Dongcheng Children's Palace Concert

Ararat residents have, once again, been entertained to a free concert by the Dongcheng District Children's Palace troupe.

Prior to their concert they paid a visit to Gum San where they enjoyed gold panning.

Gold panning for fun

Getting ready for the performance

The teachers joined in the amusement

This time the entertainers were Primary school students with an average age of 10 years who sang and danced their way into our hearts. As with previous groups from this company, Ararat is the only provincial city to see these talented children perform. Usually these kinds of performances are strictly confined to the capital cities. We see them in Ararat because of our strong friendship links with China through Mr Tommy Xiang and AIMG Holdings operators of 3CW Chinese Radio.

Students and staff alike enjoyed their Gum San experience

Cr Marian received a scroll

The gift of a beautiful teaset for Gum San

Presentations were made by the Director of the Troupe to Mayor Andrea Marian for the Ararat Rural City and also to Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre.


 

Dance of "Paper Doll Cutting"

Chinese opera

A sheep like we have never seen before

Traditional dance with bells on it.

Did you have a fovourite? We invite comments.

Chinese Children to Entertain again

Mr Tommy Jiang, from 3CW radio, will once again bring a group of very talented Chinese children to entertain Ararat district residents with a free concert. We had a brilliant group from Beijing Number 2 High School give us an afternoon's entertainment of song and dance at the end of July.

Photo by Peter Pickering

The next group will be here on August 20 and will once again perform a free concert at the Ararat Performing Arts Centre. These children are from the Dongcheng Children's Palace and are younger than those who entertained us in July. Ararat is the only non-capital city where these children will perform and comes about through our special links with China. See the poster below for details.

Governor Pays a Visit

The Governor of Victoria The Honorourable Mr Alex Chernov and Mrs Chernov  visited Gum San on July 30. This was part of a two day tour of the municipality where they visited the Stan Kelly exhibition at Langi Morgala Museum, JWard, Langi Ghiran Winery and Greenvale Meats. They also joined members of the Ararat Islamic Welfare Association and community members in a friendship lunch.

New scrolls added to our collection

 The Ararat Chinese Heritage Society kindly donated three scrolls to Gum San.
The first beautiful scroll is a traditional painting of a cucumber vine and required mounting but now hangs on our wall.

 The second scroll is of a mountain scene in black and white. It depicts mountains with a stream running through the centre flanked by houses with a bridge crossing the stream. On the bridge a lady surveys the scenery while two men fish.










The third is a memorial scroll but at this stage we don't know who it was written to memorialize. This huge scroll also had to have mountings added before we could hang it.

 

This antique scroll was hanging in another part of the museum and has been moved to our scroll wall to hang. It is part of the Crabtree collection and depicts cranes nesting in a tree and represents life.
















The following four scrolls have been in storage for some time but are now back on display

Gold, gold, gold!

Local Ararat man Shane Clarke dropped into Gum San to give us a Chinese coin he had found near Norval Dam on one of his fossicking trips. These coins are not of any great significance but see what else he has been able to find.
Shane uses a 'state of the art' gold detector and is very experienced in its use. He travels all over the local goldfields tramping around the Ararat area as well as going to the well known areas around Maryborough and Talbot.

Left and clockwise starting from the top a 5.13 gram nugget found at Denicull Creek, next 8.13 grams also found at Denicull Creek, then 3.23 grams found at Blacksmith Gully near Amherst, followed by 10.22 grams found at Garden Gully Greek near Armstrongs and lastly 4.318 grams found near Armstrongs beyond Hard Hill. With the Australian dollar high against the US dollar these nuggets have a combined gold value of around AU$1500, but individual nuggets are often worth more as jewellery pieces than their actual gold value.

These 'bits and pieces' weigh 19.8 grams in total with each piece less than one gram. The gold in this lot is valued at today's rates at over AU$1000.
Drop in to Gum San and see our selection of maps of the goldfields - you too can find gold. John Gladdis from  the Coiltek Gold Centre in Maryborough, and a supporter and donor to Gum San, can help you out with the hire of gold detecting equipment.

Visitors from Yiwu

A visiting delegation from our Friendship City Yiwu visited Ararat on July 20 and 21. The delegation, led by the Yiwu Municipal People's Government Vice Mayor Mr Fu Chunming,  visited GWM Water because one of the delegation is deputy director of the Yiwu Bureau of Water Affairs, to Gum San, shared dinner with Councillors on July 20, and visited a local farm on July 21 before returning to Melbourne before continuing their brief visit to Australia. Deputy Mayor Mr John Cunningham welcomed the visitors. Mr Fu responded and told everyone present how impressed he was with Ararat and surrounds. As with all Chinese delegations, he was impressed with the purity of the ecology of our area. Gifts were exchanged and Ararat was given the magnificent pen holder shown below. This is on display at Gum San.

Donation to Gum San

Thank you to Mrs Isabelle Costello who has made a generous donation of a traditional Chinese lantern to Gum San. Isabelle has been a long time member of the Ararat Chinese Heritage Society and was previously a volunteer at Gum San

Traditional Chinese Lantern at Gum San

School Holidays Craft Program - Winter 2011 Day 2

Today we repeated the program from yesterday but with a smaller different group of children. All of children taking part in the Gum San School Holidays Program made spoon-collage dragon pictures in the morning . Two of the girls made lotus flowers and paper balls while the others made origami animal models.

Everyone was proud of their collage

Lucy at work

Tahlee concentrates

Olivia pastes on some decoration

Origami animals made by the children

Victor works on his origami

Tahlee & Charlotte show off their lotus flowers

Charla shows her origami models

Charlotte adjusts her paper ball

School Holidays Craft Program - Winter 2011

Today, at Gum San,we held the first day of our winter primary school holidays program. The children made a collage using Chinese spoons in the morning session and after lunch made a series of origami models.Everyone made jumping frogs. The older children made the quite complicated lotus flower while the younger group made paper planes and various animals.

Bella, Jed and Mia listen intently

Chloe concentrates on her masterpiece

Emily and Ruby colour carefully

Jack works on his art work

Lunch break

Diane helps Riley and Jed make their planes while Mia works on her own model

Demi and Jack in deep concentration

Peta, Tilly and Chloe work on their lotus flowers

Completed collage dragon pictures

Three day [2 night] tour of Ararat and the Grampians

Suggested itinerary

Day 1. Arrive in Ararat by train 10.33 [depart Southern Cross at 8.08] store your luggage at the
Visitor Information Centre [VIC] and take the local bus to visit

Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre [self guided tour 11/2 hours]

Either walk [about 1km] or take the local bus to

Lunch at RSL $12.00 inc $2.00 drinks or gaming voucher

Afternoon tour Langi Morgala Museum  [Tuesday – Thursday, Saturday & Sunday - Social History], Railway Heritage Museum [Friday or Sunday] or Ararat Regional Art Gallery [Wednesday – Monday] – all within 200m of the RSL and the VIC.

Collect your luggage and check into the accommodation of your choice

Chalambar Motel                  Colonial Lodge Motel

Statesman Motor Inn             The Links Retreat

 

Dinner at Restaurant or Hotel of choice [Suggestions Nectar Ambrosia, Royal Saffron, Sicilian, Blue Duck, RSL]  or a take-away meal in our beautiful Alexandra Gardens [Chinese, pizza, fish & chips or noodles all available]   

 

If you have your own transport Bistro meals are also available at Chalambar Golf Club Wednesday to Friday

Day 2. Tour JWard at 10am or 11am for guided tour

Lunch at one of the Barkly St cafes, bakeries or hotels

Choose from Sicilian, Café 96 [closed Mon & Tues], the Vines [closed Wed], Waaks Bakery, Ararat Bakery, Debs Diner [closed Sat & Sun], The Lounge or Hotel Counter meals

Afternoon  Walking tour of historic buildings

Download guide coming soon

Or a round of golf at the spectacular Chalambar Golf Club       

Golf Club hire is available and green fees are payable.

Dinner at restaurant of choice - see day 1 suggestions

Day 3. Highlights of the Grampians Tour [Tuesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday]

$59.00pp – discounts apply. Departs Ararat Visitor Information Centre at 10.40am

Bookings essential.

 

The “Highlights of the Grampians” tour allows you to experience spectacular views, wildlife and wildflowers. For those inclined there is time to follow some of the walking trails that offer more secluded scenes. The Grampians is known by Aboriginal people as ‘Gariwerd’ meaning “Mountain Range”.

Halls Gap - Nestled in the Fyans Valley between Wonderland and Mt William Ranges.

Lake Bellfield- At the foot of the Grampians just out of Halls Gap and surrounded by magnificent rugged cliffs and natural forest. When full the lake covers 400 hectares.

Brambuk the National Parks & Cultural Centre - Provides park information and the cultural building represents the features of the local cockatoo, while the curving ramp through the centre represents an eel, once a staple food in the region. This centre is well worth a look as it has visual and audio exhibits that graphically bring to life the history of the Aboriginal people of south-west Victoria.

The Halls Gap Zoo - Just out of Halls Gap, nestled against the backdrop of the Grampians, is the Halls Gap Zoo.The Zoo has 120 species of native and exotic mammals including the rare Red Panda, inquisitive Meerkats, cheeky Monkeys, reptiles and birds. The Zoo also has a breeding and conservation program for Brush-tailed Bettong, Tasmanian Devil, Bilby, Bush Stone Curlew, Quoll and Rock Wallabies. The fossil cave has a large selection of dinosaur, megafauna and ordovician fossils that compliment the amazing and engaging experience.

Return to Melbourne by train leaving at 4.50pm arriving Southern Cross at 7.33pm weekdays and on weekends leaving at 4.05pm arriving at Southern Cross at 6.26pm.

Download the Attractions Passport for discounted entry to most Ararat attractions