It started with the camp,
and then a serendipitous football match.
Early history
The Commissioner’s Camp, Castlemaine (1862) lithographed and published by Edwd. Gilkes; from a sketch by Clarke Ismir
Castlemaine’s rich history as a gold mining town within the wider central goldfields region in Victoria is well-known. In 1851, after findings of gold within the Castlemaine and Chewton area became public knowledge, Gold Commissioner William Henry Wright established a camp on the confluence of Forest and Barkers Creeks.
“The Camp”, now known as Camp Reserve, served as the administrative centre for all the Central Victorian goldfields for a time. By 1852 his staff numbered 300.
In December 1854, one of Australia’s most famous early labour movements took place in nearby Ballarat: the Eureka Stockade. Responding to a lack of formal and democratic representation in the Victorian Parliament, and oppressive licence fees for the right to dig gold, a defensive stockade of miners began an uprising. The rebellion was put down within 20 minutes with around 22 miners and five soldiers killed. The stockade placed pressure on regulators which successfully saw the end to licence fees, introduced a limited form of suffrage for male miners, and removed some corrupt officials.
Marlene Gilson Mount Warrenheip and Eureka Stockade, 2014 synthetic polymer paint on canvas.
Report from the Mount Alexander Mail (September 1855)
On 22 September 1855, only nine months after the Eureka Stockade, some of the surviving miners and troops played a football match at the Commissioner’s Camp at nearby Castlemaine.
Lieutenant William Henry Paul who fought at Eureka is said to have been a key driver of the football match between the previously antagonistic sides. As is Thomas Beagley Naylor, the Receiver of Gold at the camp at the goldfield of Castlemaine and secretary of the Castlemaine Hospital where it is probably that several wounded men from the Eureka Stockade were convalesced.
Unfortunately the details of the game, including the players involved or the precise rules of the game, are unknown. However it is understood that the match was a likely precursor to both Australian-rules football and English rugby union respectively. Needless to say, it is deeply entwined with the goldfield history of the region and key events of that time.
Codification
In May 1859, the Melbourne Football Club published the first laws of Australian football, making it the oldest of the world’s major football codes.
The "Castlemaine Football Club" was formed on 15 June 1859 at the Supreme Court Hotel and chaired by T Butterworth. Records for the foundation date were discovered in 2007 which rewrote history; as many had previously believed that the Geelong Football Club had been formed earlier.
Castlemaine Football Club played its first match on 22 June 1859 on the Cricket Ground at Barkers Creek.
In 1925, Castlemaine joined the Bendigo Football League, Coached by the West Australian champion Phil Matson, Castlemaine made the 1925 Grand Final, but lost to South Bendigo by 14 Points: 7.12 (54) to 6.4 (40).
Putting the history of the club into perspective, it was founded before the burke and wills expedition, prior to uluru’s first sighting by europeans, before ned kelly was hanged, and five years before banjo patterson was born.
Netball
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