As momentum builds towards nomination of the Victorian Goldfields to the UNESCO World Heritage List, communities across the region are being engaged to fully realise this vision. To this end, the Victorian World Heritage Bid has engaged cinematographers and storytellers Tim Webster and Ilana Rose to engage with people across the goldfields to discover and reflect what the Victorian Goldfields means to them.
Their resulting short pilot film ‘Voices of the Goldfields’ is a creative expression of the cultural heritage of the goldfields through the eyes of its people. The film traverses some of the social and environmental legacies of the gold rushes to explore ideas of identity, belonging, lifestyle and spirit of place. Beautifully captured in the goldfields landscape, and punctuated by an array of local characters, ‘Voices of the Goldfields’ captures the enduring grit and resilience of the people who embody and conserve this gold rush legacy.
UNESCO World Heritage listing of Australia’s Victorian Goldfields aims to share the extraordinary story of the Victorian gold rush with people from across the globe. The project is anticipated to create social, cultural and economic opportunities for every community across 15 local government areas. In early 2025, it was announced that the bid had been elevated to the tentative listing stage following endorsement by the State of Victoria and the Australian Government.
Join us for the first public screening of this film followed by an in-conversation session with the creators Tim Webster and Ilana Rose, led by Susan Fayad, World Heritage and Regional Development Lead, City of Ballarat. Complimentary afternoon tea to follow.
A Ballarat Heritage Festival event presented by the Eureka Centre Ballarat in partnership with the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid.
A ‘Voices of the Goldfields’ display will also be presented at Art Hub, 10 Lydiard St North Central Ballarat, from 12 – 29 May.
Image: Christine in her shearing shed outside Clunes. The farm has been owned and maintained by women since 1868 following the goldfields success of her great-grandfather Alexander’s training as a geologist in Scotland. Christine features in Ilana Rose and Tim Webster’s Voices of the Goldfields project created on behalf of the Goldfields World Heritage Bid.
