Bendigo is a large regional town in central Victoria, Australia, located in the City of Greater Bendigo. It has about 100,000 people and is the fourth largest town in Victoria after Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat.
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. 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.
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 rail service to Melbourne on the Bendigo line with a limited number of services to Melbourne and back.
Explore the Bendigo Gold Fields, Bendigo Pottery, Chinese Museum & Gardens, authentic Bendigo Tram, local wines and much more.
