

15:00-15:20 Q & A Deborah Kemp, Giselle Harris. Anthony Hemingway (moderator)

Art of the Gold Rush (Workshop Room)
15:30-17:00 Clayton Tremlett, ‘All that Glitters: Art of Gold Leafing’

Goldfields Architecture & Conservation (Main Hall) concurrent with ‘Art of Gold Leafing’ & the Tours
15:30-17:00 Roger Beeston and Katrina Place Dernelley ‘Goldfields Architecture & the Conservation &
Restoration of Specimen Cottage Bendigo’

TOURS 15:30 17:00 To run concurrently with the 15:30 Afternoon Workshops & Panel
Option 1: The Government Camp Castlemaine, Alice Matthiesson and John Lewis

Option 2: Garfield Waterwheel, Ken McKimmie

Option 3: The Back Creek Siphon, Taradale. (How a minor creek valley broke the back of the Coliban Water Scheme in 1870) Stephen Charman

Day Three - Sunday 18th May '25

8:30-9:00 Registrations

9:00-9:10 Welcome to Country

Housekeeping: toilets, break times, fire escapes, coffee/ getting to field trips.

Geology and Archaeology of the Goldfields (Main Hall)
9:10 – 9:35 David Bannear, ‘Archaeology of the Victorian Goldfields’

9:40-10:05 Dr Doug McCann, ‘The Alchemy of Gold; Myths and Beliefs about Gold in the time of the Gold Rush’

10:05-10:30 Clive Willman, ‘Scientists on the goldfields, 170 years of geoscientific discoveries’

10:30-11:00 Morning Tea – Book Sales, Information Stands

Environmental Transformation (Main Hall)
11:00-11:45 Professor Susan Lawrence and Dr Peter Davies, ‘Environmental Impacts of Gold’

11:45-12:10 Paul Foreman, ‘The ecological impact of the gold rush runs deep, but there are potential solutions if we care to take restoration and sustainability seriously’

12:10-12:30 Q & A Professor Susan Lawrence, Dr Peter Davies, Clive Willman, Dr Doug McCann, David Bannear and Paul Foreman

Workshop Room To run concurrently with Environmental Transformation
11:00-12:00 Geoff Hocking , ‘Sandhurst – What’s In a Name?’

12:00-12:30 Catherine Jenkins, ‘Tales from the River Bank: Short Stories of Gold and the Murray River’

12:30-13:30 Lunch

Technological Transformation of the Goldfields (Main Hall)
13:30-13:55 George Milford, ‘Thompsons Foundry & the transformative impacts on Mining & the Local Community’

14:00-14:25 Mandy Jean, ‘Innovation and the resolution of two great housing crises on the goldfields: the miners cottage built on residency areas and miners rights and mid-20th century reclaiming of mines sites for housing’

14:30-14:55 Stephen Charman, ‘Exploring the chequered history of the Coliban Water Scheme. How water from the Great Divide was brought to Bendigo and Castlemaine’

15:00-15:20 Q&A Panel Discussion – George Milford, Mandy Jean, Stephen Charman

15:30-17:00 Field Trips To run concurrently with the 15:30-17:00 Afternoon Workshops & Panel
Option 1: Mopoke Gully Waterwheel Site Yapeen, with a return tour past the Former Brown Store and the John Smith Store in Yapeen, Max Kay

Option 2: North British Mine Maldon, Derek Reid

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We are a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers. Our goal is to keep ticket prices as affordable as possible while covering the essential costs of hosting this significant event.
Program is subject to change

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