Historical Walking Tour of Bendigo

Opened on 5 July 1881, this ornate fountain marks the heart of Bendigo. Designed by local architect William Vahland from some 20 tonnes of Harcourt granite, it features lion-head spouts, allegorical figures and bronzed mer-horses. Named for Alexandra, Princess of Wales, it stands as a monument to goldfields prosperity.

Seen from the street

Source: Wikipedia

Also known as Beehive Building Bendigo

A store called the Beehive traded here from the 1850s, and by 1864 its two-storey successor had share-brokers' offices upstairs, at the heart of the speculation that financed Bendigo's mines. Fire swept through it in August 1871, during a frantic spell of share trading, and within nine months Charles Webb's present building was up. Brokers worked on the floor above what is now Allan's Walk while deals were done in the open space below, sometimes spilling into the street. Look for the beehive on the central parapet. This was one of only two mining exchanges in regional Victoria.

Source: Victorian Heritage Database

Also known as Shamrock Hotel Bendigo

There has been a hotel on this site since 1854, but the four-storey building you see dates from 1897, a late and lavish example of boom-style design. Its architect, Bendigo-born Phillip Kennedy, trained at the Bendigo School of Mines and was articled to William Vahland, and he borrowed ideas from earlier local landmarks: a tall mansard roof, ornate rendered facades and a two-storey verandah wrapping the street fronts. Baxter and Boyne built it. Over the years its guests have included Prince George, later King George V, Dame Nellie Melba and Donald Bradman.

Source: Victorian Heritage Database

Originally designed by George Avery Fletcher in 1859, Bendigo Town Hall was transformed between 1878 and 1902 by architect William Vahland into one of Victoria's finest Second Empire "boom style" buildings. Reflecting the gold-rush city's wealth, its interior plasterwork was finished in 22-carat gold leaf and restored to Victorian splendour in 2003.

Source: Wikipedia

Also known as Golden Dragon Museum

Opened in 1991 on the site of Bridge Street's old Chinatown, this museum documents the history of Bendigo's Chinese community from the gold-rush era. Architect Harry Charalambous blended Chinese symbolism with Australian materials. It houses the heritage-listed Loong, which paraded at Federation in 1901, plus the giant Sun Loong and Dai Gum Loong dragons.

Paid entry

Source: Wikipedia

In November 1901 Bendigo staged its Gold Jubilee Exhibition to mark fifty years since gold was found here. Opened by the Governor-General, the Earl of Hopetoun, it ran for six months, turning the Town Hall into an art gallery and music salon and filling four acres of Market Square with exhibits from around Australia. The proceeds paid for this memorial, erected in 1906 and counted among the best-known works of sculptor Charles Douglas Richardson. A figure of Victoria rests one hand on a rock of quartz and holds out a gold nugget to the prospector crouching below her.

Seen from the street

Source: Victorian Heritage Database

Bendigo's first court sat in 1852 where Bendigo Creek met Golden Gully, and the Supreme Court circuit reached the town, then named Sandhurst, in 1863. An 1882 Act of Parliament set aside this part of Pall Mall for public buildings, and Public Works architect George W. Watson designed these Second Empire law courts, built in 1892-96 by McCulloch and McAlpine. Mansard roofs, dormer windows and Corinthian pilasters rise from a bluestone base. Inside, judges, juries, witnesses and prisoners each moved through the building by separate routes. When it opened there was still no running water or sanitary plumbing.

Source: Victorian Heritage Database

Built in 1883-87 to a design by George W. Watson of the Public Works Department, this is a provincial post office on a metropolitan scale. A 43-metre clock tower with a six-bell carillon rises above facades crowded with Corinthian pilasters, balustrades and lions' heads beneath a mansard roof. The heritage register calls it an outstanding example of the Franco-German Renaissance Revival style, and a seminal one: it influenced the Law Courts next door, the Shamrock Hotel opposite and the alterations to the Town Hall. Its grandeur reflects Bendigo at the peak of its gold-town prosperity.

Source: Victorian Heritage Database

Crowning Rosalind Park, this 20.8-metre lookout was built in 1931 from the steel poppet legs of the Garden Gully United Mine (1857-1921), one of Bendigo's richest goldmines. Donated by Bendigo Amalgamated Goldfields to perpetuate the city's goldfield heritage, it carries three observation floors reached by a covered stairway.

Source: bendigo.vic.gov.au

Established in 1887, it ranks among the oldest and largest regional art galleries in Australia. Bendigo architect William Vahland turned the early rifle-corps room into Bolton Court in 1890, and William Beebe extended the building with Drury Court in 1897. Holdings emphasise 19th-century British, European and Australian painting.

Source: Wikipedia

Also known as Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo

One of Australia's largest churches, this Gothic Revival cathedral in sandstone was begun in 1897 to William Tappin's winning design, then stalled for decades before Bates, Smart and McCutcheon completed it in 1977. Its 87-metre spire ranks among the nation's tallest. Listed on the Victorian Heritage Register in 1997.

Source: Wikipedia

Opened in 1939 and closed in November 1954, this Bendigo mine reached a maximum depth of 412 metres and produced 29,865 ounces of gold over its life. Reopened in 1986 for underground tours, it joined the Victorian Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.

Paid entry Underground mine tours have run here since the mine reopened in 1986.

Source: Wikipedia