Maldon - Places to See

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This was published 15 years ago

Maldon - Places to See


Tourist Information
The Maldon Visitor Centre is located adjacent the shire offices in High St. It is open weekdays from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m daily. Be sure to pick up the brochures which outline walks of the town, tel: (03) 5475 2569.

Historic Buildings - High St (South)
The information centre has two free pamphlets identifying the town's historic buildings. One covers the main commercial district (Main and High Sts) and the other roams more widely.

Start at the southern end of town where the Castlemaine Rd meets up with High St. Head north along High St. The second house on the left is Lauriston House which was built in 1866 for local mining magnate R.D. Oswald. With its Malmsbury bluestone and elaborate timber verandah fretwork it was regarded as the town's finest building at the time of its construction.

At High and Fountain is the Kangaroo Hotel (1866) which, with its timber lattice and iron lacework, was once a staging post for Cobb & Co coaches. Head south along High St passing, on the right-hand side of the road, the former Commercial Hotel (1867), Argyle House (1866), the former Carriers Arms Hotel (1857), the former Bank of NSW (1858), the enormous Robert Cox Motors (built c.1858 as a four-shop complex), the motorcyclists' (formerly the Freemasons' Hall built c.1863 with a 1908 facade) and a former flour mill (1873).

Cross the road and return northwards to the former Royal Hotel which was built as a concert hall in 1857 and extended in 1862 when it became the hotel. In 1975 it was used as a setting in the film 'Break of Day'. All that was required was to cover the streets in dirt and Maldon furnished a plausible 19th-century setting. It is now a restaurant.

Historic Buildings - Main St
The Grand Hotel (1888) marks the start of Main St. It features some elaborate arches, pilasters and balusters. To the right, as you head north-east, are the former McFarlane's Drapery, built c.1867 (the face of McFarlane's brother, the Secretary to the Treasury, once graced the Australian pound note), Cookies Collections (built c.1870 as a hairdressing salon), Goldsmith's Building (1897), Berryman's Bootshop (1895) on the site of an 1857 bowling alley, the former Albion Hotel (1866), Dabb's Produce Store (c.1870), a former butcher's (c.1858), Swann's Buildings (1866) and the grand two-storey facade of the Maldon Hotel (1909) with its delicate verandah lacework and slender cast-iron posts. The hotel extension was originally the stables. Cornflowers was built c.1860 and was later used as the Bank of Victoria. Wearne's Building (c.1895) is currently a residence (note the old kerosene sign on the wall) and Franklin's Building (c.1870), at Main and Phoenix, started as a shoe warehouse.

Diagonally opposite, at Main and Templeton, is a fruit shop which dates from 1866 (note the fence and the sign). Just along Templeton St is Maldon Old Grain Store Antique Market (1864).

Return to Main St and head south, passing, on the right, the quaint old bakery (c.1895) with an 1854 wood-fired Scotch oven, Calder's (1866), originally an ironmongery, Maldon Pharmacy (c.1860), Wade's Building (c.1880), the former Dabb & Co. Store with its ornate door (built in 1859 and now the Maldon Supermarket), and the service station, which is housed in an old ironmongery and a former smithy (both 1858).

Historic Buildings - High St (Middle)
Turn the corner, heading north back along High St. On the right-hand side are Wade's House (c.1865), now a residence, and, at the Francis St corner, Calder House (c.1885), a distinguished residence which is now a restaurant and bed-and-breakfast.

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On the other side of High St is the old post office (1870) which, from 1880-86, was the childhood home of noted Australian novelist Henry Handel Richardson. Her mother was the postmistress. Richardson's autobiography Myself When Young (1950) recounts her time in Maldon with great affection.

Walk along Francis St. To the left are the croquet club (1890) and the museum.

Museum and Courthouse
The Maldon Historical Museum, at the corner of High St and Fountain St, has mining photographs and equipment, domestic memorabilia, and archives. It is located in a mellow-toned brick building erected in 1858 as a Market Place. However, this venture was unsuccessful and it became the shire offices in 1865. The hammerbeam arches were added to correct the buckling walls in 1871. It is open weekdays from 1.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. and from 1.30 p.m. to 5.00 p.m on public holidays and weekends.

Behind the museum is the old fire station (1870) and on the other side of the adjacent football oval is the former courthouse (1861).

Historical Buildings - High St (North)
Return to the post office and head north-west along High St. To the left is Robinson's House, a Gothic Revival structure dating from 1866. Over the road, at 50 High St, is the unusual brickwork of Thomas Vivian's House (1862). It sits in the shadow of Holy Trinity Anglican Church (1862-89), a Gothic Revival ragstone structure with exceptional stained-glass windows and an intricately trussed roof. At 54 High St is Tressider's Cottage, a miner's cottage dating back to 1859 which is now a bed-and-breakfast. A little further along is Dr Lisle's House (1857) and over the road is the primary school (1874).

At Hospital and High is Dr Hardy's House (1857) and adjacent is School Cottage (1860) originally a school. Further along High St and on the other side of the road is the arched entranceway of one of the town's grander homes, 'Glendonald', built in 1870 as 'Ethandune'. Continue north past a range of late 19th-century residences to the Adair St corner where there is an Italianate villa with impressive plasterwork.

Historical Buildings - Adair St
At Adair and Chapel is the hospital, built as a one-storey Classical Revival structure in 1860. Patients were allegedly given subterranean water from Eaglehawk Mine as it was believed to have medicinal properties. Just along Chapel St is St Brigid's Catholic Church (1891).

Return to the High and Adair St intersection. On the north-eastern corner is Rule's House (1897). The brick-and-timber house adjacent dates from 1875. At the south-western corner of Adair and Templeton is a corner store and residence (1880s).

Historical Buildings - Templeton St
Heading south on Templeton, to the right, are Brook's residence (1890) with its fine iron lacework, and a typical timber house from the 1880s. Over the road is Chapman's House which was started at some point prior to 1863. The large house on its southern side dates from 1870.

At the south-eastern corner of Templeton and Camp Sts is the former Holy Trinity Parsonage (1863). The original church was to the rear. Just to the south is Lovell's Cottage, a timber house dating from 1860.

Historical Buildings - Church St
Walk along Camp St to the Church St corner where you will find one of the town's highlights - the former Anglican Penny School where the children once paid a penny a day for their schooling. It was largely rebuilt in 1862 after a storm destroyed part of the original 1856 structure, although the tower and entrance porches remain from that earlier day. The architecture is unusual and eclectic. Over the road is the Welsh Congregational Church (1863 with a transept added in 1901).

Walk south along Church St past the Presbyterian manse (1859) to the Presbyterian Church (1905) at the Edward St corner.

Historical Buildings Concluded
At the north-eastern corner of Edwards and Templeton is the Baptist Church (1896). On the south-eastern corner is Brook's Store (1864).

Across Templeton St, at the Francis St corner, is the former Welsh Baptist Church (1865). On its western side is the former temperance hall (1873) and behind that is one of the town's oldest surviving structures, the former Edwards crushing plant.

Maldon Historic Reserve
The Maldon Historic Reserve constitutes about 2500 ha of public land and forest around Maldon. It was created to preserve the area's goldmining relics, including old shafts, abandoned equipment, mullock and tailing heaps, tunnels, dams, tracks, kilns, cyanide vats, stone walls and the goldmining dredge beside the road to Bendigo, 3 km from the town centre. Some are outlined below.

The box and ironbark forests are regrowth projects as the original woodlands were destroyed by goldmining and farming activities. Bushwalking, forest drives, wildflowers and fossicking can all be enjoyed at Smith's Reef which is signposted to the left off the Castlemaine Rd about 4 km from town.

Beehive Chimney
The 30-metre Beehive Chimney (1862) is located just off the road, near the intersection of Main St and Church St. The Beehive reef was discovered by Cornish miners who named it after a swarm of bees which were, at that moment, settled on a nearby post. There is a picnic area adjacent.

North British Mine
Turn off High St into Parkins Reef Rd which heads south-west. 2 km from town, to the left, is the site where the North British Mine operated until 1926. A walking track leads past numerous ruins including two large stamper batteries and some kilns. There is much to see but some remnants may go unnoticed or unappreciated by the untrained eye so be sure to obtain a guiding pamphlet from the information centre. The forest just to the south contains some old puddling machines and mining holes from the gold days.

Carman's Tunnel
Just past the North British, to the right, is the access point to Carman's Tunnel, a 570-metre goldmining tunnel which was excavated, largely with pneumatic drills, between 1882 and 1884. Despite the extraordinary effort, returns were minimal. For a small fee you can go on an informative, candle-lit, half-hour walk through the dry, clean, spacious, level and easily accessible tunnel from 1.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. on weekends, public and school holidays, tel: (03) 5475 2667.

Steam Railway
The town's handsome railway station in Hornsby St was built in 1884 . Two steam trains serve as a static display while another two operational steam trains are used for 45-minute return trips into the Muckleford Forest (a diesel locomotive is used on days of total fire ban). Trips are made on Sundays and public holidays at 11.30 a..m, 1.00 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. and on Wednesdays and Saturdays in school holidays (same departure times). Trains also run every day from December 27 to mid-Januray and from Good Friday to Easter Monday. Ring (03) 5475 2966 for recorded information concerning train times, or call the general office on (03) 54751451.

Nuggetty Ranges Winery
4 km north-west of Maldon, on the Maldon-Sherbourne Road (also known as Bradford Road), is Nuggetty Ranges Winery. Established in 1994, it is a small family-owned winery which produces cabernet sauvignon, semillon and an award-winning shiraz. The cellar door is open daily from 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., tel: (03) 5475 1347.

Yabby Farm
Next to the Nuggetty Ranges Winery, in the Maldon-Sherbourne Road, is the Maldon Yabby and Fish Farm which offers a personalised farm tour, yabbie catching, barbecue and picnic facilities and sales. It is only open to the public in the Christmas school holidays, tel: (03) 5475 1086.

Anzac Hill
One of the best vantage points in town is from atop Anzac Hill which furnishes views of the Grampians, Mount Franklin and Mount Macedon in the distance. You can walk or drive to the summit along Fountain St although it is unsealed, difficult and much further (2.4 km up a steep hill) than most guides will admit. At the top there is a picnic area and a walking track which heads west along a 4WD track to the summit of Mt Tarrangower. If you're looking for an easier option there is an excellent view of the town from the Turkish cannon which is less than a third of the way up the hill.

Mt Tarrangower and Butts Reserve
Mount Tarrangower (570m) is located 2 km west of town via Franklin St. This was the centre of the gold diggings in the 1850s and it was here that the richest quartz reefs were located. Today there is a very good lookout tower (which is illuminated at Eastertime), fine picnic areas and walking tracks to Anzac Hill and Fountain St.

Just off Franklin St, at the base of the hill, is Butts Reserve where there are picnic and barbecue facilities and where a folk festival is held each year in early November. In late October it is also the starting point for a motor race to the top of the hill.

Reservoir
Cairn Curran Reservoir, 12 km south-west via Newstead Rd, is a large and scenic lake which offers good opportunities for water sports, swimming, picnicking and relaxing. There is a sailing club near the spillway.

Porcupine Township
Porcupine Township is an award-winning recreation of an early 1850s gold town located in rugged bushland on the site of the original Porcupine diggings where the first gold discovery between Castlemaine and Bendigo was made. The buildings associated with the original settlement have entirely disappeared but slab, shingle and mud-brick buildings have been relocated from other goldfields and derelict townsites. These include a two-storey barn, an hotel, an undertaker's, miner's huts, a blacksmith's, a general store, a carriage repository, a doctor's surgery and a bowling alley.

You can go for a ride in a Gold Escort, pan for gold, feed the emus or take a trip on the Little Toot train which does a circuit through the original diggings. There are actors in period costume, a resident artisan working in pioneer style, a licensed restaurant, a motel and self-contained cottages. The 'village' is located 2.5 km from the post office at the corner of the Maldon-Bendigo Rd and Allans Rd, tel: (03) 5475 1000.

Cemetery
Maldon's pioneer cemetery (1857) contains the graves of over 200 Chinese goldminers from the early days of the town. There is a Chinese oven where incense was burned for ceremonial purposes, Chinese headstones, a caretaker's cottage (1866) and a rotunda (1900). Jonquils grow in profusion in springtime. To get there follow the Maryborough Rd for 3.8 km then turn right at the women's prison.


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