The Goldfields Gothic Festival of Dark Ideas – in only its second incarnation – has already taken its place alongside the Easter Fair, the Folk Festival, Maldon in Winter and others as a not-to-be-missed event on the calendar. The weather is always a factor, and this year it began on a gloomy Friday, cleared on Saturday and ended in glorious sunshine on Sunday.

The TT attended ‘Sass and Secrets’ on Friday evening, a cabaret of laughter, song, chaos and magic featuring the huge talents of Cath Jamison and Aurora Kurth. A packed audience was by turns enchanted with Aurora’s powerful voice performing show songs and mystified by Cath’s magic … how exactly did that signed $50 note find its way inside a carrot? Those foolish enough to mount the stage were embarrassed with great good humour. The Progress Hall rocked with laughter at the raunchy banter of both performers as they took the audience through two hours of fun and entertainment.

The Maldon District Museum hosted a ‘Horrible Histories’ Exhibition that attracted what volunteers Julie and Ronda described as a big crowd for the museum. The displays focused on how death and dying were treated in earlier times. The TT learned that there were once undertaker businesses located at Bank Corner, and at the site of the old garage on the Castlemaine turnoff corner; it’s fairly well known too that the Kangaroo Hotel doubled as a town morgue when needed. 

On Saturday a popular ‘Dark Market’ operated at the Maldon Vintage Machinery & Museum with a huge variety of stalls doing a roaring trade in macabre items of all kinds. Patrons fuelled up on Dying Coffee (the coffee-dispensing hearse also did time in Sunday’s parade) and food. The Hearse Nationals Parade on Sunday morning was blessed with welcome sunshine as vehicles did a couple of rounds of Maldon’s CBD before adjourning to Fountain Street to bask in the admiration of passers-by. 

While we all enjoy the serenity of our peaceful and friendly town, it’s weekends like these that see Maldon come to awesome life. Locals and visitors alike went to often incredible pains to dress in their Gothic-themed finest: costumes were striking, colourful and at times breathtaking. It was a feast of not just the eyes but indeed of all the senses. Businesses got into the spirit of the festival with some stunning shop window displays to match the Maldon in Winter efforts of not long ago. 

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 11 August 2023.