Chewton I Historic Gold Mining Village I Forest Creek Gold Diggings I Goldfields Victoria

Gold discovered in 1851 changed Chewton forever. The Forest Creek diggings became the world’s richest ever shallow alluvial goldfield. The attraction of gold at Forest Creek led to a huge influx of gold-seekers. On the 15th of December 1851, a 15,000-strong meeting of diggers protesting a proposed gold license fee increase was held on the Forest Creek goldfield. Now known as the Monster Meeting, it predated the Red Ribbon Rebellion in Bendigo (1853) and Eureka in Ballarat (1854). The town was of Chewton 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 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 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.

Heritage is both natural with its Box-Ironbark Forests, and cultural, with the 1850s gold rush. Chewton is central to the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park. 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 festival over the Australia Day long weekend. In 2007, the festival relocated to nearby Newstead.

The former railway station at Chewton closed to all traffic on 16 June 1976.

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