The Maldon Town Lamp
Authentic, Unique & Beautiful
Founded and forged in the Victorian Goldfields.
The Maldon Town Lamp is perfectly recreated from the Victorian Gold Rush era, where most small towns made their own lamps locally and did so with limited resources.
Created in Maldon sometime around the 1880's to light the public spaces in front of the town's areas of evening gatherings such hotels and churches.
Only a handful of Maldon Lamps were made and they would have been lost to time, if it were not for one very old and wonderfully preserved photograph.
An important history
While the style and impressive size of the lamp are wonderful, it is the story which is truly wonderful and worth preserving.
A rare photo of the Maldon Welsh Baptist Church showed the lamp in incredible quality. A fence which is still in place today and the church brick wall background made for a perfect reference for scale.
Back in the day… Maldon, as the residents will quickly tell you, was Australia’s First Notable Town. Almost overnight the town became a pivotal part of Australia’s gold rush. From the time it took to whisper “there is gold in them thar hills” Maldon went from a cattle run to having 30,000 desperate souls in just under a month.
With rapid change comes, the makeshift and ramshackle. For those towns lucky enough the makeshift would be followed by the grand and established. The Maldon ‘Town’ Lamp is from somewhere in the middle. While at one point amongst the richest places on Earth Maldon never became as grand as its more famous Goldfield cousins.
The original Maldon Lamp was placed just out front the Maldon Welsh Baptist church front window. The placement was at head height and right on the footpath outside the small vestibule church entry window. This definitely seems odd today as the lamp would not survive today’s safety standards not to mention the present lack of respect for public property, however the placement was so, that the locals could view the week's sermon times which were posted in the window.
How the lamp came to be. The original lamp didn't have to travel far to its home outside the Welsh Baptist Church, it was made at the Calder Foundry and Iron Monger on a strangely named goldfield lane called Dolphin Street about 150km from the nearest ocean. The foundry and the strangely named street was located no further than 50 meters away from where the lamp was to spend its lifetime and to where it would eventually be photographed and in turn found again.
Remaking the Maldon Town Lamp
Become part of the story and help preserve an important part of the Victorian goldfield history.
Remaining true to the original lamp design meant the lamp had to run on gas and electricity. The addition of a solar powered lamp was the most substantial change, as it was important to us that the cost of installation of the lamp would not double the cost and prevent people from acquiring one.
Get one of your own
Every Maldon Town Lamp is hand made and can be tailored to suit its location.
-
Bespoke production, meaning your lamp would be one of a kind
-
Preserve an almost forgotten feature of the Victorian goldfields
-
Solar lighting removes the hefty installation costs of gas or mains electricity
-
We can adapt the lamp to gas or household AC power
Contact us for a quote
The Maldon Town Lamp Project
2 Francis Street
Maldon Victoria
Australia 3463