150 km east of Melbourne. Ballarat is an impressive provincial city with a population of approaching 90,000. Its present Victorian buildings, green avenues and flower beds belie its rough and ready origins in the gold rush of the 1850s. In those heady days, its population grew almost overnight to 40,000, most of whom were forced to live in tents. Over a quarter of the gold from the ore-rich Central Victoria Goldfields was discovered in the region of Ballarat. Not for nothing is one of its main thoroughfares known as Eureka Street – a name which also evokes one of the most violent episodes in Australian history: the Eureka Revolt of 1854.

The site where the rebels erected their stockade is now The Eureka Rebellion Historic Precinct, with information on the events of the revolt and a memorial.

The main sight in town is Sovereign Hill (www.sovereignhill.com.au) with its open-air museum and reconstruction of how the town was during the 1860s gold mining era. There are many such exhibitions in Australia, but this is by far the best, including an absorbing mine tour. The Gold Museum has some fascinating relics. For more information about the Gold fever, click here.