Clunes Caravan Park is situated only a short stroll past ancient buildings to the main street of historic township of Clunes, where you will find coffee shops, a bakery, restaurants, a pub, gift and home ware shops, antiques and book shops, the new museum and information centre, the library and the Lee Medlyn Home of Bottles which includes plenty of history on display.
Clunes is a town in Victoria, Australia, where the first registered gold discovery was made by James Esmond. Esmond's discoverey was first published in the Geelong Advertiser on the 7th of July 1851, which was the trigger of the first gold rush in Victoria. Many of the old mine sites can still be seen around the Clunes Township, including The Lothair Mine.
All within walking distance from the Clunes Caravan Park, which makes the Clunes Caravan Park the ideal starting point for your daily adventures.
Our location in the heart of Clunes makes us a great base for prospectors seeking gold in the region.
A 15 minute drive takes you to the famous Lambley Nursery in Ascot.
Central to Daylesford (35 minutes), Ballarat (35 minutes), Maryborough (30 minutes).
Explore Avoca, Arrarat, Maldon,Creswick, Mt Beckworth Wines, Pyrenees Wineries, Dunolly, St Arnaud and Talbot - all an easy drive away.
Clunes was Victoria's first commercial gold town. There is a wonderful array of stylish buildings dating back to the 1860's. Clunes was also the site of the first Mad Max movie and several others since and recently"Tommorrow when the war began" filming a ABC3 series in the main street. We are just one minute's leisurely walk to Clunes' historic main street - antiques, books, cafes, museums. Plus all your daily shopping needs - IGA, Pharmacy, Post Office, Newsagency, Butcher and Hairdresser.
In December 1873, the historic Victorian goldmining township of Clunes was the scene of what has been reported as a major uprising against Chinese miners.
“When news reached Clunes in Victoria on the morning of 9 December 1873 that numbers of Chinese were about to move onto their field, the miners took instant action. The bellman was sent round the town to alert the diggers of the impending arrival of ‘the leprous curse’.
Work was immediately suspended in all the principal mines, and on what remained of the alluvial flats. Public meetings were held at which miners and diggers unanimously resolved to drive the unclean yellow men off the fields. Axe- and pick-handles and waddies of all descriptions were distributed to the men waiting for the arrival of the Chinese. Women turned out in hundreds to incite their menfolk against the Chinese.
That morning one thousand men, accompanied by troops of women and children and inflamed by the fire-bells ringing out the alarm as well as by stirring music from the brass bands, erected barricades at the junction of the Ballarat and Clunes Roads to stop the Chinese coaches. Ploughs, drays, timber, stones and bricks were used.
As soon as the Chinese coaches came within distance, a hail of stones and bricks fell upon the occupants. The police tried gallantly to protect the Chinese and restore order, but all in vain, as the miners, ably assisted by their better halves, who shouted and cursed and swore and cast stones with the best of the men, compelled the Chinese to retrace their steps back to Ballarat, to the cheers of the victors in this battle for Clunes.
Before returning to work the miners again declared their determination to oppose the introduction of Chinese labour in the mines at Clunes. The Australians might not have been capable of creating a Paris Commune, but they were capable of defending the slogan ‘No Chinamen’.”
Source - fourth volume of Manning Clark’s A History of Australia (1978)
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