The wheel also represents the Garfield Wheel, which was the largest waterwheel in the southern hemisphere. Although the timber from the Garfield Wheel has long since found its way into the structure of other buildings around the district its massive stone abutments are still to be found in the bush today. Dirt was dropped into the upper box and water washed over it, the rocking action gained by pushing on the pole washed the dirt into the bottom tray.
Any gold in the dirt could be retrieved after washing, found laying in the bottom of the cradle. As diggers came and went frequently from the fields, following one rush after another, the sale of a cradle was an easy way of gaining ready cash to finance the next journey and not doubt it was easier than carrying such a heavy and cumbersome box over hill and valley.
Castlemaine Art Gallery and Museum Located at 14 Lyttleton Street, the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Museum is considered one of Victoria's finest provincial galleries featuring major Australian works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
It was extended in and The Victorian Heritage Database observes that its significance lies in the fact that it "is an early example in provincial Victoria of austere Neo-Classical "modern" design.
It is constructed of face brick since painted with rendered dressings and presents a severe facade, without windows, relieved only by the "Jazz" decorated frieze to the parapet, front garden wall and tympanum over the central entrance. The front door is recessed behind an elaborate pair of iron grille gates. The interior is lit by a ceiling lighting system under a saw-tooth roof. The interior is severely and simply decorated but with a careful control of volumes and planning in the display areas.
The Castlemaine Art Gallery is an exceptional building in its intent and execution and is historically important as one of the earliest examples of the "modern movement" in provincial Victoria.
The gallery also has impressive collections of photographs and ceramics. The Historical Museum focuses on items relating to the history of the Mt Alexander shire. There are photographs, newspaper clippings and other artefacts.
The Gallery and Museum is open Thursday to Sunday from noon to 5. The Victorian Heritage Database records that it is: "A highly mannered brick Gothic church designed by William Spencer and erected in The liturgical west front and porches are flanked by exaggerated pinnacles and the windows are filled with vigorously patterned coloured glass.
The style of the building is without parallel in Victoria. To its rear is the original Congregational Church which was the town's first brick church It became the Sunday School hall. The Victorian Heritage Database describes it as: "A church built in to a remarkably eclectic design by the Ballarat architect C D Figgis, described at the time as being 'an adaptation of Florentine or Padua Gothic'. It is striking for its bold asymmetrical massing, the bellcast profile conical tower roof, the ogee label mould of the high west window, the bracketed corbel table of the eave and the entrance divided by a trumeau.
The first building to occupy the site was a temporary chapel which was built in In "a magnificent cathedral in the Elizabethan style" was planned and Frederick Poepel was chosen as the architect. It was originally erected as the result of the efforts of Father Patrick Smyth who figured largely in the Eureka Stockade rebellion.
Christ Church Located at 8 Mostyn Street, Christ Church, an Anglican structure built of random-coursed sandstone from to on what was then known as Agitation Hill, as the diggers used this spot to hold protest meetings about the gold license system. This Gothic Revival design features distinctive windows and projecting gables. There are additions. It is particularly notable, as the Victorian Heritage Database points out, because "Christ Church is architecturally significant for its use of local sandstone, its rose window and its detailing, including the carved faces on the crockets.
Notable interior features include the timber pews, the baptismal font, the creed and commandments panels in the chancel, the lettering around the chancel arch and nave walls, the George Fincham organ of , and the stained glass including the rose window. Despite its name it was a general cemetery. The cemetery is metres along this road. Forest Creek Gold Workings Heritage Walk Located, and clearly signposted, off the Pyrenees Highway to the east of the town centre, the Forest Creek Gold Diggings has an informative sign at the entrance which explains that the 'Forest Creek Gold Workings Heritage Walk' is a "metre long loop walk [which] allows you to discover how miners won gold from Forest Creek: site of the famous Mount Alexander Gold Rush of The landscape through which you will walk shows the environmental impacts of various types of alluvial gold mining - shaft sinking, tunnelling and hydraulic sluicing.
Gold from Forest Creek sparked the world's second gold rush and soon tens of thousands of men, women and children were camped in this valley.
The goldfield is an ancient landscape, which bears the imprint of many cultures. Over tens of thousands of years, the region's founding layer was put in place by Aboriginal people. The Jaara or Djadjawurrung speaking people are the local Aboriginal group. Nearly two centuries ago, "new Australians" came to the region in the form of settlers from the British Isles.
Before long, gold was found and the rest of the world discovered what the goldfield had to offer. Despite the tumult of the gold rushes and the changes wrought by intervening years, the connection of Jaara people to this region remains strong, and their welcome is acknowledged and respected. In the early months of many tons of gold dug from Forest Creek began arriving in London. Many came from Britain, Europe, America and later others came from China.
The prize which miners sought was alluvial gold - pieces of metal ranging in size from a grain of salt to a leg of lamb. Its bright yellow colour and great weight makes gold easy to identify. At this site, the miners obtained the alluvial gold from the gravel bed of a former course of Forest Creek formed millions of years ago. They left behind a stark transformed landscape.
Anticlinal Fold Located in Lyttleton Street just beyond Urquhart Street is a geological phenomenon known as an anticlinal fold. It is comprised of quartz rich meta sandstone created during the Devonian era. It was revealed by road construction work in There is a descriptive plaque which explains "This fine exhibit was disclosed when Lyttleton Street East was constructed in Saddle reefs occur in similar folds of the sandstones and slates on lower geological horizons.
Apart from offering an excellent panoramic view of Castlemaine, the monument can claim it was the first memorial to the ill-fated expedition. An amusing subtext is that the workers at Castlemaine threatened to build another monument if the name of Charles Gray was not included on the monument.
And thus the monument was duly completed in with the inscription: "This foundation stone of a monument erected by public subscription to the memory of Robert O'Hara Burke, William John Wills, and Charles Gray, members of the first Victorian Exploring Expedition, who with John King now living and at this ceremony present were the flrst men who ever crossed the great continent of Australia, traversing the country from the City of Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, was laid in this town of Castlemaine by Richard Colles, Esquire Deputy Sheriff for the district of Castlemaine, on this first day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, and on this first anniversary of the death of Robert O'Hara Burke leader of the Expedition —a man dearly beloved by the inhabitants of this district to the end that their names may be had in everlasting remembrance.
During the gold rush the area was almost totally denuded and the ground turned over. In time, coppice regrowth has produced a box-ironbark woodland with a characteristic ecosystem of plants, birds and less visible wildlife.
Over 28 species of different orchids and rare plants have been identified. It is known for its wildflowers, its views over the town and its excellent bushland walks. Buda - Historic Home and Garden Located at 42 Hunter Street, 'Buda' is an authentic goldfields villa house and garden which was built in in an Indian bungalow style by a Baptist missionary, Reverend James Smith, who had ministered in India.
He named it 'Delhi Villa'. In it was purchased by silversmith, jeweller and watchmaker Ernest Leviny who has arrived in the country in to mine gold. He made improvements to the building, giving it its current name - an abbreviation of Budapest in Hungary, his birthplace. It was extended in The house features the Leviny family's collection of silver, art and crafts including the enamelling, wood-carving, embroidery, photography and painting of Ernest Leviny's daughters which reflect their Hungarian heritage , works by other distinguished Australian artists Margaret Preston and Lionel Lindsay among others , furnishings and domestic effects accumulated over a period of years.
The house features stucco moulding, a clerestory and projecting bay-windowed wings and a broken pediment over the porch. The excellent historic garden covers 3 acres 1. In a Study of Historic Gardens noted that "More than any other garden in Victoria, this has retained the very elusive character of the nineteenth century The ornate aviary was made at Thompson's Foundry in Castlemaine.
It is open Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 5. Things to do Browse All. Heritage Streetscapes. Art Galleries. Maldon Rediscovered. Read More. Accommodation Penney's Cottage 69 Hargreaves Street, Castlemaine, Vic, Penney's Cottage is a two bedroom self contained cottage, one room with a queen bed and the other room with two singles.
At km driving distance from Melbourne. Castlemaine is the main town, officially a city, of The Shire of Mount Alexander, in central Victoria. It has a population of about and economically it is doing better than the rest of regional Victoria.
Until now, "The Shire" and its resident hobbits, have managed to avoid great changes a sort of Brigadoon effect and have thus maintained an alluring charm. The charm of age, slow pace and familiarity. This fragile spell is threatened by the improving highway, the improving railway line and the influx of people from the Big City. People who are individually wonderful people but who en masse are insidiously changing "The Shire". Add to this, the councils decision to allow commercial developments on the entrances to the town, and this uniqueness will disappear before your eyes, making this town indistinguishable from any other.
Castlemaine began as the centre of the Mount Alexander gold fields in It was briefly larger than Melbourne, as that city's population moved to Castlemaine to seek it's fortune. It was the richest alluvial gold field in world history and that title has not yet been surpassed. At it's height one of the weekly convoys alone, shipped 3 tons of gold to Melbourne. However, the rich alluvial diggings were worked out within years. Castlemaine was where the "little fellows" became rich, with nearly all the gold being found within 4m of the surface.
Thus small groups of men could band together and work a stake together in the hope of winning the lottery. Although Bendigo and Ballarat gold fields both eventually yielded more gold, theirs was mostly reef gold and being much deeper, required great capital investment and thus were for the "big fellows".
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