page_title: Castlemaine, Victoria
section_title: After the gold rush
hierarchical_section_title: Castlemaine, Victoria / History / After the gold rush
caption_attribution_description: English: Barker Street, Castlemaine
context_page_description: Castlemaine is a small city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The population at the 2016 Census was 6,757. Castlemaine was named by the chief goldfield commissioner, Captain W. Wright, in honour of his Irish uncle, Viscount Castlemaine.
  Castlemaine began as a gold rush boomtown in 1851 and developed into a major regional centre, being officially proclaimed a City on 4 December 1965, although since declining in population.
  It is home to many cultural institutions including the Theatre Royal, the oldest continuously operating theatre in mainland Australia.
context_section_description: Before 1880 the residences numbered over 2000, and there was a population in the township of 7,500.
  As gold mining gradually ceased a number of other secondary industries sprang up. These included breweries, iron foundries and a woollen mill.  Thompson's Foundry (now trading as Flowserve) was one of Castlemaine's largest employers.
  From the 1970s the industries that had dominated employment in the town for a century began to decline, with many factories closing and others such as Thompson's Foundry significantly downsizing. This led to the displacement of large numbers of people, with many families leaving in search of jobs elsewhere. The area's precious goldrush history and heritage was, however, increasingly recognised, along with its notable population of arts practitioners. Substantial planning and activity helped create new industries in heritage tourism, arts tourism, nature tourism and so on. As a result, Castlemaine began to be visited – and settled – by more 'outsiders', primarily from Melbourne.
  Some of these more recent arrivals added to the gentrification of the Victorian era town, helping to preserve its already charming country aspect and enhancing it by establishing a number of cafes and restaurants. As with much gentrification, however, consequent rising house prices placed increased economic pressure on many earlier inhabitants who sometimes struggle to continue living in the area.
  The town has, overall, taken on a fresh lease of life, combining some of the more desirable aspects of urban Melbourne with the charm and openness of old Castlemaine.
caption: Barker Street, Castlemaine in 1908
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