Editing Geelong (section)

===1850s: Gold rush===
{{Main|Victorian gold rush}}
[[File:View of Geelong 1856 painting.jpg|thumb|left|''[[View of Geelong]]''. 1856 oil painting by [[Eugene von Guérard]].]]

Gold was discovered in nearby [[Ballarat]] in 1851, causing the Geelong population to grow to 23,000 people by the mid-1850s.<ref name="story" /> To counter this, a false map was issued by Melbourne interests to new arrivals, showing the quickest road to the goldfields as being via Melbourne.<ref name="story" /> The first issue of the ''[[Geelong Advertiser]]'' newspaper was published in 1840 by [[James Harrison (engineer)|James Harrison]], who also built the world's first ether vapour compression cycle ice-making and [[refrigeration]] machine in 1844, later being commissioned by a brewery in 1856 to build a machine that cooled beer.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fascinating facts about the invention of the refrigerator by Carl von Linde in 1876.|url=http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/refrigerator.htm|work=The Great Idea Finder|access-date=1 September 2012|first=Phil|last=Ament|date=18 August 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716204028/http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/refrigerator.htm|archive-date=16 July 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Geelong harbour 1857.jpg|thumb|A paddlesteamer approaches busy Geelong Harbour in 1857.]]
The [[Geelong Hospital]] was opened in 1852, and construction on the [[Geelong Town Hall|Geelong City Hall]] commenced in 1855.<ref name="gex150" /> Development of the [[Port of Geelong]] began with the creation of the first [[shipping channel]] in Corio Bay in 1853.<ref name="gex150" /> The [[Port Fairy railway line|Geelong-to-Melbourne]] railway was built by the [[Geelong & Melbourne Railway Company]] in 1857.<ref name="rg">{{cite web
|url=http://railgeelong.com/lineguide.php?line=geelong
|title=Geelong Line Guide
|work=Rail Geelong
|access-date=2007-12-16}}</ref> [[Rabbit]]s were [[Rabbits in Australia|introduced to Australia]] in 1859 by [[Thomas Austin (pastoralist)|Thomas Austin]], who imported them from England for [[hunting]] purposes at his Barwon Park property near [[Winchelsea, Victoria|Winchelsea]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/publications/rabbit.html
|title=Feral European Rabbit
|work=Australian Government fact sheet
|access-date=2012-01-16}}</ref> One of Geelong's best-known department stores, [[Bright & Hitchcocks]], was established in 1861,<ref name="gex150" /> and the [[HM Prison Geelong]] built using convict labour, was opened in 1864.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/page_239.asp?ID=239&submit_action=detailed_result&search_type=DLVHR&query=registerAll/CF3281DFD95D6768CA2573B6007C39E6?OpenDocument |title=FORMER HM TRAINING PRISON - 202 MYERS STREET AND CORNER SWANSTON STREET GEELONG, Greater Geelong City |work=Heritage Victoria: Heritage Register Online |access-date=2007-12-30 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In 1866, [[Graham Berry]] started a newspaper, the ''Geelong Register'', as a rival to the established ''Geelong Advertiser''. When this proved unsuccessful, he bought the ''Advertiser'' and made himself editor of the now-merged papers.<ref>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id=A030143b
|title=Berry, Sir Graham (1822–1904) |edition=Online |access-date=2007-12-16}}</ref> Using the paper as a platform, he was elected for [[Geelong West]] in 1869. In 1877, he switched to Geelong, which he represented until 1886, and served as [[Premiers of Victoria|Victorian Premier]] in 1875, 1877–1880, and 1880–1881.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/minis.html 
 |title=Victorian Premiers Since Responsible Government, 1855 - Current 
 |work=Parliament of Victoria website 
 |access-date=2008-01-15 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023173017/http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/minis.html 
 |archive-date=23 October 2007 
 |url-status=dead 
 |df=dmy 
}}</ref> On the [[Market Square, Geelong|Market Square]] in the middle of the city, a clock tower was erected in 1856, and an Exhibition Building was opened in 1879.