Home > Bendigo, Victoria

The area was originally known as Bendigo's Creek, named for an employee on a local property who was nicknamed "Bendigo" after the famous English prize fighter William "Bendigo" Thompson. The area was settled in 1851, proclaimed a municipality in 1855, a borough in 1863 and a city in 1871. The town was officially known as Sandhurst but the name Bendigo was restored in 1891.

Bendigo grew as a result of gold mining in the mid to late 19th century. Bendigo actually produced much more gold than rival town Ballarat but there were fewer small miners. The mines were deeper and the culture was more corporate than Ballarat. As a legacy of the Gold boom Bendigo has many magnificant ornate buildings built in a late Victorian colonial style, some with a "French" chateau feeling.

After the gold rush Bendigo developed a manufacturing industry. Little of that now remains but there is a large foundry which makes train and vehicle parts and there is also a rubber factory. The ADI or Australian Defence Industries is an important heavy engineering company. Its current status is uncertain, being previously state owned and now going through a process of privatisation. Intervet (formerly AusvacAusvac Pty Ltd located in Bendigo was started in 1987 and subsequently sold to Intervet in 1998. Its first product was a vaccine against scours for pigs. It subsequently developed a range of products for the pork industry.) is an important biotechnology company, producing vaccines for animals. The major industry in Bendigo is now Health with a Base Hospital, a very large old peoples and Rehabilitation home (The Anne Caudle centre) with about 600 beds. PsychiatricPsychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). The term alienist is an old term for a psychiatrist, and the term shrink (from "head shrinker") is a (sometimes offensive) slang term for a psy services are notably inadequate. There is a medium security gaolHM Prison Bendigo is a medium security prison facility located in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. The prison provides accommodation for prisoners assessed as suitable for treatment in the area of substance abuse and addictive / compulsive behaviours. The pr. TourismTourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act. A tourist is someone who travels at least fifty miles from home, as defined by the World Tourism Organization (a United Nations body)., based on the old gold industry, is important. Bendigo Senior Secondary College is the largest VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) provider in the State. BRIT (Bendigo Regional Institute of Tertiary and Further Education) and the Bendigo campus of La Trobe UniversityLa Trobe University is a multicampus university with campuses in Melbourne (about 16000 students), Bendigo (about 5000 students), Albury-Wodonga (about 2000 students) and minor campuses at Mildura, Shepparton, Beechworth and Mount Buller. The University w are large and growing educational institutions. Telecommunications provider AAPT has its call-centre based here. Bendigo BankBendigo Bank operates some 230 branches, primarily in Victoria and Queensland. This includes 85+ Community Bank® branches. Community Bank® is an innovative franchise program in which the local community owns and operates a Bendigo Bank branch (which is se is Bendigo based (perhaps based on the wealth accumulated in the early 20th century) is now a large "second-tier" bank with branchs throughout Victoria, TasmaniaTasmania State flag ( In detail) Coat of Arms ( Full size) Capital Hobart Governor William Cox (Acting Governor) Premier Paul Lennon Area — Land — Marine — Total 68 401 km² 22 357 km² 90 758 km² Population(Sep 2003) Density 478 400 6. 92/km² Time zone UTC and elsewhere including NSWNew South Wales NSW is Australia's most populous and oldest state, located in the southeast, north of Victoria. It was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland. During the 19th century large areas were successively separate.

Despite the relative lack of industry Bendigo is growing rapidly, probably partly at the expense of small surrounding rural towns (such as Elmore , Rochester , Inglewood , Dunnolly ) which are in steep decline. The surrounding area or "gold country" is quite harsh rocky land with scrubby regrowth vegetation. This "box-ironbark forest" is used for timber (mainly sleepers and firewood) and bee keeping. It is proposed to divert it to ecotourism, but there is considerable scepticism about its potential in this respect. Sheep and cattle are grazed in the cleared areas. There are some large poultry and pig farms. Some relatively fertile areas are present along the rivers and creeks, where wheat and other crops such as canola are grown. The area produces premium wines, including shiraz, from a growing viticulture industry. Salinity is problem in many valleys. There is a relatively small eucalyptus oil industry.

Until overtaken in the 1980s by the Western Australia goldfields, Bendigo was the most productive Australian gold area, with a total production of over 20 million ounces (622 t). There is a large amount of gold still in the Bendigo goldfields. The decline in mining was partly due to the depth of mines and the presence of water in the deep mines. With modern technology, Bendigo Mining NL has resumed mining and will likely be a large producer within 10 years.

Bendigo is about 150 km or 2 hours by car from Melbourne with most of the journey being on freeway style roads. The residual dual carriageway roads (currently about 60 km) are slowly but steadily being replaced by freeway. There is a relatively poor rail service to Melbourne with a limited number of services to Melbourne in the morning and some services returning in the evening. There is a lack of late services and surprisingly, despite Bendigo role as a service area, there are no suitable rail services for people wishing to work in Bendigo. The rail is broad gauge. Some upgrading is planned but the rail service will not be changed to standard gauge, unfortunately. The service with be faster but to a large extent this will be due to an express service with fewer stops.