A Tale of Two Castlemaines: Part I

Well this week has (so far) been very hectic.

Yesterday, I was in the city from 4:00 am to run a team of volunteers in Melbourne City Council’s annual “Street Count” program. To Council’s credit they are attempting to be proactive in addressing the problem of homelessness in the city.

Street Count is an attempt at getting a snapshot of the number of people sleeping rough in the city to inform their policy development. Local charities and individuals are asked to help with labour for the count.

So from 4:00 am I was watching the safety of three groups of volunteers as they checked a large area along the Yarra River and around Flinders Street Station.

Flinders Street Station Source Wilkimedia commons

Last Year it was cold and wet for the whole count. Fortunately, this year it was dry. Although, down here in the Southern Hemisphere winter is setting in so it was cold (by Oz standards) and dark the whole time.

I’m pleased to say all volunteers returned safely to the count HQ, without incident. We all shared a hot breakfast to warm up while we completed the debrief session.

Now, my Uncle Harry Tour guide hat is going on again.

Maybe a month ago on one of our day trips, Deb and I shot up towards Castlemaine in central Victoria, a couple of hours drive from home.

On the way up I paused to take a few piccies of places that grabbed my attention.

In Kilmore there is an old Town Hall with a grand facade.

But if you look behind it is no more than a front.

We then passed Hanging Rock which featured in Peter Weir’s 1975 movie Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Like so many other places in Victoria, Castlemaine is a former gold rush town that was founded during the 1850s.

At a site called Red Hill on the outskirts of Castlemaine are the relics of some of the old gold diggings.

This area contains shattered remains of the original hill.

As no remediation work was ever carried out on the old diggings what is left of the hill continues to erode away.

These old iron pipes were used in the area to carry water for sluicing the gold. If you look closely you can see they are riveted together from smaller strips. They have been hand made by local blacksmiths!

In the town itself are the grand buildings typical of the newly prosperous Nineteenth Century communities.

The town hall

The courthouse

The “Imperial Hotel” has fallen on hard times, but the front still has the most intricate wrought iron lacework.

The grandest building is probably the “New” post office opened in 1875.

And tucked behind the post office is the Nineteenth Century version of the internet: the telegraph office. Opened in 1857 Castlemaine’s telegraph office is the oldest remaining telegraph office Australia.

Last, but very far from least, The Castlemaine library opened in 1855 and still in use.