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Maldon, Victoria

Maldon
Victoria
Maldon, view from hill.JPG
View of Maldon from the south west, 2009
Maldon is located in Shire of Mount Alexander
Maldon
Maldon
Coordinates 36°59′30″S 144°4′0″E / 36.99167°S 144.06667°E / -36.99167; 144.06667Coordinates: 36°59′30″S 144°4′0″E / 36.99167°S 144.06667°E / -36.99167; 144.06667
Population 1,432 (2011 census)
Established 1853
Postcode(s) 3463
Elevation 320.0 m (1,050 ft)
Location
LGA(s) Shire of Mount Alexander
State electorate(s) Bendigo West
Federal Division(s) Bendigo
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
19.6 °C
67 °F
7.5 °C
46 °F
598.9 mm
23.6 in

Maldon is a town in Victoria, Australia, in the Shire of Mount Alexander local government area. It has been designated "Australia's first notable town" and is notable for its 19th-century appearance, maintained since gold-rush days. At the 2011 census, Maldon had a population of 1,432.

The district where Maldon now stands was first visited by white European colonialists 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 Mount 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 diggings. 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 road follows up the course of Long Gully, where the diggings were first opened, for a couple of miles, and is lined on either side by an almost continuous row of stores, refreshment tents, eating houses, doctors' tents, apothecaries' shops, and, in fact, shops of every description.

The same report noted that the goldfield's population had already grown to 18,000, though only about 1000 had taken out mining licences.

In 1856 the Victorian government arranged for the settlement to become a town, which was named Maldon. The post office had opened on 14 March 1854.


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