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Castlemaine Diggings

Castlemaine was one of the major gold rushes of Victoria and of Australia. In 1852 the goldfield had acquired a population of 30,000 and was by then regarded as the richest goldfield in the world. Significant mining continued for many decades, and some mining has been evident right up almost to the present.

The goldfield, which played a major role in drawing overseas immigrants to the colony, and in raising from the ground so much of the golden wealth which flowed into Australian and overseas markets, played a substantial part in all those changes which gold wrought on Victoria and Australia: increased population, increased wealth, the growth in manufacturing, the improvement in transport, the development of regional centres and townships, the further development of a middle class, democratization of political institutions, reform of land laws, the genesis of an Australian Chinese community, and so forth. Its impact was felt beyond Australia as well.

The Castlemaine Goldfield has an association with defining events and processes in Australian history which have fundamentally shaped the modern nation, as described above.

Castlemaine Goldfield has one of the richest collections of mining sites and landscapes in Australia. These range from large areas of high integrity remaining from the early alluvial phase of the 1850s, through the more technologically complex alluvial workings involving races, puddling, ground and hydraulic sluicing and dredging, deep lead mining, and then reef mining sites which contain a large variety of individual types of sites. The Castlemaine Goldfield’s collection of mining sites is, in terms of diversity, integrity and time-depth, possibly the richest in Australia. In addition there are large numbers of habitation sites and groups of sites which form a rich tapestry depicting the pattern of settlement on the goldfield. (Pearson, Lennon, Marshall, 2002)

The attributes include the early and later alluvial workings (pits, shafts and other earthworks), stream diversions, water races, puddling machines, dams, ground sluicing sites, hydraulic sluicing sites, dredging sites, deep lead mining sites, the extensive range of sites associated with reef mining (eg stamper batteries and remains, building remains, buildings, roasting kilns, all other elements of reef sites), Chilean mills, Cornish technology, landscapes of multiple mining sites, habitation sites ranging from intact structures to ruins, tracks, cemeteries and other sites.

This document has been prepared by the Australian Government's Department of Environment and Heritage. The help received from Australian government departments, associated organisations and other authorities is gratefully acknowledged. Money values are in Australian currency, weights and measures in metric.