CASTLEMAINE

city in southern Victoria, Australia, located 8 mi (13 km) east of the Lodlen River and 78 mi northwest of Melbourne. In 1836 the area was crossed by Maj. Thomas Mitchell, and in 1851 gold was found in Specimen Valley. The mining settlement employed about 30,000 miners and was called alternatively Forest Creek and Mount Alexander. Capt. William Wright, the chief goldfields commissioner, later named the settlement after his uncle, Viscount Castlemaine. By the 1880s the gold deposits were depleted. Today Castlemaine is the centre of a farming and fruit-growing district and has light manufacturing. The city has a botanical garden, a provincial art gallery, and a restored market (built 186162) that serves as a museum. Inc. town, 1950. Pop. (1981 ) 7,583.