Gold Rush to Mt Alexander Tour – Goldfields

Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park

Drive:  3 hours
Start:  Castlemaine Market Building
Finish:  Castlemaine Market Building
Stops:  16
Nearby:  Castlemaine

The Gold Rush to Mt Alexander Tour tells the story of the Mt Alexander gold rush taking in 16 authentic sites associated with the rush.

The Mt Alexander goldfield opened up in November 1851, and is generally credited with triggering one of the greatest mass migrations in history. Australia had been known only as a convict colony on the distant side of the world until early in April 1852, when six ships carrying eight tons of Mt Alexander gold arrived on the Thames River. The ensuing rush to Mt Alexander was a defining moment in Australia’s settlement, marking an irreversible shift from forced to voluntary immigration. The demographic and economic impact of the rush to Mt Alexander transformed Victoria, and eclipsed New South Wales as Australia's capital in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Today, the rich legacy of the gold rush can be found in towns like Castlemaine and Chewton.  See mining cottages and grand boom time architecture lining their main streets, and the crumbling stone walls of huts and pubs, as well as gold mines and gullies that yielded up fortunes in the surrounding bush. The district is home to one of the largest collections of Victorian gold mining heritage, spanning over 150 years of gold mining technology.

Download the audio files below to your iPod or pick up an MP3 player already loaded with the tour from the Castlemaine Visitor Information Centre and experience the goldrush, its characters and some of the region’s indigenous stories.