About
Opus30 is an elegant, intimate exhibition and performance space in Castlemaine, newly refurbished as a venue to present and celebrate the work of accomplished contemporary craftspeople, artists and fine musicians.
Sited on the lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung people, the modest brick chapel was completed in 1859 during the Victorian goldrush times. The historic, elegant white interior is a clear reflection of the austere charter of the primitive Methodists who built it, while the soft red bricks of the exterior were made from local clays, hand pressed into wooden moulds and woodfired in one of several local potteries. At that time, the land around would have been dotted with canvas tents, small subsistence gardens, and the marks of mining and digging. The Dja Dja Wurrung came to call this goldfield region of central Victoria the ‘upside down country’ because it was so relentlessly turned over and moved in the endless search for precious metal and wealth. Someone also had a pomegranate seed in their pocket and planted the now magnificent tree that still sits alongside the chapel.
In this beautiful space, Opus30 takes great pleasure in presenting fine music, exciting and innovative crafts and fine art.
Opus30 acknowledges the Dja Dja Wurrung people past, present and emerging as the traditional custodians of the land on which this venue is located.