The Castlemaine Currency Project was a collaborative project between the Castlemaine Institute and Carbon Arts, exploring the potential of local currencies and the deeper question of what money really is. Together, we undertook a creative, community-centred investigation into how value is generated, exchanged and held within a local economy.

Working with local clay, the project produced a tangible, tactile and tradable currency that invited people to rethink money as something grounded, material and connected to place. These handcrafted coins were used in a live exchange experiment across select Castlemaine businesses, sparking real transactions as well as wide-ranging discussions about economic futures.

The project takes its lead from the “Mount Alexander in 2040: the Wararack Economy” written by the Institute for the Wararack Initiatives, the Mount Alexander community’s climate response. Wararack is Dja Dja Wurrung for Silver Wattle and a symbol for diversity and the “glue” that binds us together. The plant is used to make impressions upon the clay currency, and is a potent reminder of the true source of our wealth – Djaara Country.