![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2023\/08\/Castlemaine-Church-e1693375700117-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCastlemaine is about 20.2 square kilometres and has 26 parks covering nearly 22.3 per cent of total area.<\/p>\n
The population in 2016 was 9993 and by the 2021 Census it was recorded at 11,352 showing a population growth 13.6 per cent in the area during that time.<\/p>\n
The Castlemaine locality was originally named Forest Creek where a rich alluvial goldfield was discovered in 1851.<\/p>\n
In the following year a town was surveyed and named Castlemaine after the estate of Viscount Castlemaine in Ireland.<\/p>\n
The suggested name is variously recorded as coming from Lieutenant-Governor C. J. La Trobe, or from goldfields Commissioner Wright, both had visited or stayed at the estate.<\/p>\n
Castlemaine township includes several suburban localities including Little Bendigo, Milkmaids Flat, Norwood Hill, Wesley Hill, and Winters Flat.<\/p>\n
It is situated 117 kilometres north-west of Melbourne and 35 kilometres south of Bendigo at the junction of the Barkers and Forest creeks.<\/p>\n
Castlemaine was on the route followed by Surveyor-General, Major Sir Thomas Mitchell in 1836.<\/p>\n
Pastoral settlement followed \u2018The Major’s Line\u2019, the wheel ruts left by Mitchell’s party during the well-watered season of 1836.<\/p>\n
Three shepherds and a bullock driver discovered gold in Specimen Gully, about five kilometres north-east of Castlemaine in September 1851.<\/p>\n
Within a month the alluvial bed of Forest Creek was being worked and by the end of 1851 there were 8000 people working the gold fields and several alluvial creeks around Castlemaine.<\/p>\n
In February 1852, the newly arrived goldfields Commissioner chose an area at the junction of the two creeks for his administrative headquarters, now called Camp Reserve.<\/p>\n
By March 1852 there were an estimated 25,000 people on the Forest Creek diggings.<\/p>\n
The first land sale was held the year after the township survey and Castlemaine was proclaimed a municipal district on 24 April 1855 and a borough on 2 October 1863.<\/p>\n
Its further municipal progress was proclamation as a town on 30 January 1950 and as a city on 4 December 1965.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s Castlemaine undertook a significant development of its cultural and tourism assets.<\/p>\n
The first biennial Castlemaine State Festival was held in 1976, during early November, which coincides with the Spring-flowering time of several notable private gardens.<\/p>\n
On 19 January 1995, it was united with Newstead and parts of Maldon and Metcalfe shires to form Mount Alexander Shire.<\/p>\n
The 1995 Victorian Heritage Register contained 27 Castlemaine buildings, one of the foremost entries being the market established in 1861 or 1862, with its finely proportioned front consisting of a portico, archway entrance and flanking cupolas.<\/p>\n
CoreLogic data indicate that the predominant age group in Castlemaine is 50 – 59 years with households a mix of childless couples, young families and retirees who are likely to be repaying on average $1408 per month on mortgages.<\/p>\n
In general, people in Castlemaine work in a professional occupation.<\/p>\n
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