|
|
|
Victoria (Westerne Region) |
| Ararat | |
| Ararat, to the east, is the commercial centre of a prosperous wine growing and farming region. A former gold mining town, Ararat is home to many historical buildings including an impressive bluestone Post Office, Town Hall, Civic Square and War Memorial. The notorious J Ward which housed the criminally insane for over 100 years is a grim relic of the past, and open to the public. Ararat's picturesque Alexandra Gardens are renowned for their orchid glasshouses. | |
| Located
some 90km west from Ballarat towards the
mountains, the town is still very much a goldfields town, with an
overabundance of grandiose Victorian architecture. It was founded in 1857,
when a group of seven hundred hopeful Chinese, making the slow trudge from
the South Australian ports to the central Victorian goldfields, stumbled
across a fabulously rich, shallow alluvial goldfield, the Canton Lead.
As the only town in Australia founded by the Chinese, Ararat has it’s
own Chinese museum at the site of the old mine entrance, the Gum San
Heritage Museum. Few other signs of the embryonic Chinese settlement
survive in what soon became a rich, planned town: the main street was laid
out to show off the best profiles of Mount Ararat in the west and
the Pyrenees Range with Mount Cole in the east.
These days Ararat is the commercial centre for a sheep-farming and wine-producing area; wineries in the area include the Montara Winery, 3km south along the Chalamabar Road (Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun noon–4pm), and Mount Langi Ghiran on Vine Road north of Buangor (turn north from the Western Highway towards Warrak; Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat & Sun noon–5pm), renowned for its superb white and red wines. Both wineries have reasonable prices. Next door to the town hall, with its clock tower and fountain, is the tourist information centre on Barkly Street (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm), which provides information on the Grampians. The Langi Morgala Museum nearby (Sat & Sun 1–4pm; $2) occupies an old brick building banded with bluestone at the base and around the huge arched windows and doors; the museum’s name is supposedly an Aboriginal one meaning “yesteryear”. Along with the usual pioneering displays, there’s an important collection of Aboriginal artefacts. For food, go to Barkly Street, where you’ll find a health-food store, a decent delicatessen and Kaman’s Koffee Lounge, which serves classy sandwiches and good-value meals. Also on Barkly Street are the Ararat Hotel, serving bar meals; the Cafe Dominica, in a Victorian mansion, which has a coffee shop, bistro and pricey restaurant (licensed; open late; closed Mon); and the Pyrenees Country Kitchen, an award-winning restaurant. Events |
|
|
|
|
|