Bendigo

Bendigo is a great city – we really enjoyed our time there. We didn’t spend a lot of time going to the big ticket features of the city – such as the mine tour – but we just enjoyed walking around the city, the gardens and areas where there are lovely old buildings – there are lots of these. Another fascinating Victorian city where is it easy to while the time away getting absorbed in its history.

We were at Bendigo on 04, 05, 06 & 07 March 2019

Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia

Getting There

Daylesford > Castlemaine > Bendigo ~ 75kms

History

The Aboriginal clans who occupied the country of what is today Greater Bendigo are the Jaara Jaara people of the Dja Dja Wurrung language community, the Taungurung peoples and the Barapa Barapa peoples.

Taungurung country extended from the Dividing Range to the rivers east of the Campaspe River as they enter the plains to the north. Dja Dja Wurrung country was the forest country that extended from the lower foothills of the Dividing Range northwards towards the Riverine Plain. Barapa Barapa country extended to the lower Loddon River districts.

To the north and west, the Riverine Plain provided particularly rich resources of fish and waterfowl for nine months of the year, which enabled groups such as the Barapa Barapa to live in large village communities. In the winter months, people often dispersed in smaller family groups to eke out a living along the creeks, away from the rivers, or to visit kin and neighbours.

To read more about the First Nations People of the Bendigo area click here.

These grounds of the Riverine Plains were eventually noticed by white settlers, who established the first of many vast sheep-runs in 1837. The Mount Alexander North sheep-run was bordered by a creek that came to be known as Bendigo, after a local shepherd nicknamed for the English bare-knuckle prizefighter William Abednego (“Bendigo”) Thompson.

Gold was discovered in the area in September 1851, just after the other significant goldfields in neighbouring Castlemaine, from where many diggers migrated, bringing the total population to 40,000 in less than a year. Many of these were Chinese, whose descendants are still living in the area.

In 1853, there was a massive protest over the cost of the licence fee for prospectors, though it passed off peacefully. From being a tent-city, the town grew rapidly into a major urban centre with many grand public buildings. The municipality became a borough in 1863, officially known as Sandhurst until 1891, but always unofficially as Bendigo.

The railway reached Bendigo by 1862, stimulating rapid growth. When the alluvial gold ran out, the goldfields evolved into major mines with deep shafts to mine the quartz-based gold. Bendigo was declared a city in 1871.

Rapid population growth brought a water shortage, partially solved with a new viaduct from the Coliban River. The architect William Vahland is credited with the popular cottage design with verandahs decorated in iron lace, a style that was soon adopted right across the state of Victoria. Vahland also designed more than 80 buildings, including the Alexandra Fountain, with its granite dolphins, unicorns, nymphs and allegorical figures. A tram network was in use by 1890.

After a temporary drop in population as the gold got more difficult, there was renewed growth from the 1930s, as the city consolidated as a manufacturing and regional service centre. Gold mining continued until 1954. The population of the city increased from around 78,000 in 1991 to about 100,617 in 2012. Bendigo is currently one of the fastest growing regional centres in Victoria.

Day 1 – Mon 04 Mar – To and at Bendigo

A hot day, all day. It was a nice dive to Bendigo mostly through attractive farmlands. Nice to see some water in a few farm dams, but the universal colour was a dry brown.

Castlemaine looks a nice town but we don’t stop to have a look around. We tried to photograph some old buildings with only limited success.

Driving through Bendigo shows what lies ahead for us – the cathedral, the fountain, the main civic buildings, St Killians school, Lake Weeroona. There is a great first impression.

The Golden Nugget Tourist Park is on the northern side of town, about 10kms out. The Midland Hwy is being completely rebuilt so it’s a rocky ride with diversions and stoppages while we were there. The van park is large and we were able to drive through from the site behind onto our site. But the sites are not large – our A-frame almost reaches the road and there is no room for The Cruiser except on the road edge.

Although the park looked pretty empty, more vans arrived and seemed to be concentrated into the area around us – quite dense. The facilities are very good and look near new – there is even aircon. The only problem is that they are a good walk from our site – just one central block for the park. There is a games room but disappointingly the pool table surface is torn and the balls look almost antique. The cost of the site is $36.90 per night with out Top discount. We got strong signals on both Optus (our 4G modem plus my phone) and Telstra (Kerry’s phone). The facilities were excellent – just so far from our van.

After set up I had a quick swim – it was very hot. Then we went into town to the tourist information centre, which is in the old post office – built in 1887. This grand Renaissance Revival-style building operated as the city’s post office for over a century, until Australia Post moved into their new facility in 1996. We got lots of maps and brochures and then looked at the exhibition in the Gallery. This changes regularly and was then about many aspects of death. We then took come more photos of the building. There were a lot of “mourning outfits” – mainly for women, but also a couple for men to wear as well as “mourning cards” etc. There was also a mannequin with a priests clothing for a requiem mass – scary actually. There was a seperate exhibit of modern style clothing, made by local women from things “found” on their farms… some quite fanciful outfits… They held a fashion parade showcasing these apparently.

Across the road is the famous Shamrock Hotel. Legend has it that in the 1850s the miners left more than just their cash at the bar. The sweepings of the bar room floor are said to have yielded gold dust to the value of four pounds a day. Illustrious guests have included Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Lola Montez and Dame Nellie Melba, who famously asked for the post office clock to be stopped as the chiming kept her awake at night. They run a tour of this hotel, but only once a week and we missed out unfortunately… would have been interesting to see some of the grand old rooms.

Next to the Post Office is the Soldiers Memorial Hall which was unveiled on ANZAC Day 1926.

A couple of the trams passed us. These are the restored vintage ‘talking’ trams. The hop-on, hop-off trip runs from the Central Deborah Goldmine to the Tramways Depot every half-hour, making half-a-dozen stops.

We made out way back to the van park, pleased to see so many lovely old cottages, churches, schools and other building on the way.

Day 2 – Tue 05 Mar – Around Bendigo

It was another warm day, but a change had been promised. We started with Bendigo Pottery, which is quite close to the van park. This is Australia’s oldest working pottery. Established in 1858 the pottery has operated continuously from the current site since 1863.

Bendigo Pottery has the most significant collection of ceramic wood fired kilns left in the world. There are 10 kilns in total, but they are no longer used. They are now part of the Interpretive Museum with one of the circular kilns having been converted into a theatrette. The last firing of a wood fired kiln was 1989. The kilns are all listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. All product is now fired in natural gas fired kilns.

In addition to the factory, Bendigo Pottery is a large tourist complex with many things to see and do. The site includes retail sales, artist studios, an antique centre with 40 stalls, a cafe, hands on clay experiences, an interpretive museum (self guided tour) and a function centre. We started by looking at the old kilns, which are amazing.

We then looked through the vast range of beautiful pottery in the sales area, before investigation the antique stalls. These didn’t hold much of interest for us though, but we did purchase a couple of items of Bendigo Pottery – a couple of hand painted plates, an oil pourer, and a small baking dish (perfect for roasting just a few spuds).

We then collected our purchases – which the lady had wrapped up nicely for us and we had a great chat about the history of the place too.

The botanical gardens were quite close to the pottery, so we drove there and walked through. These were established in 1857, making them one of the oldest in Australia. The gardens are smaller than those at Ballarat but we had a very pleasant walk.

The most striking tree had to be the pink gum – never seen one quite that colour before.

The stone pine was another unusual tree.

The highlight was an aviary we spied in the centre. Such amazing parrots – we saw the King, Princess, Regent and Superb parrots. the colours are incredible.

Then we saw the most colourful pheasants we have ever seen. These are amazing – check out the video here. Chinese pheasants apparently…. Those tail feathers would look amazing in a hat.

Unfortunately there were not so many flowers out, but it was an enjoyable walk.

After that we worked our way around to the Joss House Temple. As with many of the attractions we looked for, there was little signage to help us get to some of the more unusual places.

People from China, who had previously flocked to the California goldfields, saw in Australia similar opportunities – I often wonder how they found about the goldfields. Moreover, the English-style of colonial government and policing offered some protection from the worst excesses of racial discrimination and violence experienced in California. A huge exodus to Victoria occurred in the mid-1850s, mainly from the poorer southern provinces. By 1855 it was estimated that there were about 4,000-5,000 Chinese people in the Bendigo area. The Joss house was constructed with locally hand made bricks and is painted red, the traditional colour of strength. It was opened in 1871. Originally part of the Ironbark Chinese community, it is the only remaining practising Joss house in central Victoria.

We went back into the city area as we both needed new sunglasses. I had just bought a cheap pair after my cataract was done, mainly for sun protection, (after a lecture from the pharmacist) but I needed proper glasses now. Kerry’s glasses were Maui Jim, but they were a couple of years old and the lenses were scratched. We found a Sunglasses Hut in Myers and parted with quite a few readies at the counter. How come sunglasses look so much the same and cost so much? I got Ralph Lauren, but they were only half the price of my old MJs thankfully.

After that we walked around a bit more and found the Town Hall right across the road from the Metro & Pugg`s Irish Bar, established in 1886. It’s a great looking pub with fabulous stained glass windows. So we had to have a drink as we sat admiring the Town Hall.

After that we walked around the Town Hall and saw that the large doors were open and that there was or had been a function there. So we popped our heads in to have a look. What a stunning room we found ourselves in. Glorious! We would loved to have a look around.

We found out later that the inside is “…a fairytale confection of elaborate plasterwork, most of it hand-painted or covered in gold leaf. Frolicking golden cherubs abound, as do bunches of flowers, feathers, birds, beasts and gargoyles.” Now wouldn’t that be something to see! Incidentally the meeting was for the Commission of Inquiry into the Aged Care.

It had become very windy and cold through the day – it ended up not nice at all.

Day 3 – Wed 06 Mar – Around Bendigo

The wind had been blowing all night and finally, as the gusts seemed stronger, we got up at about 5:30am and put the awning away. It was thumping all over the place. Our neighbours didn’t say a word later about the noise we had to make to roll it up. We later found out it got down to only 4C overnight.

Today we wanted to see some more of the historical buildings, in particular the cathedral and the heritage buildings along View St.

The Cathedral is a magnificent building. The nave was built in 1896-1901 and the building completed 1954-77. It was only completed in 2001 with the installation of bells from Italy.

Inside, there is a high-vaulted ceiling, and some beautiful stained-glass windows – although not as many as we had expected. There was massive gold coloured glass windows behind the altar – an amazing sight when you walk in… the whole place has a golden glow.

There are some stunning houses in the area around the cathedral.

View St is great – the Trades Hall, the Temperance Hall, The Capital Building (now an entertainment complex with live shows), Dudley House , the old fire station, a few pubs and the lovely old stand at the Queen Elizabeth Oval.

At Charring Cross, more great buildings.

After that we want back to the van park.

Day 4 – Thu 07 Mar – Around Bendigo

It was still cool – single digit temps again overnight. But the wind had eased and a fine day was promised. But as we were going out for the day, we left the awning down.

On the way into and out of town, we had seen over the last few days a wonderful looking house just where the roadworks were. So today we stopped and walked around the roadworks to get to the house. Langton Hall (circa 1903) was built for the first Archbishop of Bendigo as his residence. Truly a magnificent looking house. AND its for sale. I found it on the web – asking price WAS $2.9m, but now asking $2.75m… surely a bargain.

We then went up to Victoria Hill and eventually found it – no decent signs to help and a few u-turns were required. You have to turn onto Morong Rd off Eagle Hawk Rd. There is a car park on the right not far up the road. And right there is the wonderful Gold Mine Hotel, built in 1872. It looks delightful and a place of discinction for the people of Bendigo. The jewel in the crown is the sprawling 1.2 acres of historic gardens designed and laid out by the original owners – who had it for 140 years – as their private retreat and only recently available for the public to enjoy. But it’s too early for us to visit.

The Victoria Hill experience starts just behind the carpark. It is a walk around the area that was once the mine, so that we could get an appreciation of what this area may have been like in its heyday. Victoria Hill was one of the richest areas of the Bendigo Goldfields. It had many successful mines including the Victoria Quartz, once the deepest gold mine in the world. It was an interesting walk, slow as Kerry kept looking for a stray gold nugget in the open cut areas – (unsuccessfully). Good views from the Poppet Head.

Kerry and been very keen to go to the famous Beechworth Bakery, which is close to Victoria Hill. So we went down there and it was packed. It’s on an awkward corner so a bit hard to get into, but it’s well worth it. We had a cake each and a coffee (Kerry) and tea (me, which was bottomless) – all really good. I also got a sandwich for lunch.

We made our way back to Charring Cross, and parked to have a look at Rosland Park, which provides a great backdrop to this area. There were some lovely flowers out, especially the roses.

We crossed over the paved canal, which has stood the test of time, and then around the gardens.

At one point we saw 2 rosellas at a hollow of a tree. It was their nest and we watched as the two of them organised who was staying home and who was going to find food. We got that on video – click here. They were just delightful.