Richard Nicholson
Board Member

Sovereign Hill

Museum and Major Tourism Attraction

Sovereign Hill is one of Australia’s most visited cultural tourism attractions and has twice won the Award as Australia’s Major Tourist Attraction . It is a fully- accredited outdoor heritage museum , based on the fabulous Australian gold rushes of the nineteenth century and delivers the major social history museum of the Ballarat region.. Sovereign Hill attracts over 700,000 visitors annually to its three major businesses , namely the Outdoor Museum , the Gold Museum and the acclaimed sound and light show , Blood on the Southern Cross. This last presentation delivers over 70,000 bed nights per annum alone to the region’s accommodation sector .

Sovereign Hill employs 380 staff in total and provides volunteering opportunities for a further 220 district residents . Sovereign Hill operates on a site that itself was the scene of frenetic mining activity in the initial gold rushes and then become the centre of the later quartz mining activities of the many companies formed from the 1870s onwards to exploit Ballarat’s famous gold reefs.

It is a not for profit company, limited by guarantee and has traded at a profit since opening on 29 November, 1970. The company structure sees a Board of Directors (voluntary) , acting a stewards of this community-based asset. The company’s activities are managed by a professional staff , led since 2002 by Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Johnson.

Richard Nicholson
Board Member
0353371100
www.sovereignhill.com.au