Bendigo, Australia

Population: 122,647 (2022 estimate)

Area: 1,864 miles (3,000 square kilometers)

Founded: 1855

Bendigo is the fourth-largest city in the state of Victoria, Australia. The city, like many other cities in southern Australia, was established in the nineteenth century after gold was discovered in the region. Although many other mining towns were abandoned when the gold rush ended, Bendigo has remained an important center of industry and tourism in the region. Because the city expanded so rapidly during the gold rush, many of its buildings were built during that time, giving the city a reputation for its nineteenth-century architecture. The city of Bendigo was named after a local sheepherder who was also an amateur boxer. Because of his skill, he was nicknamed Bendigo after world-famous English boxer William Abednego Thompson. In 1994, the city renamed itself the City of Greater Bendigo when it incorporated more of its suburbs. Much of the land included in the City of Greater Bendigo is actually made up of rural areas, including parks, grazing land, farms, and vineyards.

Landscape

The City of Greater Bendigo is in the geographic middle of the state of Victoria. The city is about 95 miles (153 kilometers) northwest of Melbourne, the largest city in Victoria. Bendigo is 738 feet (225 meters) above sea level. The City of Greater Bendigo, which includes Bengido City, is bordered by Shire of Campaspe to the north, Strathbogie Shire and Mitchell Shire to the east, Mount Alexander Shire to the south, and Loddon Shire to the west. The Calder Highway, the Loddon Valley Highway, the McIvor Highway, the Midland Highway are the major traffic arteries that break up the city. The Melbourne-Bendigo-Echuca railway line and Bendigo Airport are also important transportation hubs. The City of Greater Bendigo encompasses numerous suburbs and neighborhoods, including Barnadown, Flora Hill, Axedale, Golden Square, Costerfield, and Derrinal.

Bendigo’s climate is considered oceanic—like much of interior Victoria—and has moderate temperatures. The city also has four different seasons. The average temperature in January is 70.5 degrees Fahrenheit (21.4 degrees Celsius), and in July, it is 45.7 Fahrenheit (7.6 Celsius). Bendigo receives a moderate to high amount of rain each year, with the average rainfall in the area totaling about 22.6 inches (575 millimeters) per year.

People

The first people to live in the Bendigo area were the Dja Dja Wurrung. They have lived in the area for tens of thousands of years and still reside there today. Before the British arrived, the Dja Dja Wurrung had their own systems of government and economics. The Taungurung (Jaara) people also lived in the area. Although colonization changed the lives of the Aboriginal peoples throughout Australia, the Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung still consider themselves the traditional owners of the land in and around Bendigo. In 2021, the Aboriginal population in the Bendigo region was about 2.1 percent.

Much of the rest of the population of Bendigo has a European-Australian heritage. According to the World Factbook, the ethnic makeup of Bendigo as of 2023 was English (31.9 percent), Australian (31.6 percent), Irish (10.3 percent), Scottish (8.3 percent), and German (3.3 percent). Immigrants from Europe, China, and India also make their homes in Bendigo. The people of the city and the surrounding areas try to acknowledge and celebrate the different cultures of those living within the area with numerous festivals and holidays.

Economy

Bendigo is Victoria’s fourth-largest city and is an important part of the state’s economy. The City of Greater Bendigo’s 2023 Gross Regional Product (GRP) was roughly $9.82 billion, which made it an important contributor to Victoria’s GSP (Gross State Product). The area had approximately 53,533 jobs and 8,255 businesses as of 2023.

The manufacturing industry accounted for more than 18 percent of Bendigo’s economy in 2023, making it the largest industry in the area. Many different types of manufacturing are important to the city’s economy, but food and defense equipment manufacturing are especially important. Engineering is also an important factor in the region. Health care and social assistance was also an important industry, making up about 10 percent of region’s economy in 2023. However, Bendigo is also known for having a diverse economy that relies on numerous industries. Bendigo has strong manufacturing and financial sectors. An important element of its financial sector is banks, as many banks were created in the area during the 1800s when the gold rush brought in enormous amounts of wealth. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is one of the area’s largest businesses and is an important part of Australia’s finance industry. The area also still has some gold mining, which has been an important part of the region’s economy since its founding.

Landmarks

Some of the best-known landmarks in Bendigo are architectural examples from the nineteenth century. When the gold rush was in full force, gold—and therefore money—flowed throughout the region. As Bendigo grew quickly, city leaders needed to erect new buildings to keep pace with the ever-growing population. Since banking was an important industry in the area, many of the banks built during the nineteenth century still stand today, though some are used for different purposes. These buildings are important landmarks because they showcase Victorian architecture and help preserve the history of the area. The former Union Bank, located on View Street, was built in the 1870s and had a classical style. It has a banking chamber, strong room, and an attached residence. The bank even has a smelting house where gold could be melted down. The former bank was built at a time when the mining in the area was transforming from individual prospecting to deep mining. The former Bank of New South Wales, which was built in 1866, is another building on View Street. It was built by Leonard Terry, one of the leading architects of the time. The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney is another bank on View Street that was built in the 1860s. Other banks in the area that are considered important pieces of architecture include the former Commercial Bank of Australia (1875) and the former Royal Bank (1908).

Another impressive architectural landmark in the city is the Sacred Heart Cathedral, which is located on Short Street. This cathedral was built in a gothic style, and it is the largest cathedral in Victoria outside of Melbourne. Architect W. Tappin designed the structure in 1887, and crews began work on it in 1896; however, the structure was not fully completed until 1977. The cathedral is made of Barrabol freestone. On the inside, the pews are made of Australian blackwood, and the sanctuary is made of Sicilian marble. The building also features grand, opulent stained-glass windows.

Greater Bendigo National Park is one of many parks in and near Bendigo, and is located just outside the city. The park protects many different types of animals and plants. People who visit the park have the opportunity to see many different types of wildlife, including wallabies and kangaroos. The park is also known for its brightly colored wildflowers and other plants. The Bendigo Bushland Trail snakes through the park, so people who want to walk or hike can follow the trail.

The Bendigo Art Gallery is one of the oldest regional art galleries in Australia and contains art from throughout the city’s history, from the 1850s to the modern day. It has a significant colonial art collection and features works from various Australian artists.

History

For tens of thousands of years, the Dja Dja Wurrung people lived in the area that is now Bendigo, a region they called Tuaggra in their language. When the first British colonizers arrived in the nineteenth century, many of the Dja Dja Wurrung were forced from their traditional homelands. Some of the Dja Dja Wurrung were killed in confrontations with foreigners during the region’s gold rush.

The first foreigners in the Bendigo region were British explorers such as Major Thomas Mitchell, who traveled through the area when he was exploring other parts of Victoria. By the 1840s, squatters had moved in with sheep to graze them in the fields. Although colonizers lived in the area before the 1850s, no large settlements existed. That all changed in 1851 when gold was discovered in the region. The discovery transformed the area and the rest of southern Australia. Soon, crowds of people were moving to the area nearly every week, and settlements rose up to accommodate the influx. Historians are unsure who first discovered gold in the region, but in 1890, a committee claimed that an Irish immigrant named Henry Frencham might have been first.

The gold seam in Bendigo covered thousands of acres of land, and by the end of 1851, the region was home to about eight hundred people. By the following June, that number had risen to approximately twenty thousand. The miners hoped to make their fortunes digging for gold in the alluvial deposits. During the first years of the boom, individual miners could dig and easily pan for gold, but because so many people were moving into the region, the surface gold was quickly extracted from the ground. Eventually, deep mining became the only way to reach large amounts of gold in the ground.

The former gold prospectors now took jobs as miners, working in corporate-owned mines and goldfields. Eventually, the Bendigo goldfields grew to have the deepest goldmine shafts in the world. As people from all over the world moved to Bendigo, small ethnic communities developed in different parts of the city. For example, the Irish moved to the St. Kilian’s District, the Germans lived in Ironbark Gully, and the Chinese lived in Emu Point. Over time, these communities melded together.

In 1862, nearly all the gold mining was occurring in deep shafts. At this time, the first railroad arrived in Bendigo. In 1870 the town, which had been known as Sandhurst, renamed itself Bendigo after the local boxer and sheepherder. Transportation improved again, and by 1890, the city had a network of trams that helped people move from place to place.

By the 1950s, most of the large deposits of gold had been removed. Between 1851 and 1954, roughly 25 million ounces of gold were taken from Bendigo and the surrounding area. When the gold mining industry wound down in the 1950s, the community at first did not have a backup industry to take its place. Many people left the region to find other opportunities. Although the mining industry began to fade from the area, its influence was long-lasting. Most of the buildings, including the residential homes, had been built in the heyday of the gold rush, giving the city its Victorian architecture and grand style.

As the 1940s wore on, Bendigo benefitted from World War II manufacturing, and the industry became an important part of its economy. However, manufacturing only lasted several decades before it declined due to globalization in the late twentieth century. The health and service industries helped to revitalize the area in the early twenty-first century. In 1994, the city of Bendigo went through another change. It incorporated most of its suburbs and renamed itself the City of Greater Bendigo.

Bibliography

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“City of Greater Bendigo: Economy, Jobs and Business Insights.” REMPLAN, 2024, app.remplan.com.au/bendigo/economy/summary. Accessed 6 Dec. 2024.

“Explore our History and Heritage.” City of Greater Bendigo, 2020 www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/Things-to-Do/Explore-our-history-and-heritage. Accessed 12 Nov. 2020.

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