Maldon - October 2014

Saturday promised to be a bit grey in Melbourne, so seeing I had to pick up a map in the city Sam and I decided to head north in search of some sun. I'd often looked at my notes for a walk around the historic gold mining town of Maldon and thought one day I'll get up there and check it out, well today was the day. Maldon is around ten minutes north of Castlemaine and I was hoping that we would be far enough over the Great Dividing Range that we would get some Blue skies, it turned out to be an accurate prediction.

First up, lunch and the Saturday Paper.

So, after grabbing my map in town we headed on up the Calder highway and pulled up at Maldon at around 1pm, now that's a fairly early start for me but don't be deceived, after grabbing the Saturday Paper I made myself comfortable at Cafe Maldon. Two hours later I'd finished the paper, a couple of coffees and some tasty food so it was time to start the walk. Parking the car on the outskirts of town we set off at about my usual start time of 3pm.

A big Norfolk Island Pine on the outskirts of Maldon.

The memorial cairn.

First up we headed back down the Castlemaine road to check out the memorial cairn for the old gold miners, passing a massive Norfolk Island Pine on the way. Maldon isn't situated on a major highway so walking the roads was a pleasant experience, which is just as well as almost the entire walk was on, or alongside roads. Backtracking a bit from the memorial cairn we started to climb to Anzac Hill, passing through an avenue of pines on the climb. The view from Anzac Hill was OK but we had bigger fish to fry, we now followed a 4wd track up for a couple of kilometres to the summit of Mt Tarrengower. This was without doubt the crux of the walk as in places the track was quite steep and the loose stones made it fairly slippery. From the fire watchers tower on the top of Mt Tarrengower we had a great view over Maldon with Mt Alexander in the distance, Mt Macedon was in the distance towards Melbourne, and to the north and north west the flat farming land stretched into the distance.

Climbing up through the avenue of honour is Anzac Hill.

The 4wd drive track up Mt Tarrengower.

A cairn on the way up Mt Tarrengower.

After getting a couple of photos on top we back tracked back down the 4wd track, dropping off the spur to the north about halfway down, from there we followed another 4wd track into town passing a collection of cairns on the way that someone had put a bit of effort into building. Once in town we more or less followed High Street to the northern end of town checking out the old Anglican Church on the way which was built in 1860, passing plenty of nice old cottages we then headed up to check out the hospital which was  built in 1859, and then the Catholic Church.

Maldon, with Mt Alexander in the distance.

Fire tower, Mt Tarrengower.

The view to the north west.

A lot of the houses we passed had  'no chicken farms'  banners on their gates and fences, and the Anglican Church had a banner up about welcoming the refugees, it seemed we'd stumbled into a town with a social conscience. This was a welcome change as a lot of country Australia leans a long way to the right and social conscious isn't a phrase I'd normally associate with some of these places.

Heading back down towards
town.

Plenty of native bush on the slopes of Mt Tarrengower.

Someone had too much time on their hands.

The Anglican Church, built 1860.

Plenty of well kept cottages in town.

The hospital, built 1859.

Next up we headed out to the Union Hill Mine site, in my notes it said 'former', but obviously the price of gold had made it economical to resume mining again as when I climbed to the lookout to check out the open cut it was home to plenty of modern mining equipment. From the Union Hill Mine we headed back into town, on the way checking out an old gold mine battery, and then heading to my favourite bit of the walk, the historic railway at the old Maldon Station. Checking out the steam locomotives and rolling stock it was then time to start heading back to the car, on the way we detoured to gett a photo of the old chimney at the old Beehive Mine which I think was Maldon's first mine.

The Catholic Church

The Union Hill Mine looks like it's re opened.

A letterbox tribute to a certain bush ranger.

An old mine battery.

Passing through the centre of town it was a lot quieter now than when we were here at lunch time, the late afternoon sun was casting a pleasant light on the old shops in the main street, although I struggle to capture it in a photo. Stopping for a cool drink we then completed the last ten minutes of the walk, getting back to the car at around 7pm, it had been a great day that we had both enjoyed.

Victorian Goldfields Railway.

Maldon Station.

The Beehive Chimney at the old Beehive Mine.

The Dirt.
This walk has a bit for everyone, a bit of a hill climb, views, native bush, introduced gardens, history, great food and drink. I used the notes from 150 Walks in Victoria by Tyrone Thomas and Andrew Close, I think the book is out of print but you can probably pick up a copy on the inter web somewhere. We ate at Cafe Maldon and the food and coffee was great, I'd definitely recommend it if your in the area. According to my GPS we walked 12.57 kilometres and climbed 334 metres, I used the mud map from the guide book which was adequate for the walk. Maldon was a surprise, I'd never been here before and was pleasantly surprised at what a nice place it was, I could definitely imagine us retiring somewhere like this one day!

Almost back at the car.

Every second house had a banner up against a chicken broiler factory.

A community with a conscience.