A booming gold mining and pastoral centre during the late nineteenth century, Chiltern in Victoria's northeast consists today of little more than two intersecting streets in which antique wares and secondhand dealers are generously represented. The colonial-era post office, police station, courthouse and Masonic Lodge all form a distinctive red brick precinct, and behind the post office a former linesmen's cottage has been refurbished to provide a snug bedsit accommodation. Out towards the railway station, the late Victorian childhood home of the writer Henry Handel Richardson - a woman - looks out over a small lake.

Nearby Beechworth, another colonial goldfields town, hums with bakeries, sweet shops and antique dealers. The legendary gold rush-era bushranger (outlaw) Ned Kelly and his gang had a close association with the town; Ned and his mother were held at the Beechworth Gaol and Ned stood trial here several times. At Wahgunyah, the John Foord Bridge spans the brown waters of the Murray, now swollen by spring rains. We lingered over lunch in the gardens of the old-established All Saints Winery and packed away a bag of dessert wines from the cellar door contained within the estate's crenellated castle.

These images were taken with Nikon D300 using RAW format, and are available for licensing.