3 February 2012 - Butts Reserve, Maldon, Victoria

A moment ago we were sitting out under the gums drinking our late afternoon coffee, with just the magpies for company, one of which joined us on the table. This is a lovely spot at the foot of Mount Tarrangower, a picnic and camping spot set aside in an historic reserve.

We are in the Mount Alexander Gold Diggings area, where the largest alluvial gold was mined in Australia. The words “largest”, biggest”, oldest” and other “-est” are constantly littering this blog and I wonder where the truth lies, however you may be assured that it is not I personally making these judgements.

We woke much earlier than usual this morning due to the road noise; normal people start their day earlier than we do these days, so we cannot really complain. The roadside camp had been most satisfactory and it was lovely to breakfast with a pastoral view out the window across the creek; a small flock of Dorper sheep making their way along the gum scattered paddocks. (These dorper sheep are quite strange looking, with not only their heads black, but often their shoulders or breast as well. They are a breed developed in South Africa specifically for their meat, not for their wool, which they manage to shed twice a year without the assistance of shearers. Well, that is what I learned by googling them, having read the sign on the farm gate showing that this was a dorper stud.)  A rabbit added to the scene, a sunlit one promising a lovely day.

We found ourselves just around the corner from Campbells Creek, which is now really part of Castlemaine. After finding a level park and disposing of our rubbish in an acceptable fashion, we spent nearly three hours wandering up and down the streets of this lovely town, another full of lovely old buildings, friendly people, restaurants, wonderful book shops and all manner of urban delights. The café culture is alive and well in Castlemaine, as is a passion for exercise. It surprised us how many women on cycles or pushing pushchairs we met as we walked about, especially since the town is spread over hills.

Armed with fresh bread for lunch, we made our way to the Botanic Gardens, having been encouraged to do so by those in the Information Centre. Alas there is nowhere level for a rig such as ours to park  and enjoy even the edge of the gardens, so we left without exploring this reportedly very attractive parkland.

We had intended to drive on to Maldon after lunch and a walk about the Botanic Gardens, so did so earlier than planned. Just a few kilometres east of Maldon, we came upon a reserve set aside in honour of the old Gower school, now just the two end walls held erect by metal frames. It was a pretty place, even close to the road, and we had lunch and previewed the day’s newspaper, before moving on to Maldon.

Remains of the Gower School

Maldon is off the route to Bendigo, and was not on our original itinerary, however we discovered in our research that it is Australia’s first Notable Town, classified as such by the National Trust of Australia in 1966 and therefore worthy of our investigation. Thus listed, the town and its immediate surrounds must remain as they were and cannot be altered other than with the Trust’s consideration.

Walking around the streets of Maldon today is as if you were walking about it back in the 18^th century except for the fact there are cars on the roads rather than horses. The bakery bakes its wares by wood fire; we saw the wood shed where they keep great piles of wood for doing so. The gutters are great wide stone affairs that require some effort to cross unless you are doing so at a normal street crossing.

The town location was first “discovered” by Major George Mitchell, whose name pops up all about the country. Pastoral runs were established in the early 1840s, and gold discovered in early 1853. By 1854 there were probably about 30,000 diggers working alluvial deposits in the area, however the surface gold was largely exhausted by the end of that year. Gold continued to be discovered in areas close by so there was still call for the town to develop. It was surveyed in 1856 and by 1863, the population was 7,000. (Today it is about 1,600)

The total amount of gold recovered here was over 2 million ounces, with a value of over one billion Australian dollars in today’s currency. Gold mining still goes on here today, but in a far more discreet way, much of it far far underground.

After walking about the town, we drove out here to investigate the camp and decided that it would do indeed. We unhitched and then drove to the top of Mount Tarrangower, climbed the tower and took in the wonderful views all about, up to one hundred kilometres in most directions. We could see westwards across to the Grampians, and realised that we had not really come very far since 10^th January.