Australia

Castlemaine

Resilient

Dreamy

Syncretic

Bromley Collection Museum at Old Castlemaine Gaol ❘ Courtesy Bromley Collection Museum

Smoke ceremony honoring a First Nations elder ❘ Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Centenary of Gold Discovery Monument ❘ Jackie Ellis/Alamy

Bendigo Joss House Temple ❘ Alizada Studios/Alamy

Theatre Royal ❘ Norman Allchin/Shutterstock

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Witness various centuries and cultures thrown together in an old gold-rush town.

In Castlemaine’s downtown, the original architecture has barely changed over the years, including the Theatre Royale, built in 1857.

In the 1850s, Australians struck gold—first in New South Wales and then in Victoria, the country’s southeast region now home to the city of Melbourne. Mining towns surged, and the country’s population quadrupled, with an influx of workers from the United States, Europe, and China eager to dig for treasure. Indigenous peoples such as the Dja Dja Wurrung and Wadawurrung were largely pushed out in a second wave of dispossession that followed the disease and massacres of the early 19th century. They persisted, fighting to keep their culture intact to this day.

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When the boom settled down after 50 years of plunder, the gold rush towns remained, first turning to the mill industry or brewing, then into the artistic and cultural enclaves they are today. Thanks to a reinvestment in the area’s turn-of-the-century architecture and wide farmlands, towns and cities such as Castlemaine, Bendigo, and Ballarat have become hubs for 1800s architecture, Aboriginal arts, and fresh local dishes featuring brekkie burgers and umami-rich Vegemite. Known as the Goldfields region, it’s all just a 90-minute drive from the easy café life of Melbourne.

Moolort Plains ❘ FiledIMAGE/Shutterstock

In Castlemaine’s downtown, you’ll notice that the original architecture has barely changed over the years, including the Theatre Royal, built in 1857 and used continuously since. The Old Castlemaine Gaol—the lock-up—is now an arts center filled with the playful paintings and sculptures of local artist David Bromley, which share space with Japanese ceramics and works from Australian artists such as Jenny Watson and Dale Frank. One of the most beautiful relics of the gold rush era is the Buda Castlemaine Historic Home, the onetime residence of Hungarian silversmith and art collector Ernest Leviny. And in the downtown Market Building, a permanent exhibit celebrates the culture of the Djaara people, who have lived on these lands for thousands of years. Called Boorp Boorp Boondyil, which means “passing knowledge on to our children,” the exhibit offers interactive installations on the Dja Dja Wurrung language and stories, work from local artists, and immersive soundscapes that fill the space with the chirping of native birds and other animals.

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Across the Goldfields region, you can spend your days visiting a temple built by Chinese workers in 1871, an arts center dedicated to preserving “rare and forgotten trades” such as barrel making and needle felting, or monuments and museums dedicated to gold rush history. Spend your evenings dining on soft-shell crab sandos, peanut chili eggs, and beef cheeks, or drinking through the region’s bounty of wineries, as well as local distilleries and cideries.