104-523: Castlemaine Art Museum is an art gallery and museum in Castlemaine , Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1913, it is housed in a purpose-built Art Deco building, completed in 1931 and heritage-listed by the National Trust. Its collection concentrates on Australian art and the museum houses historical artefacts and displays drawn from the local district. The museum is governed by private trustees and managed by
208-570: A bas-relief in artificial stone featuring a female figure that symbolises Castlemaine surrounded, on the right, by two attendant gold-miners of the past, and artist and sculptor at left. It was designed and carved by Orlando H. Dutton (1894-1962), an English-born artist working in Australia after 1920. Builder Frank Pollard completed construction between June 1930 and April 1931 for the Gallery and Museum's official opening, free of debt, It consisted of
312-400: A saw-tooth roof above suspended ceilings. A "jazz" style frieze decorates the parapet, front wall and tympanum over the central front door, itself recessed behind ornate wrought-iron grille gates above which is a bas-relief in artificial stone by Orlando H. Dutton . Extensions were made at the rear in 1960, 1973, 1987 and 2000. The Castlemaine Market building at 44 Mostyn Street, facing
416-449: A tuscan portico, round headed entrance and roundels. The pediment , simply decorated with a rising sun motif, bears a statue of Ceres , the goddess of agriculture, between two towers with cupola crowns. A clerestory lights the interior from above deep side wings which are 'arcaded' and capped by a cornice. A landmark in the historic townscape, exemplifying the period when the temporary town became permanently established, it now serves as
520-560: A board elected by subscribers. It is funded by state and local governments with additional support from benefactors, local families, artists and patrons. Its trustees also oversee the management of Buda , a heritage-listed villa and garden 1.3 km adjacent to the museum, which houses its own collection of art and artefacts associated with the Leviny family, and is also open to the public for exhibitions, events displays and garden tours. The founding of Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum
624-563: A central clock tower, five arched bays and strongly contrasting colouration. This structure replaced a wooden post office which was built on this same spot in 1859 when the service was transferred from the gold commissioner's camp. Over the road is the Cumberland Hotel (1884). At 25 Lyttleton Street is the Castlemaine Town Hall, a design submitted by Wilkinson and Permewan successfully for a 1898 competition, and repeated by them in
728-580: A clash in 1996 with the October Melbourne Festival instituted by then state premier Jeff Kennett . He compensated in part for its consequent losses with a grant of $ 41,800. Subsequently, it is now usually held in late March. It offers visual and performing arts and attracts internationally and nationally renowned performers, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra . See Castlemaine Art Museum The Theatre Royal claims to be
832-587: A further $ 6,000, from the Australia Council for the Arts Visual Arts/Crafts Board for collections development, and in 1997, part of $ 2.5m through the state government's Victoria Organisations Funding program, shared with seven other arts institutions. The Collections may be searched online. The museum, housed in the basement, presents the history of Castlemaine and its region in objects, maps, models, diaoramas, photographs and prints, including
936-764: A government grant of £20 per annum, and finances were particularly strained when it had found a permanent home during a period coinciding with the Great Depression, when all government funding was withdrawn until 1935. Nevertheless, bequests were forthcoming, such as that for the portrait of Edna Thomas, by John Longstaff , funded from the will of F. McKillop, editor of the Castlemaine Mail . It relied also on direct donations of works, such as Billy McInnes 's large canvas Ploughing and etchings by Norman Lindsay given by Sir Baldwin Spencer , and Dame Nellie Melba 's gifts of
1040-607: A large group of hand-coloured lithographs from watercolours by S. T. Gill ; pithy vignettes of life on the goldfields. Historical glassware and ceramics, much brought to Castlemaine by its European immigrants, extends from the Roman era . Local fauna is represented by taxidermy specimens. Items of Victorian-era fashion are also displayed, and locally-produced arts and crafts is represented in early-to-mid 20th-century enamelware and silver. The gallery has always specialised in Australian art as
1144-456: A main gallery 19.5 by 7.3 metres (64 by 24 ft) for the display of oil paintings, behind two smaller galleries for prints and water-colours flanking the entry, each approximately 7 by 6 metres (23 by 20 ft) and with the museum in the basement with storerooms. The opening was held on the 18th of that month by the Governor of Victoria Lord Somers at a ceremony conducted in front of a crowd at
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#17330861293881248-536: A museum in which to preserve the heritage of the town, and the museum was later to be given her name in her honour." Her attendance at the opening of the custom-built Castlemaine Art Gallery and Museum in 1931 was immortalised in a sketch of Castlemaine Stalwarts by the cartoonist Samuel Garnet Wells (1885-1972) . Furthermore, she received an award for thanks from the Girl Guides Association in 1956, along with her niece. As noted by Marjorie Theobald, she
1352-412: 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
1456-481: A portrait of her father David Mitchell by Hugh Ramsey and Frederick McCubbin's Golden Sunlight . Locals contributed to special subscription funds in order to secure desirable works unlikely to be donated, as they did in 1925 for Charles Wheeler 's The Last Ray . Other works have been acquired by exchange; for example The Australian War Memorial 's provision of duplicates of two Will Dyson lithographs in return for an Eric Kennington portrait of Hughie Edwards ,
1560-521: A reluctant management committee a "modern and artistic" design for the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum (as it was then named) in an American Art-deco style. The main gallery walls and those of both additional gallery spaces were naturally and indirectly lit from the concealed windows of a saw-tooth roof above suspended ceilings. The entry steps are Harcourt granite, the parapet of Malmsbury bluestone, and Barker's Creek slate pave
1664-428: A resort for artists and painters". The committee included a "special feature" of "modern art, the only stipulation being that works of art, as well as all other exhibits, must relate in some way to Castlemaine or its district," and called for "historical curios, weapons, maps, manuscripts, medals, trophies, or any other article of local significance". An early supporter was Elioth Gruner . The exhibition thus established
1768-640: A rich culture and reverence for the land. The environmental devastation caused by gold mining from the 1850s was widespread and permanent in the entire district. It extinguished many native plant and animal species in the area, and decimated and displaced the Dja Dja Wurrung, for whom quartz was of value but not the soft gold it contained, and who regarded the resulting destruction as having turned their land into 'upside-down country.' Their vital water sources included non-perennial creeks and associated underground springs. Mining spread contaminants and destroyed
1872-539: A series of exhibitions by artists who live and work in Central Victoria. Other works included a conservation studio for the treatment and restoration of works of art and historical documents, renovation of the Gallery and Museum shop, and a substantial mezzanine at the rear of the building for new offices, and a research library, the latter named after A. G. Lloyd-Stephenson whose bequest added substantially to its collection of art books. During these year-long renovations,
1976-594: Is a town in west central Victoria , Australia, in the Goldfields region about 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest by road from Melbourne and about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the major provincial centre of Bendigo . It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander . The population at the 2021 Census was 7,506. Castlemaine was named by the chief goldfield commissioner, Captain W. Wright, in honour of his Irish uncle, Viscount Castlemaine . Built on
2080-516: Is also their work), is rare in a building of the early 1860s. The iron crested mansard attic storey, elaborate detailing of both the corner chimneys, and pedimented dormer windows of the street and side elevations make the Imperial Hotel historically significant as one of the more distinctive hotel buildings in Victoria and a critical component in an important historic townscape. On 17 November 1983
2184-665: Is centred around Harcourt. The Coliban Ward covers the villages of Chewton, Elphinstone and Taradale. In state politics , Castlemaine is located in the Legislative Assembly districts of Bendigo West currently held by the Australian Labor Party . In federal politics , Castlemaine is located in a single House of Representatives division – the Division of Bendigo . The Division of Bendigo has been an Australian Labor Party seat since 1998. Castlemaine's largest industry
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#17330861293882288-488: Is classified by The National Trust (revised 3 August 1998), which notes its significance as; … an exceptional building in its intent and execution and … historically important as one of the earliest examples of the "modern movement" in provincial Victoria. A building fund was set up in 1923 using a donation of £100 by Sir John and Lady Higgins. A site in Templeton Street was purchased for £1200 but later sold to acquire
2392-437: Is dominated by a huge twisted tree form. A picture of the power and quality of this one obviously presents considerable difficulties in hanging in a small gallery it is destructive of neighboring works which are merely pretty or superficially representational, and one hardly supposes that the placing of it will be entirely satisfactory until there are enough works of kindred character and quality to keep it company [...] Castlemaine
2496-609: Is in manufacturing, particularly food manufacturing. The biggest employer is KR Castlemaine (formerly the Castlemaine Bacon Company, established 1905), producing smallgoods with over 900 employees. Cultural and heritage tourism is another large industry in Castlemaine, with the historic art gallery being a major drawcard. Castlemaine has joined the likes of nearby Daylesford with gaining tourism from Melbourne, offering an array of local cafes and bars which have increased
2600-551: Is located at 149 Pyrenees Highway, Castlemaine, and has over 70 stalls selling a range of merchandise, local products and farmers' products. The old wooden mill beside Barkers Creek opposite the Botanical Gardens was at one stage a carpet factory As a gold rush town, Castlemaine attracted migrants from all over the world. So in addition to 'established' churches such as the Anglicans, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, arrivals in
2704-447: Is now simply the largest town in the Shire. The Theatre Royal opened in 1856 to provide entertainment for the gold diggers , with a notable performance being provided by the world-renowned Lola Montes and her celebrated Spider Dance. It remains mainland Australia's oldest continuously operating theatre. In 1859, the historic Castlemaine Football Club was established. Evidence makes it
2808-427: Is pavilion-planned. Dutch-Flemish architecture inspires the gabling of the projecting wings, the verticality of the windows and the superimposed post-and-lintel system with Tuscan and composite capitals, while the panelling and representation of fans to the side of the lower windows is unusual. Two storeys of pedimented porticos stacked in top of each other form the central element with a 'broken' upper pediment, while
2912-509: Is progressively being transferred from the Museum to the walls and display cases of the Gallery, and its collection is being actively expanded. In 2019 Tiriki Onus, of Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung heritage and University of Melbourne Associate Dean Indigenous Development and Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development , became the premier First Nations appointment to
3016-678: Is the first of its kind in Australia. It embraces gold rush relics and bushland. Home to rare and threatened species of both flora and fauna it offers opportunities for bush walking, bird watching, wildlife monitoring and study while providing a bush setting for the township. Housed in an historic building, the Mechanics Institute at 212 Barker Street in which it was established in 1857, the Castlemaine Library held 4,781 volumes in 1877, and since 1996 has expanded its services and offerings and access to 222,931 items (in 2021–22) as part of
3120-569: Is the only woman depicted in the sketch, but it is telling that she is not identified as a founder of the gallery, but by her role in the Guiding movement as a district commissioner, a position that she held until 1934. By 1953, Miss Brotherton was described as the curator of the historical section of the Castlemaine Art Museum . Her archives are held at the art gallery. After her sister Alice's early death, her daughter Nan Brotherton-Cherry
3224-438: Is to be congratulated on having obtalned this picture. Even so, the purchase coincided with that of Rupert Bunny 's semi-allegorical 1932 Stepping Stones , and the policy remained still to prefer figurative studies, landscape and portraiture, but to permit semi-abstract works. Lack of funds has historically handicapped the Gallery's acquisitions of significant works of art. After WWI it survived on subscribers, door takings and
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3328-595: The Castlemaine Art Museum at 14 Lyttleton Street was classified by the National Trust which notes its significance as "an exceptional building in its intent and execution and ... historically important as one of the earliest examples of the 'modern movement' in provincial Victoria". Despite the onset of the Depression , £3,250 was raised in only six weeks from private individuals and local companies, augmented by state government grants totallng £1,500, which together covered
3432-579: The Castlemaine Botanical Gardens [ es ] where she remained until a significant fire. Winnie attended Castlemaine Grammar School, and matriculated at the University of Melbourne in 1891. She organised for academics in Melbourne to travel to Castlemaine and give lectures for the education of the community. She was closely associated with the wider Victorian artistic community of
3536-519: The Dja Dja Wurrung people, also known as the Jaara people. They were regarded by other tribes as being a superior people, not only because of their rich hunting grounds but because from their area came tachylite , a hard glassy volcanic stone valued for weapons and tools Early Europeans described the Dja Dja Wurrung as a strong, physically well-developed people and not belligerent. The Jaara people have
3640-491: The National Gallery of Australia objecting to one of its purchases at auction when both galleries were the only bidders beyond $ 11,000 for Margaret Preston 's 1925 Still Life , which went to Canberra for a record price of $ 17,000. Perry felt the richer rational gallery should have withdrawn to let the work through to a less prosperous smaller institution. Government funding tended to be piecemeal; deputations to MPs during
3744-525: The National Gallery of Victoria , Trustees of the National Gallery and Museum and the Old Pioneers Association, and with support of the local High School committee. Winifred Brotherton , who took the minutes, emphasised the imperative of establishing a museum in which to preserve the heritage of the town, and the museum was later to be given her name in her honour. Colonel Davis spoke from
3848-551: The National Trust of Australia (Vic). Adjacent to the solicitors' offices is the library, built in 1857 as a mechanics' institute with additions in 1861, 1872 and 1893. Next to it is the Faulder Watson Hall which opened in 1895 and adjacent is the old telegraph office (1857). On the Lyttleton Street corner of Barker Street is the decorative Neoclassical post office (1873–75). It is in the form of an Italian palazzo with
3952-531: The CAM Board. The Art Museum's Strategic Plan released in 2019 and current until 2023 declares; During the life of this Plan, CAM will consult with Traditional Owners towards increasing its engagement with and relevance for Traditional Owners and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and audiences. Castlemaine, Victoria Castlemaine ( / ˈ k æ s əl m eɪ n / KASS -əl-mayn , non-locally also / ˈ k ɑː s -/ KAHSS- )
4056-456: The Castlemaine Art Gallery in Art in Australia of December 1926. Newell also commented on attendance by 5,248 visitors; "When it is remembered that the population of this town is about 7,000, the progress of this gallery is remarkable. The committee has now purchased a site for a new building, but more funds are needed before the project can be carried out." Since 17 November 1983 Castlemaine Art Museum
4160-653: The Castlemaine Post Office on 1 January 1854.) The first official Post Office was established after "The Argus" (Melbourne) correspondent at Forest Creek had an article published in November 1851 that put the case forward for a Post Office to be established somewhere between the Forest Creek goldfield and Kyneton. At the same time (November 1851) he described the Forest Creek diggings as having many businesses such as stores and licensed hawkers and "at least 8000 persons on
4264-547: The Church of England, and the Congregational Church, and despite the town's topographical limitation to the valley of the two creeks, broad streets and grand buildings convey an atmosphere of spaciousness. Named after William Barker, the pioneer pastoralist whose run included part of the land which is now Castlemaine. The whole eastern side of Barker Street, between Templeton Street and Lyttleton Street, has been classified by
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4368-670: The Duke of Buckingham , Robert Dowling's Sheikh and His Son Entering Cairo; Hermann Eschke 's Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight ; Cave Thomas ' Canute Listening to the Monks at Ely ; and Louis Buvelot 's Summer afternoon, Templestowe . The 1914 annual report recorded 30 memberships and a collection of 23 pictures with others on loan and a balance of £75. Initial opening hours in 1914 were daily from 3 to 5 p.m., and Wednesday and Saturday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30, changed later to weekdays 10 am to 12 pm and 2 to 5 pm, and Sundays 2 to 5 pm. The next home of
4472-467: The Eaglehawk Town Hall in 1901. Constructed by H D McBean, builder of many substantial buildings in Castlemaine, including part of the hospital and Thompson's foundry, it cost £2,000. Essentially a Queen Anne building with elements of Dutch Renaissance, its complex eclecticism is typical of the period. Constructed of face red brick and coloured cement dressings (now painted white) and a tiled roof, it
4576-597: The Gallery and Museum were temporarily relocated to the Gallery's old quarters above the Post Office. Completed in late 2000, the extensions were opened on 6 October by the Hon Peter McGauran , Federal Minister for the Arts and Centenary of Federation. While its building was assertively Modern, attitudes prevailing during the 1930s and 1940s meant that the collection of works within remained conservative. One artist, and one of
4680-824: The Hon Race Matthews MLA, Minister for the Arts. This renovation included an extension to the Museum below, named the Percy Chaster Building for his bequest to the gallery. Grants from the Department of Communication, Technology and the Arts were distributed by the Federal government for the Centenary of Federation in 1999, denounced by some commentators as pork-barrelling, from which Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum received $ 2,000,000 for upgrades and redevelopment by architect Allom Lovell. The 1973 addition at
4784-658: The North Central Goldfields Regional Library Corporation which services also the City of Greater Bendigo, Loddon Shire and Macedon Ranges Shire; an area of 12,979 square kilometres. The shire contributes a budget of around $ 500,000. The Castlemaine branch is the most subscribed of all the NCGRL branches with 53% (10,687) of the Mount Alexander Shire population holding a library card and having used
4888-424: The Shire of Mount Alexander and the former main road leading to it from Melbourne – Mount Alexander Road. Major Mitchell passed through the region in 1836. Following his discovery, the first squatters arrived in 1837 to establish vast sheep runs. In 1854, Chief goldfields commissioner, Captain W. Wright, renamed the settlement 'Castlemaine' in honour of his Irish uncle, Viscount Castlemaine . On 20 July 1851 gold
4992-892: The Technical High School, the Market Building, the Town Hall, and the School of Mines. The gallery became a reality when Bertha Leviny of Buda homestead provided use of a room in a shop in Lyttleton St. for one year free of charge, and Bendigo Art Gallery offered a loan of paintings. A loan exhibition of 30 works in the Stock Exchange Room of the Town Hall launched the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum on 24 October 1913. Significant exhibitors who made donations of their work included Harold Herbert and Jessie Traill . When
5096-422: The adjacent Presbyterian Church donated a strip of land for driveway access to the rear of the building, enabling work to commence. The resulting Higgins Gallery was opened on 23 September 1961, by Dr Leonard Cox, Chairman of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, and it included storerooms, work areas, and shelving and sliding racks for storage of artworks. A third space for special and temporary exhibitions
5200-403: The courage of its convictions in buying what ranks as a "modern" work. "Desolation," as this large oil is called, is one of the series painted by Russell Drysdale — in some peoples' view the most significant of all contemporary Australian artists — after his visit to the erosion country of New South Wales last year. In rich, dark colors, it is typical and good Drysdale of this period. The foreground
5304-598: The creation of a permanent gallery for Castlemaine and approached the Mayor to "affirm the advisability of establishing a Museum and Art Gallery in Castlemaine" on 30 July at a public meeting of Mayors and Councillors from Chewton , Maldon , Metcalfe , Newstead and Mount Alexander with Col. Davies, Secretary of the Bendigo Art Gallery , Mr A T Woodward Director of the Bendigo School of Arts, Mr Bernard Hall , Director of
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#17330861293885408-504: The diggers. Initially they preached in tents and from tree stumps but by 1853 the first rough churches had been built. Anna Mary Winifred Brotherton Anna Mary Winifred Brotherton (1874–1956), better known as Winnie Brotherton, was the founder of the Castlemaine Art Museum , a Red Cross volunteer, Girl Guide leader, and botanical collector who corresponded with Ferdinand von Mueller . Born in Melbourne, in her youth her family moved to Woodlands, an estate on Burnett Road near
5512-525: 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
5616-447: The district included Methodists, Baptists and Congregationalists from mining areas in provincial Britain where nonconformist churches were more popular, as well as Lutherans from continental Europe. Initially the churches in Victoria were unable to cope with huge numbers of migrants settling in areas which had been sparsely populated. However a few proactive clergymen set out for the diggings where they were assisted by lay preachers amongst
5720-519: The employ of Barker as shepherds and a bullock driver, immediately teamed with Peters in working the deposits by panning in Specimen Gully where the gold had been found, which they did in relative privacy during the next month. When Barker sacked them and ran them off his land for trespass, Worley, on behalf of the party "to prevent them getting in trouble", mailed a letter to The Argus (Melbourne) dated 1 September 1851 announcing this new goldfield with
5824-507: The entrance to the Gallery that flowed across the street. It was reported as far away as Canada that; In opening the art gallery, in the presence of a very large gathering, Lord Somers said that he had been amazed at seeing a gallery and a collection so fine. He did not suppose that a gallery of those dimensions would be found in a town of that size anywhere else in the British Dominions. Extraordinary enthusiasm must have been shown to make
5928-613: The evenings worked at the Enquiry Bureau headquarters on Grosvenor Place in Belgravia . In 1918 she was awarded with a "silver badge for meritorious service." Brotherton was a member of the Castlemaine Field Ramblers Club. She corresponded with Ferdinand von Mueller regarding the identification of local wildflowers, and Mueller had been acquainted with her father. The specimens collected by Miss Brotherton around
6032-423: The experience of Bendigo Art Gallery where he was secretary, advising not to expect government funds such as they had received as the grant was only £2,000 to be divided amongst all the arts organisations, but to secure donations of pictures, be prepared to go into debt, and make use of loans from the National Gallery of Victoria. The housing of the gallery was considered and proposals included the cooking classroom of
6136-577: The first small village was established. By the end of the year there were about 25,000 on the field. The first small village developed at Chewton, today in effect a suburb of Mount Alexander Shire, which included the Commissioner's tent, stores, an office for The Argus newspaper, and an office for the Mount Alexander goldfields' own newspaper the Daily Mail . On 28 January 1852, William Henry Wright
6240-438: The first solo exhibition of paintings by a local resident, Elsie Barlow , wife of a Castlemaine police magistrate, was held in the reading room of the Mechanics Institute, raising hopes "that the Castlemaine public will have the same opportunity in this matter as is afforded to the Melbourne public, which now-a-days is rarely without an Art Exhibition". Subsequently, a meeting at Barlow's Hunter Street home on 9 July 1913 proposed
6344-446: The following notice: "- The Lieutenant Governor has appointed John Fletcher, Esq., J.P., to be Police Magistrate at Castlemaine; but where Castlemaine is situate[d] we cannot tell." A court house was established on what is today known as Goldsmith Crescent, Castlemaine near the new government camp. Stores were also established nearby. The first official Post Office at Castlemaine, named "Forrest Creek", opened on 1 March 1852. (Renamed
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#17330861293886448-479: The forecourt, on which rest two cuboid planters decorated with panels showing native animals in a sympathetic style by textile artist and sculptor Michael O’Connell who also provided planters and ornaments to Buda's garden. A "Jazz" style frieze that combines Egyptian and Central American motifs and fluting decorates the parapet, front wall and tympanum over the central front door, itself recessed behind ornate wrought-iron grille gates. The symmetrical facade includes
6552-471: The gallery and museum, by June 1915, was in the rooms above the Castlemaine Post Office which it rented for £1 per annum, and where it remained until 1931 in three well-lit rooms: two small ones, and one measuring 9 by 5.5 metres (30 by 18 ft) which served as the main gallery. Nevertheless, the Victorian Government rejected their grant application of 1915 because the Gallery's tenure of its premises
6656-473: The gallery moved into the room offered by Leviny in Lyttleton St., more donations were made. Bertha E. Merfield made generous loans of works from her collection to its inaugural exhibition, including paintings by Tudor St George Tucker , Alexander Colquhoun , George Clausen , Frederick McCubbin and Blamire Young . joined by direct loans by artists, and by the National Gallery of Victoria which contributed Franz Courtens ' Morning , David Wynfield 's Death of
6760-616: The gallery possible. Visitor numbers during 1933 increased to 10,000. P. S. Markham and Professor Henry C. Richards , touring Australia on behalf of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, reported that the Gallery was "a credit to all concerned ... After Port Sunlight, where Lord Lever's art collection is housed, this small town has probably a better art gallery than any comparable town in the British Empire." By 1938 space proved insufficient for special exhibitions and to accommodate
6864-1524: The gallery's constitution stipulated in 1913, emphasising "... the cultivation of a taste for the Fine Arts by the collection and exhibition of works of especially Australian Artists..." Accordingly, at its opening in 1931 it held 155 pictures, 26 added only the year prior, and the total predominantly Australian, and now the collection spans the periods Colonial, Impressionist, Early Twentieth Century Modernism, Mid-Century Modern, Postmodernism, and Contemporary in varieties of media. Earlier artists include Louis Buvelot , Fred McCubbin , Tom Roberts , Arthur Streeton , Violet Teague , May Vale , Walter Withers , Ethel Spowers , David Davies , Rupert Bunny , Max Meldrum , Ethel Carrick , E. Phillips Fox , Jessie Traill , John Russell , Christian Waller , Hugh Ramsay , Clarice Beckett , A.M.E. Bale , Arthur Lindsay and John Longstaff . Modernists include Margaret Preston , Clifford Last , Ola Cohn , Roland Wakelin , Joy Hester , Russell Drysdale , Judy Cassab , Fred Williams , Klytie Pate , John Brack , Albert Tucker , John Perceval , Clifton Pugh , Lloyd Rees , Danila Vassilieff , and Roger Kemp . More contemporary artists include Rick Amor , Ray Crooke , Rona Green , Betty Kuntiwa Pumani , Peter Benjamin Graham , Fiona Orr, Robert Jacks , Jeffrey Smart , Diane Mantzaris , Ian Armstrong , Jenny Watson , and Brian Dunlop . First Nations art
6968-544: The gaol had been built, and Castlemaine was moving from 'tent' town to bricks and mortar. Notable prominent businesswoman Fanny Finch was running a restaurant and lodging house at Forest Creek at this time. A local government was formed on 23 April 1855 and was later to become the Town of Castlemaine and in 1965 became the City of Castlemaine . However, with municipal amalgamations in the early 1990s, Castlemaine lost its 'City' status and
7072-481: 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
7176-496: The highly decorated Second World War airman . The Australian Government's Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme provided for other donations. In 1916 an annual state government grant of a mere £30 ($ 2,836.00 value in 2020) was " ... to be spent on pictures, and pictures only". By 1937 this had been raised to £100, with the municipality contributing only £6. In 1980, former Director Perry wrote in complaint to James Mollison of
7280-461: The infrastructure the indigenous people created over generations to maximise seasonal drainage patterns; channels and weirs they built out of timber stakes, to slow receding summer flows, were wrecked; water holes where the people gathered in smaller groups during periods of scarce rainfall and from which they transported water in skin bags when moving, were muddied, polluted and drained; the soaks they had dug between banks into sandy sediment to tap into
7384-415: The lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung, 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. Castlemaine colonised the traditional lands of
7488-570: The library over any two-year period. The building, administered and maintained by the shire, also houses the 231-seat Phee Broadway Theatre and a foyer exhibition space. Since 1976, Castlemaine has biennially been the home of the Castlemaine State Festival. Running for ten days, the festival is one of Victoria's most notable regional arts events. It was originally held over the Melbourne Cup period in November before it lost $ 130,000 in
7592-623: The little gallery which so cherishes and encourages the work of Australian men and women that a renaissance of effort has been brought about among Australian painters. The insurance value of the collection rose in 1925 to £2,000, with a further 37 paintings gifted in 1926 by, among others, Arthur Streeton , George Coates, Dora Meeson , Jo Sweatman , and A.M.E. Bale , etchings by Martin Lewis , and purchases including The Dark Horse by George W. Lambert , and The Coming Storm by Blamire Young , as reported by Lieut. Col. Francis S. Newell, then President of
7696-518: The main shopping strip, is a rare example of such buildings and, according to the Victorian National Trust, is one of the most important in the country. An 1861 design of town surveyor William Beynon Downes, it is one of the most distinctive classical revival buildings in Australia. It was classified on 11 December 1958, then acquired by the National Trust in 1967 which restored it from a dilapidated condition. Its symmetrical elevation features
7800-415: The more desirable aspects of urban Melbourne with the charm and openness of old Castlemaine. Castlemaine is nestled in a valley. The urban area extends to several suburban areas, north toward Barkers Creek , west to McKenzie Hill , east to Moonlight Flat and Chewton and south to Campbells Creek . In local government , the Castlemaine region is covered by the Shire of Mount Alexander . The council
7904-547: The oldest continuously operating theatre in mainland Australia. It hosts films (including several world and Australian premieres), concerts and functions. See Buda Historic Home and Garden Castlemaine also hosts a local farmers market where the finest producers of the Mount Alexander Shire region, all in one place. The market is currently held on the Western Reserve, Forest Street, Castlemaine The Wesley Hill Community Market operates every Saturday from 9a.m. to 2 p.m. It
8008-493: The precise location of their workings. This letter was published on 8 September 1851. "With this obscure notice, rendered still more so by the journalist as 'Western Port', were ushered to the world the inexhaustible treasures of Mount Alexander" also to become known as the Forest Creek diggings. Within a month there were about 8,000 diggers working the alluvial beds of the creeks near the present day town of Castlemaine, and particularly Forest Creek which runs through Chewton where
8112-507: The present block in Lyttleton Street in 1927 for about £300. That year in a visit to Castlemaine the Hon George Prendergast enabled a deputation to seek a grant to augment the building fund, to which he offered £1000 on the basis of £1 for every £2 raised locally. Walter J. Whitchell promised £500 for the building fund should the balance be found when the fund held only £760. With the building costed at £3,500, an appeal for funds from
8216-559: The principle of collecting of Australian art and of looking locally, for works connected to Castlemaine in some aspect, in contrast to a policy of concentrating on British and European art that was pursued by most Australian galleries of the period, in particular the National Gallery of Victoria purchases in Europe by L. Bernard Hall through the Felton Bequest . Two years later, in October 1912,
8320-502: The program of public galleries lending artworks and circulating exhibitions amongst them. At Castlemaine that necessitated dismounting the existing collection and storing while a temporary exhibition was on display. The burgeoning collection posed storage problems; in 1942 Sir John Higgins' bequest of his pictures, china, glassware and furniture, could not be housed and the committee was forced to make plans for extensions to be part-funded by his sister Catherine's bequest of £8,300. However, it
8424-520: The public was launched. Despite the onset of the Depression , £3,250 was raised in only six weeks from private individuals and companies the Bank of Australasia , Ball & Welch and Bryant & May , augmented by the promised State government grant of £1,000, and afterward a further £500. With furnishings, the total cost was £4,132. Architect Percy Meldrum , who trained in the United States presented to
8528-548: The rear of the building was gutted and turned into the temporary exhibitions gallery with international museum standard climate and lighting controls, and security systems enabling Castlemaine to borrow major national and international works and travelling exhibitions. The high vaulted ceiling naturally lit via UV -filtered skylights has a hidden shutter system to permit blacking out for exhibitions that require artificial lighting only. An artificially lit small prints and drawings gallery is, since 2020, set aside for CAM's Orbit program;
8632-488: The region's appeal. Castlemaine is also home to the Castlemaine Rod Shop (CRS), a company known Australia-wide for its aftermarket components for Holden , Ford and many others, especially Australian-made vehicles. The Castlemaine goldfields' legendary prosperity raised expectations of Castlemaine becoming Victoria's second city. That is reflected in imposing buildings erected in the town's first few years. Though
8736-416: The rich alluvial diggings were largely exhausted within 15–20 years causing the town's population to shrink after the 1870s, a rich legacy remains in the form of its buildings and intact nineteenth century streetscapes comprising public buildings as well as simple miners' cottages. The historic area tells the history of Castlemaine in relics of significance, including the former steam flourmill (now 'The Mill'),
8840-536: The same year by Russell Drysdale , a dark expressionist work, that this attitude changed. When added to existing holdings of 105 oils, 57 water colours and 76 etchings, drawings and prints, the purchase was welcomed by Clive Turnbull , since 1942 the Murdoch-appointed art critic at the Herald , who considered the cost ... ... a good price by any Australian standards. The gallery's committee has shown its enterprlse and
8944-520: The second oldest football club in Australia and one of the oldest football clubs in the world. In 1877-80 the residences numbered over 2000, and there was a population in the township of 7,500, forming an electorate in itself, within the district, the County of Talbot, of 19,000 people. Four trains ran daily to and from Melbourne with fares at 13 shillings (A$ 80 value in 2021) for First Class, and 8s. 6d. (A$ 52.70) for Second. As gold mining gradually ceased
9048-588: The swarming goldfields . The Castlemaine Progress Association's display of items of a 'novel and interesting nature', Castlemaine Past and Present, the town's first major exhibition, running 18–20 August 1910, celebrated the commercial, civic and cultural achievements of the town with "a collection of geological specimens and curios from the Government collection," photographs of historical interest, maps, furniture, applied art, books and artefacts, as well as landscapes by local artists intended to "popularise our town as
9152-536: The time. Her sister, the amateur poet and artist Alice Brotherton, married G. Rodney Cherry who exhibited his photography at the Victorian Academy of Arts. Her cousin was the New Zealand painter Frances Mary Hodgkins . In 1913 a committee of women, including Brotherton, established the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum (CAGHM). Brotherton took the minutes, "emphasised the imperative of establishing
9256-422: The total cost of £4,132. Architect Percy Meldrum 's design in an American Art-deco style was constructed by local builder Frank Pollard in local brick, slate and granite, by April 1931 for the official opening, free of debt. It consisted of a main gallery behind two smaller galleries and with the museum in the basement with storerooms. The gallery walls are naturally and indirectly lit from concealed windows of
9360-479: The tourist centre. Castlemaine has its own botanical gardens , established in 1860, which are on the Victorian Heritage Register . The gardens feature Lake Joanna (an artificial lake), many exotic tree species and structures dating to the Victorian era. The Castlemaine public swimming pool is 50m in length and is located next to the botanical gardens. The Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park
9464-469: The two creeks (Forest and Barker)". The need pointed out in "The Argus" in November 1851 had resulted in an unofficial Post Office being established on the diggings at Chewton (Forest Creek) in December 1851, a Post Office then described as being "on the most central part of the diggings". On 15 February 1853 town lots were offered for sale. By that time the first Castlemaine District Hospital had been opened,
9568-696: The vertical line is continues above a balconied parapet, completed by a square tower with glazed circular openings on all four sides, surmounted by an onion dome. Opposite the town hall is the Imperial Hotel, a thirty-room, two-storey hotel with attic erected in 1861 for Faulder Watson at a cost of £4,000 and classified in 1982 by Heritage Victoria which describes it as "one of the most innovative classical revival buildings in Victoria". The sophisticated design in French Renaissance style by leading Melbourne architects Purchas and Swyer (the Glenara homestead at Bulla
9672-500: The war years and another during the Depression received minor dispensation, $ 319 from the Australia Council in 1985 was given for "purchase of crafts for public display and permanent collection", and in 1987 Minister for the Arts, Race Mathews , announced minor capital grants including $ 60,000 approved to enable the Castlemaine Art Gallery to extend its storage space. The Gallery and Museum received $ 2,325 in 1988, and then two years later
9776-455: The water table were likewise obliterated. Some of their waterholes in rock platforms of the Creek that they found or enlarged, then covered with slabs to protect them from animals, may still remain, unidentified. The first European settlers named it Forest Creek and as the population grew it became known as Mount Alexander . The old name is still present in some place names in Victoria including
9880-480: The wealthiest, associated with the Gallery, A.M.E. Bale was vehement in her distaste for anything 'modern,' echoing the views of then National Gallery of Victoria director James Stuart MacDonald who, of the 1939 Herald exhibition of contemporary French and English painting sponsored by Sir Keith Murdoch , proclaimed, 'They are exceedingly wretched paintings ... putrid meat ... the product of degenerates and perverts ... filth'. A demonstration of these conservative values
9984-522: Was created in 1995 as an amalgamation of a number of other municipalities in the region with the Council and Civic Centre in the former School of Mines, in central Castlemaine, next to the original town hall. Castlemaine Town is represented by the Castlemaine Ward. The Loddon River Ward is centred around the township of Newstead. The Tarrengower Ward is centred around the township of Maldon. The Calder Ward
10088-637: Was discovered near present-day Castlemaine (Mt Alexander Goldfields) at Specimen Gully on Barkers Creek . The gold was discovered by Christopher Thomas Peters, a shepherd and hut-keeper on the Barker's Creek, in the service of Dr William Barker on his Mount Alexander run. When the gold was shown in the men's quarters, Peters was ridiculed for finding fool's gold, and the gold was thrown away. Barker did not want his workmen to abandon his sheep, but in August they did just that. John Worley, George Robinson and Robert Keen, also in
10192-533: Was funded by a gift of $ 12,500 from the Stoneman Foundation after which it is named, and a State Government grant of $ 26,000 and was opened by Premier Rupert Hamer on 14 September 1973, on the occasion of the Gallery's sixtieth anniversary. Renovations and additions completed since include a storeroom and workspace areas, added in 1987 and named the A & B Sinclair Building Extensions, after inaugural Director Beth Sinclair and her husband, and were opened by
10296-430: Was not secure. Electric lighting was added in 1927. The facility, proved popular, with attendances rising from 800 in 1920 to 3,600 in 1923. Many in 1928 came for a series of talks by John Shirlow intended to boost interest in the Gallery. Artists too were noticing it, as The Age reported in November 1923; 'Tis said that the reputation of this gallery is such that every artist of note throughout Australia has heard of
10400-420: Was not spent due to war and post-war impediments to building. Impetus for a new extension did not gather until 1956, when the possibility of an internal paved courtyard for sculpture was considered. But only in 1959 was a decision reached to complete the project though the cost had risen to £16,000, beyond the means of the Gallery. The Bolte ministry promised a subsidy on a pound for pound basis and in late 1960
10504-495: Was one of nearly 200 men who were assigned or affirmed as Territorial Magistrates for Victoria. Not long after, he took control of the Mount Alexander diggings and set up a government camp on Forest Street near the junction of Barker and Forest Creeks (today's Camp Reserve). This was to be the new township of Castlemaine. The first reference in a newspaper to the township is found in the Geelong Advertiser of 13 March 1852 with
10608-672: Was preceded by four other public regional galleries in the state of Victoria: Ballarat in 1884, Warrnambool in 1886, Bendigo in 1887 and Geelong in 1900, but its significance, by comparison, was that it was in a small town, not a regional city like its forebears. Cultural precedents were the 1855 Castlemaine Mechanics Institute which included a library; the School of Mines whose art teacher C. Steiner in 1908 taught engineering, surveying, architecture and fine art students; and numbers of artists, including S. T. Gill , Samuel Calvert , George French Angas , and early photographers Antoine Fauchery and Richard Daintree , had visited to document
10712-783: Was raised by her aunt, Winnie, and in the 1920s they were both involved in running "a boarding school for children of special needs." During the First World War , on Boxing Day 1916, Winifred Brotherton and her niece travelled to England, and by 1917 had joined the London office of the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Bureau. She was assigned to the records department at the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) headquarters on Horseferry Road in Westminster and in
10816-523: Was the Gallery's 1933 commission to have painter W B Mclnnes travel to England to paint portraits of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI ). Numbers of 20th-century artists represented were members of the conservative, anti-modernist Australian Academy of Art (1937–1946), while others joined its rival the Contemporary Art Society . It was not until 1946 with the purchase for 175 guineas (A$ 13,000 in 2020) of Desolation, painted
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