All that glitters: telling the fiftieth anniversary story of gold at Sovereign Hill

Abstract

ABSTRACT The fiftieth anniversary of Sovereign Hill, an iconic Australian tourism destination, provides a key point to consider the curatorial and historical perspectives of the museum’s past. This article considers its role and place as a regional community institution and its approach to telling the local, national, and international histories of the gold rush era of the mid-nineteenth century. Since opening in 1970, Sovereign Hill has provided millions of visitors with a living window onto the history of the Australian gold rushes, particularly the longitudinal impact of gold discoveries on the regional city of Ballarat. The article analyses how Sovereign Hill has sought to manage the ongoing dynamic tension between curatorial and historical interpretation with the commercial imperatives of being a premier heritage tourism destination, from the 1970s down to the era of COVID-19.