VICTORIA'S
GREATEST DRIVING TOURS AND HERITAGE TOWNS
Historic...CASTLEMAINE
If finding Mount Alexander on modern maps is a challenge, imagine what it was like for thousands of fortune-seekers last century: the enticement of a gold discovery so rich that every shovel-full gleamed with gold - but where the heck was Victoria, Australia?
Certainly, the Gold Rush put Castlemaine on the maps pretty quickly. Diggers flooded to the field like a human tidal wave and for a time there was a belief that Castlemaine would become the second most important city in Victoria. Back in the 1850s, prosperity looked assured: a population of 50,000 and the richest alluvial goldfield in the world.
Major Thomas Mitchell passed through the Mount Alexander region on his expedition from Portland Bay to the Murray in 1836, certainly unaware that he was leaving a trail literally paved with gold. Squatters followed, settling large tracts of grazing land. In July 1851 the first gold was discovered in the creek, and by December there were 20,000 diggers scouring the streams that flowed from Mount Alexander.
Within a decade most of the gold had been taken. Castlemaine lacked the rich gold-bearing deep reefs that sustained Bendigo and Ballarat, and the population dropped to 7000 as miners de-camped for other fields.
Their departure left today’s visitors an admirable heritage of colonial streetscapes crowded with fine public buildings, gracious residences, ornate hotels and century-old shops selling everything from gourmet food to antiques and art.
A good example of Gold Rush architecture is the Market Building on Mostyn Street. Completed in 1862, it was used as a food market until 1967, declared unsafe, then saved from demolition by the National Trust. Its prominent portico is presided over by a statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of harvests. Further along the street the Restorers Barn and Morrell glass gallery are worth a browse.
Another Trust classified building worth inspection is Buda, circa1863. Carefully restored, the stately home and gardens were owned by Ernest Leviny, who was strangely, a silversmith on the goldfields. Occupied by the Leviny family for 120 years, Buda is open to the public.
Castlemaine’s Botanical Gardens were laid out by Baron Von Mueller, who designed a many of Victoria’s famed public and some private gardens, including Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens. Only a little over five hectares in area, the gardens and lake are a relaxing, shady place for a picnic on a summer’s day.
Down by Barkers Creek, scene of such frenetic digging in the 1850s, the railway station and Midland Private Hotel are fine examples of the red brick style of the period. Overlooking town, Castlemaine Gaol has opened its doors to the public, and further along is Robert O’Hara Burke’s residence, the intrepid explorer who was Police Inspector here 1858-60 before his ill-fated expedition. Infamous bushranger “Mad Dog” Morgan was first arrested at Barker’s Creek, and equally infamous Lola Montes scandalised some and excited others when she opened the Castlemaine Theatre with a stirring performance of her spider dance in 1855.
A scenic backroad drive takes in forests and ghost towns to the south - Chewton, Fryerstown, Guildford and Campbell’s Creek.
Castlemaine is 120km north-west of Melbourne, about 90 minutes drive via the Calder Freeway. Alternative return route is via Midland Hwy to Western Fwy.
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