In And Near Castlemaine Poem by Francis Duggan

Few of them in Castlemaine remained to grow old
The young men who came south to grow wealthy in gold
From Asia and Europe and many northern Lands far away
The signs of their work in Castlemaine today

Of the holes in their diggings they left in the ground
In Central Victoria the stories of those who dug for gold do abound
A few struck it rich whilst for many of them no such gain
All of their effort in hard work for them all in vain

In the old graveyard at nearby Vaughan in unmarked graves the bones of long dead miners lay
The young migrant prospectors who did not live to grow old and gray
Many of them died on the diggings In Winters harsh and cold
And the stories of their lives may never be told

Today Castlemaine has other claims to renown
It is becoming known as a cultural and a tourist Town
A Town founded in the Central Victoria gold rush days of the mid nineteenth century
With links to the people of the Dreamtime in it's history

The first gold at Castlemaine was found by Christopher Thomas Peters at Barkers Creek and when news of his find leaked out
Young men from Asia and Europe to Central Victoria journeyed south
And in the diggings many holes in the ground as proof now remain
Of the young men who dug for gold in and near Castlemaine.