Joss House Temple

Tuesday Nov 25 – Joss House Temple

We are headed into Bendigo to see the Joss HouseTemple.  This temple was an 1800’s place of worship for the many Chinese workers here to harvest the gold during that century.

The volunteer is thorough in her explanation of how the Chinese arrived to search for the alluvial gold (above ground) in the area during the gold rush.  They established a Chinese settlement that functioned on its own apart from the city pf Bendigo.  As part if that settlement, they had a temple where they could worship.  This temple was one of 7 that they were able to learn of in the area.  It was last used in the 1930’s and sat derelict till the Second World War when a new munitions factory was developed behind the temple.  At this time, the council asked that it be protected.  It was reopened in the 1970’s as a historical sight.  It is also open to those that wish to use it as a house of worship.

After our Joss House tour we head to the Bendigo WoolenMills.  This mill makes Australian woolen items right here and we make a few purchases. They sell beautiful wool that is machine washable. Laurie would like this as it is much like our favourite wool from Bowmanville.

Picnic at Waroona Lake, I have the usual corn cakes with peanut butter and honey and Alan has found a food truck! He has a Tex Mex hot dog which is a small hot dog with Mex hot sauce, cheese, sour cream and broken taco chips, all on a large cheese bun.  He thoroughly enjoyed it!

We leave Bendigo and carry on to Beechworth.  We stop at Mooroopna to get gas.  They provide us with a bit of local information and we head on to Beechworth.

Finally we arrive in Beechworth and it is in the mountains….beautiful.  We find a place for the night at the Beechworth Cabins.

After supper we hike around the town.  It is a beautiful little town steeped in gold mining history from the 1850’s.  Many of the original buildings are still standing as a testament to the hard work of those that brought the town to life.  The trees in the local park are from all over the world and are quite spectacular.  They were planted by a rich local in the early 1800’s.  

Tomorrow we are heading toward Canberra.