The Alchemy of Gold event - Day 1

Day One - Friday 16th May 2025

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

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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