FORMER STONES DEPARTMENT STORE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

The area is first mapped as allotment 1, 2, and 3 of Section H in detail in the 1857 Revised Town Plan of Block A.B. C. D. The site was likely occupied prior as part of the first phase of the Ballarat Main Street development, due to its proximity to Ballarat West and the Gravel Pit alluvial fields. The area was occupied by Bradshaw, Solomon and Co drapery until 1863. By 1865 the site is listed as the Sun Hotel, which later changes its name to ‘the Gin Palace’ and the Ancient Briton Hotel’. In 1893 the hotel has ceased operation. Stone Department Store was opened in 1909 and closed in 1892. 

The site is of archaeological and historical significance. 

The site is of historical significance as the location of an early residence and commercial premises during the years of the Victorian gold rush – one of the most significant rushes in world history. The site was likely occupied as a hotel from 1865 until 1893.The site is of archaeological significance due to its potential to contain artefacts, deposits and features associated with the commercial precinct of the early gold rush, and other later 19th-century commercial activities including a hotel.