Hill End Tour Worksheet

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Hill End Village History Guide & Student Worksheet

(People Studying People!)

Brief History of Hill EndHill End, the village are the remains of a once booming gold

town. Like many other Australian gold towns the start was rushed. In 1851 temporary buildings were replaced as each area grew.

Most gold towns were built on top of the first finds and followed the run of gold - the amounts of gold dug emulated the size and number of town buildings erected.

It was common for gold strikes to occur within a kilometre or so of each other, and without realizing the extent of the gold field each initial find would claim to be a separate gold area.

Hill End was no exception. Many small strikes and finally two main towns which were part of the one field. Tambaroora was the start only to be usurped by the formerly named Bald Hills becoming best known by its latter gold rush christening - Hillend.

Nowadays, Tambaroora is but a memory, a few empty gullies where goldpanning tours are conducted. A derelict red brick chimney was once part of the Hargraves Hotel owned and operated by James Dagger from 1856 to 1913. The Hotel was frequented at one stage by Henry Lawson and immortalized in the poem “Tambaroora Jim”. Lawson applicably described the area as “the come and find it flats”. The cemeteries are also located at this end of the goldfield as this was the most accepted starting place.

The reformed and then later Hill End, contains buildings that were built in the late 1860s through to the mid 1870s. Since the 1980s there has been a number of buildings added to the village, as it has become a popular tourist destination. About 200 people live in the area today and many are unemployed.

Most gold rush era buildings were poorly constructed and have therefore degenerated back to the earth. Unused streets have been overgrown or fenced in, giving a totally different building scape to Hill End today compared to the 1870s.

To get a good understanding of how Hill End looked in the height of the Gold Rush you need to use your imagination. Picture the vacant land gaps as being covered with tents, mud/bark huts and above all people.

Due to the use of fire as the main source of power for cooking, heating and lighting a vast number of buildings

were burnt down. Fire was another big destroyer of buildings - it was reported that a fire in Short Street in 1874 destroyed a long line of shops, that were never to be re-built.

Another major impact on the loss of the buildings came

from necessity - the gold departed and farming took over. Cottages were built for farming purposes and some gold rush buildings were relocated and re-used as farm cottages.

When entering Hill End from the Sofala/Bathurst road it’s hard to comprehend that once an area population of about 30,000 used Hill End as its capital. At one stage 8,500 people lived within the boundary of Hill End. At it’s height in 1873 the area boasted 51 registered hotels (28 within Hill End itself) and the busiest street was Clarke Street which was about 400 metres long with 17 hotels.

Some of Hill End’s streets are lined with trees - these tree planting days were initiated

in 1878 by the longest serving mayor (and mayor at the time), Louis Beyers. It was considered one of those things you did to get ready for the next rush, which never happened - at least not the way that they had planned.

During the 1890s and 1930s depression and economic starvation drove would-be fortune hunters in search of an income. Their necessity to dig and look sparked some new finds and a false confidence. However, some new buildings were erected and a glimpse of past glory was experienced. History shows that it made little difference to the constant decline and the resulting Hill End presented today.

Today, Hill End is an empty shell of a once great and booming gold town, it is now mostly a memory of its former self. To get a well-educated assessment of its history your tour around the sparse and changing village remnants has to be combined with content. History Hill Museum will provide you with this knowledge. History Hill contains over 10,000 gold rush pieces. Take a tour through over 500 metres of displays and

an underground mine - that show the land, the time and the people.History Hill also has the following unique Hill End artefacts:

the tip of the largest reef specimen found in Australia (Hill End was the location) - the Beyers and Hotermann Specimen

Part of the largest Hill End ChurchA tablet making tile from the Hospitalthe stamp used by La-Roche (a Clarke

Street Chemist) items from the post office and Police

Stationthe last Chinese headstone

and many more items that reflect the lifestyle and atmosphere of Hill End.

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Insurance claims were processed, the store keeper moved on and the rest is history. It was reported that a fire in Short Street in 1874 destroyed a long line of shops, that were never to be re-built.

Hill End has a very colourful history and due to so many people, from many places they have all left their mark on this town in various ways and many have left a tale or two. A few of these stories we share in the tour you are embarking on.This tour of the Hill End Village commences from the Sofala/Bathurst Road. The first obvious roadside cottage on your left is one of those typical early gold field residences. Located at the intersection to the National Parks and Wildlife Service Visitor Centre. This was built in 1873 as the Hill End and Tambaroora Hospital, it operated as such until 1929. Today there is a public toilet outside this Centre, just incase you need one.Continuing along the main entry road the next major intersection is that of the Mudgee road previously known as Beyers Avenue. To your right inside the narrow piece separating the roads was once Brown’s Junction Hotel. The main problem for Mr. Brown was the location. It was great for travellers but not so good for couriers. Bullock Wagons need a large wide swing to negotiate a curve in the road and as a result were always getting hooked up on his verandah posts. When trying to fix it he made the problem worse, he erected a large substantial Hotel lamppost as a barrier in front of the verandah which only made the corner even more narrow!During the Gold Rush Era the road was not so well formed and was definitely not tar. The brilliantly designed rock drainage gutters were also not yet in place.Further along on your left there is Warry’s Cottage again a typical two sectioned miners cottage. Most houses were two sectioned; effectively the kitchen where the fire was concentrated was a separate building usually connected by a covered walkway to the bedrooms.This separation was taken a step further with Craigmoor. Still moving towards the village centre you see an impressive double story A frame style house. Built in 1878 by James Marshall to emulate his homeland it was to represent a Scottish Hunting Lodge (Craigmoor). Large enough for the separate kitchen

to double as the servants quarters. This is what gold digging did for him.The rest of the family didn’t do so bad either. Opposite is the little Marshall house!

Moving south further into Hill End beside Craigmoor is the Embelton and Weir Cordial Factory, now a house.

Next, Murrays Cottage. The rock built northern side addition to Murray’s Cottage was for many years the Art studio for Donald Friend.Eventually you arrive at the present day hub of Hill End.The sign “Royal Hotel” is most likely that of its earlier namesake from Tambaroora. As the sign says 1872 and this present Royal Hotel did not exist as such until 1876. One thing that is more relevant is the large iron framed glassed in oil burning lamp holder hanging from the hotel centre. Gold fields law. All public houses must have a framed covered in lamp holder, alight from dark to dawn to identify this as a public house. Penalties for non-compliance were imposed.

Opposite is now our General Store. Previously the left section a Baker/Grocer and the right hand section a Church of England and Salvation Army Hall.

Now we get to the action. The main business section. To the right Clarke Street, to the left Tambaroora Street and still connecting them Short Street.Here is the greatest loss preserved on film. Staggered along the now mostly empty streets are reprinted Holtermann photographs showing a glimpse of the past? Not all buildings are shown and not all are in their correct location, but they do reflect the village the way it was.

Some points of interest around the streetsJust opposite Northey’s Store the photo plaque “On Gay & Co.” represents the Chinese Connection for all 1,400 of them. Miniscule amounts of gold lost over decades of trade through the floorboards combined with layers of dust built up substantial pay dirt. During 1936 (depression years) the store accidentally (?) burnt down. Kind hearted locals of the time helped in the clean up with picks, shovels, wheelbarrows and Cradles. Then they helped themselves to the gold. Their excavation clearly marks the boundaries of the shop, as the depression is still visible.Further down Clarke Street still existing is Sydney Hotel. See the bars

on the windows and double saloon doors. Beside this was the smallest shop in the town (refer plaque). At the height of the rush extensive competition for trading space in the town centre pushed up rents (sound familiar) up to two pounds

per foot (30 c.m.) per week was being paid for shop frontage as rent. This shop for “Fancy Goods” was less than one point four metres wide!

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One publican was instructed that his verandah was on the road and was ordered to pull it down. Lateral thinking might be a new term but it’s an old art. The publican kept his verandah by angleing his verandah post at 45 degrees so they were touching ground just inside his correct boundary. This way no part of his building was effectively touching the street. Towards Hosies Store another squared depression marks the site of the wooden double storied Commercial Banking Company. I wonder if they lost gold through their floorboards?Note how the wall of Hosies Store followed the boundary of allocated land.Opposite Hosies, Patrick Coyle’s Hotel. Very impressive. Many major functions were held here, like prize givings for the local horse races. This was also the departing and arrival point for Cobb and Co. the coach left at 5.a.m.However before there were streets there were diggings. When you fill in a hole it never seems to be the same. Further down the street a photo plaque shows a bogged dray loaded with valuable supplies. A crowd had gathered and the camera of the day captures the event. This non-staged photo gives a better than normal insight into every day dress and conditions. Few owned horses the whole scene evolves around the need to find extra horsepower to pull the suctioned dray from the mud. Time for a photo. Ever had your foot stuck in a few centimetres of mud?Imagine the power need to pull a one-tone dray from an old shaft now with metres of mud. That’s it, its stuck in old workings.As for the crowd. Did these onlookers come out from the bowling alley, the shooting gallery, the stock exchange, who were they? They were gamblers. All were gambling on making a fortune in a gold rush town!Still continuing along Clarke Street just past the little house on the right hand side corner you can stop to consider the following.This little house belonged to their version of a millionaire. After all we are in the wealthy part of town now. You can learn a lot from this little house. It was owned by the longest serving mayor, Louis Beyers. He lived opposite the Metropolitan Hotel, owned by another mayor of Hill End, Thomas Whythes. Beside Beyers cottage was the Australian Joint Stock Bank (look closely you can see the bolts that held the bank vault still sticking out of the ground), the Stock Exchange and the Exchange Hotel. We are certainly rubbing shoulders with the elite now.From this location Sir Russell Drysdale must have been captured by the atmosphere, as he painted “The Exchange Hotel”. From a different perspective he caught Teddy Woolard and Roy Holloway playing cricket up against this same abandoned testament to former glory and immortalized it into the well known painting “The Cricketer”. Both paintings are famous 20th Century art works and are of the same buildingBack in the gold rush, for either the wealthy or the not so wealthy, at some stage they all have to use a toilet. Toilets were holes in the ground known as long drops or pit toilets. Behind Beyers cottage you can still see the outhouse. Below this, on the downhill side the larger pit (the well) was to collect rainwater for personal use. Have we learnt something? Does the word contamination ring a bell? Remember there were 17 hotels in Clarke Street. Could this have posed a health problem?

From here you can also get a good view of the rear of the Presbyterian Church, clearly showing a difference in the rear wall construction. It doesn’t take much imagination to visualize two back doors. Churches were built from donations, when the rush finished so did the church, but it wasn’t finished and never was. The back section of the church was never built confirming the uncertain nature of a gold rush.

Moving along further down Clarke Street past the old Dodds Family Hotel now named Athol you come to Bryants Butcher Shop which still has its bay tree outside. The leaves from this tree were used to prepare meat and are still used in things like sausages.

As the corner turns around to the east past the cellars of the double story Steels Hotel, Clarke Street becomes Reef Street as it heads towards the rich reef fields of Hawkins Hill.Opposite the now day Post Office built in 1873 there was an accountants house and as the town grew he decided to move to a less crowded area, with the aid of 60 miners on a Sunday using 12 poles and an incentive of two kegs of beer the house had a new location.Left behind was the Mining Registrar; still

visible in the southern side is the little teller’s window where gold was transacted from outside digger to inside assayer. The Police Station opposite was able to keep a secure eye on the gold shipments, which left

every Monday morning under guard.Along Tambaroora Street to the North one must see the change. As you approach Saint Paul’s Presbyterian (unfinished) Church consider the height of its Steeple. This was the height of the roof of the biggest Church, Saint Andrews. Now some large hand carved rocks left behind mark the site.

Further along we have Holtermann’s corner of arcade shops opposite the present Hill End Public School. This school was originally built in 1870 from timber. The dates apply to when sections were re-built in brick. The schoolyard is a perfect example of how

unused land is claimed. As the area population shrunk the schoolyard grew to claim a road and the land on the other side of the road.Hill End had a 23 year long gold rush and it all went crazy in the 22nd year. 1872 caused the changes we see left today. Pre 1870 the Mining Registrar, Holtermann’s House and a Chinese puddling trough were in the paddock of the little Marshall house. The Police Barracks moved next to the Methodist Church from the Orchard site near Cud’s Cattle yards. If there was a static year it was 1872/73 when it all stood still.Pre 1870 Hill End was continually on the move; even its name in 1867 was Forbes. Many different buildings occupied different constructions and sites like musical chairs until it all came crashing down. We know of a cemetery and a rifle range, dedicated but never used.So let’s get back to basics. Lots of people from all over the world came to find lots of gold, then they ran away to leave a memory of their efforts. Travelling the streets, buildings tell stories. People just interpret them. Rolley Hodge once said, “it takes all types to make a world and they all live in Hill End!”Isn’t it amazing how things sometimes never change?

Hill End MapHill End Map

To Bald Hill

Lookout

Tommie Thompsons

House

Yes Holtermann once Lived Here!

Site of on Gaynio

To Merlins Lookout

Athol Inn

Steels Hotel Remains

Mining Registrar

To Split Rock or Turon River

Lookout

BridleTrack

Turon River

Original SiteHill End &

Tambaroora Hospital

Red Hill Rd

Alexander St

Thomas St

William St

Belmore St

Moores Lane

Hospital Lane

Tambaroora R

oad

Bathurst

Road

Browns Junction

HotelTo: H

istory H

ill

Fletcher Street

Lees Lane

WarrysCottage

Craigmoor

MurraysCottage

MasonicHall

RoyalHotel

CWA

GeneralStore

Bowen St

High St D

enison St

Reef Street

Warrys Road

Athol Inn

Clarke St

BeyersCottage

School

PolicePost Office Tambaroora St

Great Western Store

FaradayCottage

Germ

antown Lane

Beyers Avenue

PresbyterianChurch

Northeys

Sydney Hotel Site

Hosies Store

Tambaroora Hospital

Holterm

anns C

orner

Short St

To: Tambaroora, Valentines Mine, Quartz Roasting Pits, Mudgee

& Fossicking Area

IDENTITY PARADE History Hill holds the ultimate collection of 1800s gold rush relics. We may never know exactly what happened, but we do know what tools the diggers left behind. *Gold is money. Money for the taking. Gold was worth what it weighed, be it by Chinese or Europeans. The following 31 pieces for identification show gold tools and associated cultures. They represent a tiny fraction of the display as they introduce students to the past with authentic realism. *Worksheets apply only to the first Museum building. Afterwhich worksheets and preferably backpacks are left while the bulk of the collection is viewed in other buildings and the underground mine. • STUDENTS ARE REQUESTED to name the following and add some information about the

items use or historical importance, maybe a nickname. • Note. Things are not always what they seem. Some pieces are sketched bigger or smaller

than they should be.

IDENTITY PARADE History Hill holds the ultimate collection of 1800s gold rush relics. We may never know exactly what happened, but we do know what tools the diggers left behind. *Gold is money. Money for the taking. Gold was worth what it weighed, be it by Chinese or Europeans. The following 31 pieces for identification show gold tools and associated cultures. They represent a tiny fraction of the display as they introduce students to the past with authentic realism. *Worksheets apply only to the first Museum building. Afterwhich worksheets and preferably backpacks are left while the bulk of the collection is viewed in other buildings and the underground mine. • STUDENTS ARE REQUESTED to name the following and add some information about the

items use or historical importance, maybe a nickname. • Note. Things are not always what they seem. Some pieces are sketched bigger or smaller

than they should be.

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Hill End Village History Guide

Student name, .....................................................................................................................

Hill End exemplifies the rise to fame and fall from grace of an Australian gold rush town, with a couple of exceptions. These being four world records for gold including the discovery of the largest known single mass of gold ever recorded to be found.

This guide/questionnaire is a quest for knowledge to better understand our history. The only game here is the game of life involving success/failure, and, or life and death. Our aim is to retrace like a detective the steps humanki& nd followed to leave the area the way it is now. A very comprehensive subject upon which we will just scratch the surface. If your forebears were in Australia during the 1800s, then at least one of them was involved in a gold rush, so tread carefully to understand how we arrived at this time in evolution. Now let’s consider the series of events that set the scene for arguably our greatest event.

1. Did Australian Aboriginals search for, or use gold, .........

2. When did the English first colonise Australia, ............

3. Date the first official crossing over the Blue Mountains for exploration. Year, ........

4. Bathurst was named after the British secretary for the colonies, Lord Bathurst and set up originally as an extension of the Parramatta Penal Colony in May, 18.......

5. Interest was sparked, but unfortunately hushed up by the first official documented gold find by surveyor James McBrien. He noted in his field book that he had found gold in the year 18.........

6. Other gold finds progressively occurred until three historical legends, together started a rush that no one could stop. The rush started in 18..... From that date hundreds of gold towns sprung to life throughout eastern Australia, slowly over decades marching westward.

7. Name the three historical legends responsible for starting the Australian gold rush

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8. Hill End grew from Tambaroora until some big finds sent Hill End on an upward spiral. The year was 18...... when the B................. & ........................................................... entered the record books.

9. When were most of the buildings built, ...........................

10. What destroyed most of the buildings ...................

11. At the height of the rush there were ....... registered hotels in the area that boasted an

estimated ...................... people, all because of ...............

12. Even the streets were mined before they were streets, with 17 registered hotels and 2

banks Clarke Street was a commercial hub. Name 2 buildings still standing in Clarke

Street, ..................... ................................................................... Now, name 2 not

there, .........................................................................................................

13. Name the busiest smallest street, ............................................

14. Why do we know so much about the buildings especially the ones that no longer exist,

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15. Why did they use little panes (sheets) of glass rather than big ones, .............................

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16. Name three main functions of the Mining Registrar, ............... .....................................

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17. What was the little window on the side of the Mining Registrar used for, .......................

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18. In 1872 if you couldn’t read how did you know Bryants operated a butcher shop, ........

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19. Pre 1900 did refrigerators for food exist in Australia, .............

20. A bit further along, large bolts stick out of the ground. What did they hold in position, ..

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21. What was the main for or transport, .......................................

22. Mud streets, poor sanitation, most lived like homeless people constantly on the move

and camping where they could. How would you cope in a gold rush town, ....................

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All photos from Holtermann Photographic Collection, Circa 1872. Courtesty Hill End Gold and Hill End Hearsay

On Gay and Co. General Store The Sydney Hotel

The Commercial Banking Company

Clarke Street looking southH.C. Circa 1872. Clarke Street looking north.

Club House Hotel

Bogged Dray Clarke Street

Mining Registrar

Year 2015 during winter snows the Hargraves Hotel, also known as

Tambaroora Jim’s Hotel remains.

Australian Joint Stock Bank

Holtermann Collection circa 1872. Main Street, Tambaroora looking north.

Hargraves Hotel camera centre.

Hill End Poem After miles of winding driving Through a thick and tangled scrub You finally arrive before An unpretentious pub. With houses gathered round it With roofs that sag and bend Well, you’ve had your introduction To the place we call Hill End. A wild and woolly boom town In days gone by I’m told Where our forebears fought And wrecked their health for gold. But not without some small success Old timers will relate ‘Twas here they found a specimen That weighted six-hundredweight But now the gold has almost gone From our the hillsides step And where the miners used to toil Are grazing countless sheep. But these there share of wealth prevail We hope that they increase For when the gold has disappeared We’ll still have the Golden Fleece. The Roaring Days Take me back to Tambaroora And the roaring reckless days With diggers wheeling barrows Or with swags or bumping drays

Take me back to Tambaroora With a cradle or a tub Or a “banjo” at a pot hole And a fortune in the scrub Tambaroora, that could lure A thousand diggers in a day; Take me back although the glory And the gold have all passed away. Still the wattle blooms in splendor; Still the magpies wild and free Warble down in Golden Gully Of the days that used to be. Ravaged bank and ruin greet us Stump and rock and vine and tree, But a cradle, tub or “banjo” Seldom now the eye may see. Lone winds whisper in the gullies, Gone are church and pub and store; Silence reigns where once ten thousand Diggers toiled in days or yore.


Hill End Poem


The Roaring Days

Take me back to Tambaroora With a cradle or a tub Or a “banjo” at a pot hole And a fortune in the scrub Tambaroora, that could lure A thousand diggers in a day; Take me back although the glory And the gold have all passed away. Still the wattle blooms in splendor; Still the magpies wild and free Warble down in Golden Gully Of the days that used to be. Ravaged bank and ruin greet us Stump and rock and vine and tree, But a cradle, tub or “banjo” Seldom now the eye may see. Lone winds whisper in the gullies, Gone are church and pub and store; Silence reigns where once ten thousand Diggers toiled in days or yore.

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Hill End Tour Worksheet