Maldon

Maldon boomed after gold was found at Cairn Curran in 1853, reached a population of several thousand, and then declined slowly enough that its buildings were neither demolished nor modernised. In 1966 the National Trust declared it Australia's first Notable Town, recognising a nineteenth-century streetscape preserved almost entirely: verandahed shopfronts, brick and timber cottages, the Beehive chimney standing over the town, and old mine workings in the hills around. A heritage steam railway runs to Muckleford, the Carman's Tunnel mine is open for guided tours, and Mount Tarrengower above town has a lookout tower. The Maldon Folk Festival each November has run for decades.

History

The Djadjawurrung people lived in the district before colonisation, Major Thomas Mitchell's expedition of 1836 was the first to explore it, and pastoralists soon set up two sheep runs below Mount Tarrengower. Gold was found at Cairn Curran in December 1853, a month later the chief commissioner counted 3,000 miners at the Tarrangower Fields, and soon afterwards a journalist found the road from Castlemaine lined with stores, eating houses and doctors' tents and the goldfield's population at 18,000 (Wikipedia, Maldon, Victoria).

What's there

• The intact streetscape - a nineteenth-century town almost unchanged.
• The Beehive chimney - the surviving mine chimney above the town.
• The steam railway - heritage trains running to Muckleford.
• Carman's Tunnel - a hand-cut mine tunnel open for guided tours.

When to go

March to November; autumn and spring are most comfortable, and the folk festival falls in early November. Summer is hot with high fire danger. Many shops open only Thursday to Sunday, and the town is very quiet midweek.

Good to know

The town is small and can be walked in an hour. Midweek, much of it is shut. The steam railway runs only on limited days. Accommodation is limited and books out during festivals.

Nearby

Castlemaine lies east; Bendigo is north and the Cairn Curran reservoir close by.

Key facts