Maldon, Victoria

Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAL : Maldon, Victoria

A town in Britain bears the same name; see Maldon, Essex

Maldon is a town in Victoria, Australia, in the Mount Alexander Shire local government area. It is officially known as "Australia's First Notable Town", and is today best-known for the 19th century appearance the town has maintained despite the passage of over a hundred years since its Gold Rush days.

Contents

1 History
2 Modern times
3 Notable residents
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

History

The district where Maldon now stands was first discovered by white Europeans in 1836, during Major Thomas Mitchell's famous Victorian expedition. It was settled soon afterwards by pastoralists, and two sheep runs were established in the area, at the foot of Mount Tarrangower. In December 1853, gold was discovered at Cairn Curran (the name given to one of the sheep runs), and Maldon became a part of the Victorian Gold Rush.

The goldfield, which was named "Tarrangower Fields" after Mt Tarrangower, immediately attracted an immense number of men eager to make their fortunes at the diggings. Just one month after gold was first discovered, the Chief Commissioner for Goldfields reported 3000 miners had arrived at the diggins. A month after that, a journalist for The Argus reported that the road from Castlemaine to Maldon was lined with the shops of people hoping to make a living of their own from the miners:

The narrow road ... is lined on each side almost continuously with stores of every description, saloons, restaurants, eating houses, lemonade and beer shops, apothecaries' shops, and the tents of doctors, who, I am sorry to say, drive a very lucrative business at Tarrangower.

By 1856 there were estimated to be 18 000–20 000 people at the goldfields, and the Victorian government arranged for the settlement to become a town, which was named Maldon. In 1861, a government census declared the town's population to be 3341, servicing an additional 5-6000 miners at the diggings. At that time it was the 8th-largest town in Victoria, and remained so for the next decade. However, as miners were forced to dig deeper to obtain usable specimins, or as mines ran dry completely, the population began to decline. By 1891, Maldon held a mere 1600 inhabitants. Mining finally ceased in the area in 1920.

Modern times

Today, Maldon's population is more or less stable at around 1000 people. The town has changed very little since mining operations ceased, with buildings and streets barely updated to reflect the passage of time. The town's Main Street has seen an old bank replaced with a service station, but is otherwise nearly identical to its appearance at the beginning of the 20th century.

The town was declared a "notable town" in 1966 by the National Trust of Victoria, who explained that:

The township displays overall historical and architectural importance, particularly in its gold town buildings. The significance lies in the variety of building styles, and the area of mining is of interest with one mine still open to the public.

Maldon boasts that it is largely unchanged since the 1850s, and has attracted considerable interest from tourists for its 19th century atmosphere. Where once it was a mining town, Maldon now survives on the back of the tourist trade. The town holds several annual fairs, including a Winter Fair, Easter Fair, Art show, and Folk Festival.

Notable landmarks include Beehive Chimmney, Mt. Tarrengower and fire tower, Lake Cairn Curren, and the railway station. Maldon has its own newspaper, the Tarrangower Times which is the oldest continuosly published newspaper in Victoria.

Notable residents

Bill Woodfull, Australian cricket team captain, born in Maldon on 1897-08-27

References

Reader's Digest Book of Historic Australian Towns (1982), ISBN 090948693X
[Maldon at the National Trust of Victoria website]. Accessed 2005-10-02.

External links