Kryal Castle is a replica medieval castle located eight kilometres east of Ballarat, Australia, at Leigh Creek, just north of Dunnstown, in the foothills of Mount Warrenheip.
The castle features a moat and drawbridge, a maze, castle towers, stocks, [1] and an armoury. [2] There are also shows involving jousting, live theatre, a jester, juggler and fire eating, as well as a "Wax Of Torture" museum. [3] The castle also provides accommodation and hosts weddings and conferences.
The castle's name derives from the first initial and surname of its builder, Keith Ryall, [4] [5] who had made his fortune selling body armour. Ryall, born in 1942, had left school at 16 and had also been a refrigerator salesman in Creswick. He received a loan of $75 000 from the Victorian Development Corporation to realise the project. [6] Construction began in 1972, [7] and the attraction was opened to the public in 1974. [8]
In 2007 the property was listed for sale with an asking price of $10 million, but failed to find a buyer. There was interest from some parties in turning it into a medieval-style brothel. [9] After having been on the market for several years, it was sold in January 2011 to Jay Finch and Wendy Alexander, who intended to continue it as a hotel and theme park. [10] However, in August 2011 ownership of the property was returned to Keith Ryall after the Finch family was unable to complete payment for it. [11]
In January 2012, Kryal Castle was acquired by Castle Tourism & Entertainment Pty Ltd. [12] It closed for a major renovation and upgrade, reopening in 2013, having been developed into a multi-use venue, offering daytime and night-time tourism, and entertainment experiences. [13] There are Castle Suites with four-star accommodation, as well as function, wedding and conferencing facilities. Medieval adventure, fantasy and theme park concepts have been developed. The medieval sport of jousting has been reintroduced along with sound and light attractions. [14]
In 2015, Keith Ryall, the original owner of the castle died. His funeral was held at Kryal. [15] Castle Tourism & Entertainment placed Kryal Castle on the market in 2016 [16] and it was ultimately purchased by the then-current leaseholders. In 2022, it was nominated for Best Victorian Tourism Attraction. [17]
Ballarat is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. Ballarat has a population of 117,240, making it the fourth largest city in Victoria.
Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism.
The City of Ballarat is a local government area in the west of the state of Victoria, Australia. It covers an area of 739 square kilometres (285 sq mi) and, in June 2018, had a population of 107,325. It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living in the Greater Ballarat urban area, while other significant settlements within the LGA include Buninyong, Waubra, Learmonth and Addington. It was formed on 6 May 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Ballarat, Shire of Ballarat, Borough of Sebastopol and parts of the Shire of Bungaree, Shire of Buninyong, Shire of Grenville and Shire of Ripon.
Ararat is a town in south-west Victoria, Australia, about 198 kilometres (120 mi) west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera. Its urban population according to 2021 census is 8,500 and services the region of 11,880 residents across the Rural City's boundaries. It is also the home of the 2018/19 GMGA Golf Championship Final.
Sovereign Hill is an open-air museum in Golden Point, a suburb of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Sovereign Hill depicts Ballarat's first ten years after the discovery of gold there in 1851 and has become a nationally acclaimed tourist attraction. It is one of Victoria's most popular attractions and Ballarat's most famous.
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in the Australian state of Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross railway station in Melbourne. It also provides bus services across Victoria and into New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. In addition, V/Line is responsible for the maintenance of much of the Victorian freight and passenger rail network outside of the areas managed by Metro Trains Melbourne and the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
Lake Wendouree is an artificially created and maintained shallow urban lake located adjacent to the suburb of the same name in the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The name Wendouree comes from a local Aboriginal word wendaaree which means 'go away': a story is told that when settler William Cross Yuille asked a local Indigenous woman what the name of the swamp was, that was her reply.
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state, with a land area of 227,444 km2 (87,817 sq mi); the second-most-populated state, with a population of over 6.7 million; and the most densely populated state in Australia. Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north and South Australia to the west and is bounded by the Bass Strait to the south, the Great Australian Bight portion of the Southern Ocean to the southwest, and the Tasman Sea to the southeast. The state encompasses a range of climates and geographical features from its temperate coastal and central regions to the Victorian Alps in the northeast and the semi-arid northwest.
Lake Wendouree is a suburb of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia located immediately west of the Ballarat central business district. It encompasses the man-made recreational lake Lake Wendouree, after which it is named. At the 2021 census, Lake Wendouree had a population of 2,878.
The Mildura railway line is a heavy rail line in northwestern Victoria, Australia. The line runs from Yelta station to Ballarat station via the settlements of Mildura, Ouyen and Maryborough in an approximate south-southeasterly direction. Initial sections of the line opened from Ballarat in 1874 and the line reached Mildura in 1903.
Wild Life Sydney Zoo is a wildlife park in the Darling Harbour precinct, on the western edge of the Sydney central business district, Australia. Opened in September 2006, the zoo is located adjacent to a leisure and retail precinct that includes the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium and Madame Tussauds Sydney.
The Waubra wind farm is located on both sides of the Sunraysia Highway 35 km north-west of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. Upon its completion in July 2009, it was the largest wind farm in Australia and was the largest wind farm by number of turbines and total capacity in the southern hemisphere.
Paronella Park is a heritage-listed tourist attraction located at Mena Creek, Queensland, Australia, 120 kilometres (75 mi) south of Cairns. It was designed and built between 1929 and 1935.
Ballarat Clarendon College is a private, co-educational, day and boarding school, located in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
The Goldfields region of Victoria is a region commonly used but typically defined in both historical geography and tourism geography. The region is also known as the Victorian Golden Triangle.
Dunnstown is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moorabool, 108 kilometres (67 mi) west of the state capital, Melbourne on the flats below Mount Warrenheip and approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) east of Ballarat. At the 2021 census, Dunnstown and the surrounding area had a population of 259.
The Fothergill–Round–Mitchell Medal is a Victorian Football League (VFL) award that is presented to the most promising young talent in the VFL competition.
Federation University Australia is a public, multi-sector university based in Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. The university also has campuses in Ararat, Horsham, Stawell, Churchill, Berwick, and Brisbane, as well as online technical and further education (TAFE) courses and Horsham's higher education nursing program.
Wells House and Gardens is a Victorian tudor gothic country house museum, around 7 km north-west of Kilmuckridge, County Wexford, Ireland. It was designed by Daniel Robertson in the 1830s. It replaced the original house which was built in the late seventeenth century by the former Cromwellian army officer John Warren, and bought after his death by the eminent judge Sir Robert Doyne: the Doyne family lived here until 1964.
The National Centre for Photography, sited in the regional city of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia exhibits, promotes, archives, and provides education, in photography.