Castlemaine is a small city in Victoria, Australia, in
the goldfields region of Victoria
about 120 kilometres northwest by road from
Melbourne and about 40 kilometres from the
major provincial centre of Bendigo. Castlemaine is
the administrative and economic centre of the
Shire of Mount Alexander. The population of
Castlemaine at the 2011 Census was 6,751.
Castlemaine began as a gold rush boomtown in
1851 and developed into a major regional centre,
being officially proclaimed a City on 4 December
1965, although since declining in population.

Castlemaine is home to many cultural institutions
including the Theatre Royal, the oldest
continuously operating theatre in mainland
Australia.