The Gold Museum is housed in the old Treasury Building in Melbourne, built between 1858 and 1862. It was once the second most important building in the city after the Parliament Building, but the Treasury itself was housed there for a short time, until 1878.
The architect of the building was the young but very talented John Clarke, who began construction when he was barely 19 years old. Today, his neo-Renaissance creation is considered one of the most beautiful in the city. Incidentally, Clark also later designed the Treasury Building in Brisbane, Queensland.
It was not until 1994 that the Museum of Gold was opened to the public. Today, the Museum has several permanent exhibitions on not only the history of the gold rush in Australia, but also the formation and development of Melbourne. The museum is even sometimes called a city museum. For example, at the exhibition "Creating Melbourne" you can get acquainted with the history of the city, starting from its foundation in 1835 as a small settlement of colonists and up to our days. Naturally, an important part of the exhibition tells the story of the hardscrabble days of gold mining, which fuelled Melbourne's rapid growth and turned it into the continent's most important city. Another exhibition, Built on Gold, takes a look back to the years when the first gold bar was found in Victoria and how this discovery changed Australia's fortunes. The Museum also regularly hosts temporary exhibitions inviting visitors to experience Melbourne's great past.
