This cache brings you to the historic town of Clunes. Clunes is notable for a few things - namely gold which resulted in some magnificnet buildings thet remain in town today. If you wander around the town you will find lots of info regarding Clunes and gold and you will see many buildings of note (and lots of information signs regarding the history of Clunes).
The town was home to Victoria's first registered gold discovery made byJames Esmond. His discovery, first published in the Geelong Advertiser on 7 July 1851 triggered the gold rush in Victoiria. The township was established a few years later and subsequent gold mining, predominantly driven by the Port Phillip and Colonial Mining Company saw the town's population rising to well over 6,000 residents in the late 1880s.
From the 1850s through to 1893, when gold mining eventually came to an end, Clunes was an important gold production location in Victoria. During this period gold in excess of 1.2 million ounces was produced at Clunes. Surrounded by grassland, meadows and pastures, the town has preserved many of its elegant historic buildings until today and is recognised as one of the architecturally most intact gold towns in Victoria.
Clunes is now notable for another reason - BOOKS!
The idea of transforming Clunes into a European-style booktown was first conceived and developed by Councillor Tim Hayes, Linda Newitt, Graeme Johnston and Tess Brady. Clunes held its first 'Booktown for a Day' event on 20 May 2007. Over 50 booksellers from around Australia set up shop for the day in the town's heritage buildings.
Renamed to 'Back to Booktown' a year later and to 'Clunes Booktown Festival' in 2012, the township now holds the event each year on the first weekend in May. With more than 60 booksellers, millions of books and 15,000 visitors, it has become the largest collection of books in any regional centre of Australia and the major Victorian regional book event. On 19 April 2012 Clunes was given 'International Booktown' status - a title awarded to the town by the 'International Organisation of Booktowns'. Clunes is the 1st town in the Southern Hemisphere and the 15th town world-wide to have received the official recognition. (Source: Wikipedia)