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Article: Gold dust memories: Sovereign Hill re-creates the Victorian-era opulence of Ballarat.(The Orange County Register)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- August 7, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BALLARAT, Australia _ Take a bit of Tombstone and Deadwood, add a splash of Colonial Williamsburg and finish off with a topping of Knott's Berry Farm circa 1960, and you have an idea of what Sovereign Hill is like.
The Australian outback settlement started out as a real-life 19th-century boomtown, like Tombstone and Deadwood.
It was rescued from oblivion, like Williamsburg, by a plan to make it a model village showing off the nation's heritage.
To get people to make the one-hour drive from Melbourne into the dry, hot interior, Sovereign Hill has marketed itself as a rootin'-tootin' bring-the-kids good-time place _ like Knott's before the thrill ...