Bendigo - Celebrate Vahland Heritage Tour (City Centre)
Wander along Pall Mall and admire the town planning by William Charles Vahland, the Goldfields architect, that turned this muddy goldfield into a boom town.
Walking Time: 1.5 hours
Distance: 3.8 kilometres
The discovery of gold in Bendigo in 1851 turned it into one of the world's wealthiest cities. The history of Bendigo's development is still evident: the Bendigo Creek, the source of gold, the gracious civic buildings, an ornamental park and the elegant public monuments.
William Charles Vahland arrived in Sandhurst, as Bendigo was then known, from Hannover in 1854. A young man of 26, Vahland had no luck finding gold but soon put his architectural training into practice and opened his first business in Sandhurst.
Celebrate Vahland Heritage Tour (City Centre) Map
Bendigo's wealth is richly displayed at the Alexandra Fountain (1881), at the intersection of two 19th century boulevards, Pall Mall and View Street (3) . The fountain was paid for by proceeds from the Sandhurst Industrial Exhibition of 1879, a generous gift from mining magnate George Lansell and funds from the Sandhurst City Council. The fountain was named after the Princess of Wales and members of the Royal family officiated at the opening. The fountain was one of three designed by Vahland and was intended to bookend Pall Mall with a drinking fountain at Howard Place (1881, now in storage) (28). The two fountains also formed a triangle of water features with the Cascades (1880) in Rosalind Park (29).
Miners set up their tents and stores on the dirt track next to the Bendigo Creek, where Charing Cross and Rosalind Park are now. The creek was heavily worked over for gold and it became a mess of mud and sludge. When it rained the camps flooded and roads became impassable, washing away tents and provisions.
Government surveyors straightened the creek by building channels. Pall Mall was designed to be Bendigo's main promenade and was deliberately set back from the creek on higher ground. Older streets like Bridge Street, where the Chinese community lived, were kept but beautified with monuments.
The booming economy needed banks to finance exploration and secure the gold takings. At View Point there was the Commercial Bank of Australia (1875) and along Pall Mall there was the National (1887) and Colonial Banks (1887) (4) (2) (1).
The goldfields had a culture of heavy drinking and there was a hotel on almost every corner. There was the Commercial (1868) and Royal Mail Hotels (1895) (19) (13). The Exchange Hotel (1874) was designed to match the Shamrock Hotel and has since been absorbed by it (17). The City Family Hotel (1872), built for investor Jean Baptiste Loridan, established the southern entry to Pall Mall (6). The Niagara (1864) and Black Swan Hotels (1873) mark the north of Pall Mall at Howard Place (23) (27). The most famous hotel in Bendigo remains the Shamrock Hotel. Vahland's design was the second Shamrock (1860, demolished 1897) and a part of it remains on Pall Mall (16). The marvellously exuberant building you see today is the third Shamrock Hotel, designed by Phillip Kennedy, a protege of Vahland's.
Merchants populated the city centre. Vahland designed a pair of shops for the Wolfe brothers (1860), a store for American Thomas James Connelly (1877), the Edinburgh Tannery (1881) for Joseph Henry Abbott and the Taylor Bros. Corner House (1875) (22) (5)(9) (20) . The Lyceum Store built for Julius and Hermann Scherff also included a theatre (c.1856-57, demolished 1962) (21). In the Chinese area, Vahland designed a shop and residence (1885) for Dr Lamsey and the sign is still intact (26). At the opposite end of town where the businesses give way to the residences, Vahland designed 'Hunter House' (1882) for the Hunter family that made its wealth from the Garden Gully reef (7).
Photography studios were popular, including the studio (1865) of Benjamin Batchelder, who documented life on the goldfields, and the Bartlett Bros. Photographic Studio (1886) (18) (15)
Bendigonians could take in a concert at Saint James Hall (1873) (14). Gentlemen associated in lodges and the Loyal Bendigo and the Loyal Heart of Friendship Lodge joined together to build the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows Hall (1865) (11).
Teaching trade skills was important in the mining industry. The Mechanics Institute (1864) and School of Mines (1872) taught generations of miners (24). Vahland designed all of the 19th century buildings that have since become incorporated into the Bendigo TAFE site.
Churches were the mainstay of the migrant communities on the goldfields. Saint Kilian's Church
(1888) was built where the first mass was conducted in 1852 by fellow German, Reverend Dr Henry Backhaus (25). Vahland designed the Rectory for Saint Paul's Church (1885) and a Synagogue (1872, demolished 1926) for the Jewish community in Bendigo (8) (12).
The most iconic of Vahland's designs is the Town Hall. Originally built by George Fletcher in 1859, the magnificent Town Hall we see today was due to major remodelling completed over nearly a decade (1878-86) (10). It has twice been threatened by demolition but the Town Hall remains a stunning reminder of the prolific career of architect William Charles Vahland.
(7) (26) These buildings are privately owned. Please only view from the public domain.
Explore other areas of Greater Bendigo with these brochures: - City Centre, Bendigo Views, East, Eaglehawk, West Bendigo.
This brochure is available from the Bendigo Visitor Information Centre.
Location
51-67 Pall Mall, Bendigo 3550 Map
