Event: Australia - Ballarat

Sovereign Hill

When:	Daily
Where:	Sovereign Hill
Costs:	10am-5pm (during daylight saving open to 5.30pm); closed Christmas Day
Opening Hours:	A$32.50; concessions A$24.50; 5-15yrs A$15.50 Family tickets A$59-A$83

Turn the clocks back over 150 years at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat and find out exactly what it was like to work on the goldfields in this reconstructed goldfields township. A winner in the Australian Tourism Awards 2005 (and winner of Victoria Tourism major tourist attraction award three years running 2003-2005), Sovereign Hill's 25 acres nestles on the richest alluvial goldfields the world has ever seen.

Preserving some original buildings threatened with disintegration, the community of Ballarat opened the open-air museum of Sovereign Hill on 29 November 1970.

Explore some of the 60 plus buildings or watch craftsmen pursue traditional trades from the 19th century. You can even pan for real gold at the Red Hill Gully Diggings or take the underground adventure tour there that tells the story of the discovery of the 69kg "Welcome Nugget," the second largest gold nugget ever found.

See the wonderful working horses - there are over 50 of them, including Clydesdales & Percherons, and find out what people shopped for in olden days. With 19th-century costumed people going about there business, you can really see history come alive at Sovereign Hill.