Maldon striking gold once again

Now, residents reckon the time has come to give the central Victorian town’s major industry a boost again, and some hold out hope the federal election could help deliver it. 

Mount Alexander Shire deputy mayor Sharon Telford is a Maldon resident whose life followed a tried-and-tested pattern adopted by many locals. As a young woman she left Maldon to seek opportunities the town of less than 1500 could deliver, but returned to settle down and raise a family. 

Cr Telford listed two ways in which the federal government could help boost tourism – one an immediate shot-in-the-arm for the town, the other a long-term strategy for the whole region. 

“The shire has two big ticket items which require funding – one is the indoor aquatic centre for Castlemaine and the other is a new visitor information centre in Maldon,” Cr Telford said.  

The council bought the 146-year-old Wheel and Loom building in 2012 for $415,000 and has committed hundreds of thousands of dollars to its restoration. But Cr Telford said the shire needed half a million more to make the project a reality. 

“The need was identified to have a tourist information centre on the Main Street of town,” Cr Telford said.

“Also, you’ve got this wonderful building standing empty which, to be perfectly honest, no individual in their right mind is going to buy because of the cost of doing it up.

“It is beyond the capabilities of a country shire too – this project needs state or federal assistance.” 

The long-term strategy is one that has been a long-time coming, but just received a renewed push. 

Tourist groups have been lobbying to have significant parts of the Central Goldfields region given World Heritage status – which could be used as a key marketing tool, especially in the emerging tourist market in Asia – for more than a decade. 

Now, there is a renewed push to have the status applied to the whole region – which would include Bendigo and Ballarat – and Cr Telford said federal lobbying would be crucial for its success. Such a push, even if ultimately unsuccessful, could free up resources to maintain the town’s heritage buildings – which would have flow on effects to the rest of the local economy. 

Steve Cox, a builder for more than 40 years in Maldon, said heritage loans once given to small businesses had dried up in recent years.

“Main Street is starting to look a bit shabby, people can’t afford to take the same pride in appearance as in years past,” he said. 

Maldon a microcosm 

Why do politicians sip lattes in the inner-city and don Akubras in the bush?

The truth is more complicated than the stereotype and in central Victorian towns, like Maldon, it is far more complicated still. In fact, in some ways Maldon is a microcosm of the nation-wide debate. 

Residents there are concerned with issues commonly associated with inner-city electorates, like the high cost of housing and the treatment of refugees. They also grapple with the same issues facing small towns across the country – a lack of opportunities for young people and of diversity in the local economy.

Then there’s the issue to which every country Australian can relate – drought.

The multitude of opinions in Maldon can be partly explained by a phenomenon which is relatively new to many parts of central Victoria, but which has been going on in Maldon for years. 

Builder Steve Cox – a born and bred local who has lived in Maldon his whole life – said people from inner-city Melbourne and other urban centres had been first visiting, then buying homes, in the gold-rush town for decades.

“They start-off with weekenders a lot of the time,” Mr Cox said. “Then they sell up their Melbourne home and move up here to retire.”

But it is not just retirees who chose to settle in this historic town surrounded by scrub. 

Jill Harrison-Rogers set up a high-end department store on the Main Street a decade ago after returning to Australia following a stint in England.

“It was the closest thing we could find to an English village,” Ms Harrison-Rogers said. 

Originally from Saint Kilda, the businesswoman said the town’s vibrant commercial sector wanted for nothing… except a green grocer. 

“We’ve got hairdressers, cafes, restaurants, ice-creameries, now we even have a French deli which has moved in next door with all sorts of wonderful meats and cheeses,” she said. 

On July 2, Ms Harrison-Rogers said her vote would be determined more by national issues than local ones. 

“I can’t speak for the whole community but, for myself and many of my friends, one of the most important issues is the appalling treatment of refugees,” she said. 

“Though it’s hard to know which way that influences your vote – no-one seems to treat them with any respect.” 

But while business is good for many stores in town a 10-minute drive from the outskirts, it isn’t going so well for Peter Baker. 

A third-generation sheep and crop farmer who has just passed on running of the family farm to his son, Mr Baker reckons times on the land are as tough as he has seen them.

“We’ve had a bore run dry – my Dad was a kid when that bore went down, it was more than 75-years-old,” Mr Baker said. 

“It was this July two years ago when the rain cut out and she's been pretty hard going since, people carting water and feed.

“There was no harvest last year and no-one around here has water in their dams.”

 Mr Baker said the state government should have declared Mount Alexander Shire in drought before the start of summer, opening the way for farmers to seek subsidies and relief packages. 

He also can’t understand why decades have passed without any water infrastructure improvements for the region. 

But when it comes to the national poll, Mr Baker’s top priority is economic management.

“It’s a deplorable state of affairs when our grandkids – and their kids – are gonna have to pay for the debt that we're incurring at the present time,” he said. 

The retiring farmer is not the only one in Maldon concerned about the future of younger generations. 

Gemma Martin threw in her job as a travel agent in Bendigo three-years-ago to take a punt on opening a cafe in Maldon, aiming to tap into the town’s tourist market. 

“There was more opportunity here than in Bendigo,” she said. “And I needed a change.” 

The opportunities Maldon can provide for those with the access to capital and work experience, like Ms Martin, would be the envy of many country towns around Australia. 

But it is a different story for only her full-time employee. Twenty-year-old Madison Oostenbrink studies interior design and decorating online in her spare time. 

Born and raised in Maldon, she will join many of her friends in the big smoke upon completing her studies. 

“Unless you want a career in hospitality, there’s not a lot of opportunities if you want to stick around,” Ms Oostenbrink said. “Most young people move on to Bendigo or Melbourne – those are the places you have to go if you want to spread your wings.” 

Yet despite an influx of new residents and in spite of the diversity of political affiliations, Maldon manages to live up to one stereotype of country towns, sadly in decline in many others. 

“There is a really strong sense of community in Maldon, it is a very socially active and engaged town,” Ms Harrison-Rogers said. 

It is shared by the newer arrivals, like the department store owner – who is a CFA volunteer and is undergoing training to join a community emergency response team – and the dyed-in-the-wool locals like Mr Baker, president of the Maldon-Baringhup Agricultural Show. 

It is that shared community spirit which has helped Maldon blend characteristics of urban and rural communities – and still hang on to its heritage. And it is a spirit to which our politicians might do better to tap into than tired stereotypes.