Chewton is a town in Mount Alexander Shire, Victoria,

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, 116 kilometres north west of the state capital,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. At the 2021 census, Chewton had a population of 763.

History

Prior to European settlement, the Chewton area was inhabited by the Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal people, part of the Kulin nation. The first European in the area was the

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Major Thomas Mitchell on his way to discovering what he termed " Australia Felix" in 1836–37. Not long after, a sheep station was established by William Campbell, which incorporated the current townsite. Gold was discovered by shepherds on Dr Barker's sheep run at nearby Barkers Creek in 1851, spawning a large

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

. Over 30,000 diggers arrived at Chewton within three months, soon followed by prospectors from around the world, including many Chinese. The town was surveyed in 1854 with land lots being sold the following year (1855). Chewton Post Office opened on 8 September 1857. A Forrest Creek Post Office had opened in 1852, which was replaced by Castlemaine in 1854. The Red Hill Hotel, constructed in 1854 is still standing today. In 1862 a branch of the Oriental Bank opened in Chewton with

Alexander Kerr Alexander John Henry Kerr (2 December 1892 – 4 December 1964) was an English Engineering officer (ship), marine engineer and wholesale newsagent. He is best known for his service in the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, for ...

as the first manager. By the 1860s the alluvial gold had been exhausted and efforts turned to underground shafts in search of gold bearing

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

reefs. Underground mining saw the immigration of Welsh and Cornish miners and some mines were very successful. The Wattle Gully mine founded in 1876 is still operating today. As gold mining wound down, the population declined to 1,212 in 1891 and 454 in 1933. The stonework supports of the Garfield water wheel lie near Chewton. While close to Castlemaine the town still maintains a distinct identity, but is slowly becoming a suburb of greater Castlemaine. Several historical buildings and sites, including the Chewton Town Hall (constructed in 1858) and the Post office (constructed in 1879) are now owned by the Chewton Domain Society, a community group established to manage the properties. The society also produces a monthly community newsletter. For several years, Chewton was host to a

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

festival over the

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

long weekend. In 2007, the festival relocated to nearby Newstead. The former railway station at Chewton closed to all traffic on 16 June 1976.

References

External links

Chewton.net - Community website

Gallery

File:Group of diggers.jpg, Richard Daintree and Antoine Fauchery (circa 1858) A gang of diggers at Forrest Creek, Chewton File:Old Post Office Hill, Forest Creek.jpg, Richard Daintree, Castlemaine gold diggings on 15 January 1858, Forrest Creek File:Chewton_Post_Office_002.JPG File:Chewton_Post_Office_001.JPG File:Chewton_Post_Office_003.JPG File:Chewton_Building_002.JPG File:Chewton_Church_001.JPG File:Chewton_Manchester_House.JPG File:Chewton_Primitive_Methodist_Church.JPG File:Chewton_Anglican_Church.JPG File:Chewton_Red_Hill_Hotel_001.JPG File:Chewton_Terraces.JPG File:Chewton_Town_Hall_2011.JPG File:Chewton_War_Memorial.JPG {{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Mining towns in Victoria (state) North Central Victoria Populated places established in 1851 1851 establishments in Australia