Castlemaine began as the centre of the Mount Alexander gold fields in 1850.
It was briefly larger than Melbourne , as that city's population moved to Castlemaine to seek its fortune.
It was the richest alluvial gold field in world history and that title has not yet been surpassed.

At it' height one convoy alone, shipped 3 tons of gold to Melbourne .
It 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 required great capital investment and thus were for the "big fellows"

The current population is about 8000.

These ladies were enjoying the late sunshine in the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens, which date from 1860

Jay

Canon A720 rig, SPM, 3D Gugle, SDM