Steiglitz
Little more than an hour's drive from Melbourne and set in the Brisbane Ranges National Park, Steiglitz Historic Park is a window back in time to Victoria's Gold Rush of 1850-90s.
Situated between Geelong and Ballarat, Steiglitz is almost a ghost town today but from 1860 to 1890s it was a busy goldmining township with hotels, shops, churches and a population of over 1000. At the height of the 1860s gold rush, Steiglitz township had more than 1500 residents, four hotels, a newspaper, a variety of shops and even an undertaker!
Now most of the town and its surroundings are included in the Steiglitz Historic Park. Enjoy a pleasant bushwalk, relax with a picnic or pan for gold.
Of course, a trip to the park wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Steiglitz Court House, with its display of photographs, maps and relics of gold year. The court house is open on Sunday and public holidays, and at other times by arrangement.
Make sure you visit Steiglitz and wander the ghost-town discovering its past from the information boards located there. Please note that private property and dwellings should not be entered.
There are some great picnic spots and several walks from the town centre to explore the area. (Parks Victoria)
History
The von Stieglitz family bought and settled the land on which Steiglitz now sits in 1835. They returned to Ireland in 1853, but retained ownership of the land, upon which gold was found the following year; it became the first auriferous quartz-mining site in Victoria. A settlement of gold-prospectors quickly developed, and took its (misspelled) name from the land's owners. The population reached 2000 by 1863, including roughly 220 Chinese immigrants. The easily-won gold had been worked out by the late 1870s, and many people moved away. The last gold mine closed in 1941 and, as of 2015, the population of the town site was just eight. The Steiglitz historic park was opened in 1976 with the intention of preserving Steiglitz as an example of an abandoned gold-mining town, and several historic buildings were restored.
Historic Buildings
The Steiglitz Post Office's history closely follows that of the town: it opened on 15 March 1856 and closed in 1966, and is now a private residence.
The former Steiglitz Court House, built in 1874, just as the town began to experience a significant decline in population, is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. It is now a volunteer-run museum.
A small wooden Catholic church, St Thomas' Catholic Church, was built in 1868–9. In 1951 the building was moved to Norlane where it served as a church hall, until it was returned to Steiglitz in 1982 as part of the restoration efforts; its churchyard continues to hold only a single grave. Similarly, St Paul's Anglican Church, which had been built in 1871, ceased functioning in 1962, but was restored in 1988 and 1994, having remained in Steiglitz for the whole period.
(Researched and compiled Andrew Parker 2015)
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