Gold Museum, Ballarat ~ Showcasing Ballarat's history

GOLD MUSEUM PARTICIPATION IN FILMING OF NEW DOCUMENTARY

Sir Tony Robinson and Gold Museum Manager/Curator Mr Roger Trudgeon.
Image: Gold Museum

On Saturday, 22^nd March, the Gold Museum was involved in the events surrounding the filming of British actor, historian and TV host Sir Tony Robinson’s new documentary, Tony Robinson’s Tour of Duty. The program highlights the military history of Australia and New Zealand in the twentieth century. At each of the cities on the itinerary, the public is invited to attend an open day, where they can show their war memorabilia and tell their stories on camera.

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EDWARDIAN WEDDING DRESS OWNED BY THE MOLESWORTH FAMILY

Molesworth Family Wedding Dress (1906)
Image: Gold Museum Collection (2010.0326)

In 2010, this magnificent Edwardian wedding dress was donated to the Gold Museum in an old tin trunk, which also included fancy dress costumes and a pair of ice skating boots.

These items were owned by a branch of the Molesworth family, descended from Robert Molesworth Jr, who was a wealthy pastoralist. His father,  Sir Robert Molesworth,was an Irish judge who immigrated to Australia with his family in 1852, and had a distinguished career in the Victorian courts.

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DRESS WORN BY MARY FENTON WHITELAW FOR ROYAL BALL IN BALLARAT, 1867

Mary Fenton Whitelaw’s Ball Gown (1867)
Image: Gold Museum Collection (91.0431)

Mary Fenton Whitelaw’s green silk gown from 1867 is one of the highlights of the Gold Museum’s Costume Collection. At the age of 17, she wore it to an exclusive ball in Ballarat, to celebrate the visit of His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. This was an important event in Ballarat’s social history, as it was the first time the city had hosted royalty. Prince Alfred was the second son of Queen Victoria, and he spent five months touring Australia in 1867.

Mary’s dress is part of a collection of more than 50 items relating to her family, including letters, photographs and objects. Together they provide a glimpse of what life was like for a respectable middle-class family in Ballarat from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries.

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ELIZA PERRIN: THE STORY OF AN ORDINARY WOMAN ON THE BALLARAT GOLDFIELDS

Eliza Perrin and her children (c.1860s)
Image: Gold Museum Collection

Life on the Ballarat goldfields in the mid-nineteenth century was hard enough for a man trying to make a living and survive, but for a miner’s wife it could be even more difficult, as her own fortunes were bound to the decisions her husband made. Eliza Perrin was an ordinary woman who followed her prospecting husband from England to the goldfields of Victoria, but her story is representative of the experiences of so many others.

The Gold Museum holds a collection of items relating to Eliza and her family including copies of letters written to her sister in England, a photographic portrait with her children (depicted left) and the exact dress she is wearing in the photograph.

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LETTERS OF THE GOLDFIELDS BY JAMES PETFORD, MARY ANN PETFORD AND JANE PETFORD

In May 2012, the Gold Museum purchased a collection of 36 letters written by James Petford and his second wife, Jane. These documents follow James’s life from his arrival in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1848, to his time on the Victorian goldfields of Ballarat, Smythesdale, Napoleon Lead and Mount Egerton.

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MINER’S RIGHTS COLLECTION

Since gold was discovered in Victoria in 1851, the government has sought to manage the number of prospectors through a licensing system. The high rates of the first Gold Licenses led to protests from the miners, which eventually resulted in the events at the Eureka Stockade in December 1854. Following a Royal Commission in 1855, the Gold License was changed to the Miner’s Right, which reduced the fee and required annual payment, rather than monthly or quarterly.

Gold License (1854)
Image: Ballarat Historical Society Collection (78.971D)

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