Walking In and Around Maldon
Maldon is an unusually good walking town. The centre is flat, compact and full of things worth stopping for, while the reserves and trails that surround it push out into genuine bush within minutes of leaving High Street. Here are the walks worth knowing about.
The Heritage Trail — Town Centre
The self-guided heritage trail is the essential Maldon walk. It’s flat, it’s signposted, and you can do it in an hour or take all afternoon depending on how often you stop. The Visitor Centre at 93 High Street has the brochure and the staff will happily talk you through it. Key stops include the Beehive Mine Chimney, the old courthouse, the Penny School and the collection of 19th-century churches that give Maldon its extraordinary sense of layered time.
Anzac Hill and Mount Tarrengower
For a view over the town, the short walk up Anzac Hill via Anzac Hill Road is easy and well worth it. For something more ambitious, Mount Tarrengower rises a few kilometres west of town to 570 metres — the 1923 lookout tower at the summit offers a 360-degree panorama that takes in Mount Alexander, Mount Macedon and on a clear autumn day, the distant Grampians. Drive to the base and walk up, or walk the whole way from town if the legs are willing.
Maldon Historic Reserve — Bush Tracks
The reserve wraps around the town and is laced with walking and cycling tracks through box and ironbark forest. In autumn the birdlife is exceptional — honeyeaters, rosellas and raptors are regular sightings — and the gold rush relics scattered through the bush give the walks a quiet, atmospheric quality. Kangaroos and echidnas turn up regularly on the morning tracks.
Practical note: The Castlemaine to Maldon Rail Trail is an 18km cycling path that also works as a long walk. The steam train runs the same route on Sundays — take the train one way and walk back if you want the best of both.
Walks start at the front gate of Sinnamons Cottage.
The cottage is central to town and the reserve is minutes away on foot. Ask us for the current conditions on the bush tracks before you head out.