Ballarat or Bendigo: Why locals treasure their town as Victoria’s crown jewel

Ballarat and Bendigo share gilded histories and entrenched heritages, but which Victorian country town is better? Find out here.

Ballarat v Bendigo. We ask locals which is better.

Ballarat and Bendigo share gilded histories, entrenched heritages, and staunch believers that one town tops the other.

But who is right?

We asked locals why they consider their region the best Victoria has to offer.

The Provincial Hotel owner Gorgi Coghlan says she is “part of the fabric” of Ballarat now, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Picture: Alex Coppel.

The Provincial Hotel owner Gorgi Coghlan fell in love with a boy from Ballarat and “easily” decided to move from the big smoke out to the regions.

That was close to 15 years ago, and Ms Coghlan now feels as though she is “part of the fabric of the town”, which has warmly welcomed her.

“There are several factors that I find really attractive about Ballarat,” she said.

“One of them is the sense of community and that really came to the fore in the pandemic.

“There’s a beautiful community spirit that’s really strong and the proximity to Melbourne is a huge bonus to someone like me who works in media.

“Given that my work is only an hour and a half away from our farm, it literally is a cliche but it’s the best of both worlds: an hour and 20 minutes later you can be sitting on your back patio overlooking paddocks and have the benefits of regional living.”

Ms Coghlan said that opening a business in town forced her to work “incredibly hard” to gain the respect of locals, but in return, the community showed a great deal of support.

“It puts you on the map when you open a small business in the town,” she said.

“It’s definitely changing and evolving: hospitality and the restaurant and bar scene is going really well and appears to be quite strong.”

In the future, Ballarat could become, in Ms Coghlan’s words, “the next regional city where you plan a trip to be able to spend money, shop, and decorate your home”.

She hoped to see more high-end retail shops set up in town and Ballarat to move forward with “an identity and intention”.

“We’ll always have our roots somehow in Ballarat,” she said. “It will always be home for us.”

Supplied Editorial Ballarat Regional Tourism chair Paul Martino.

Ballarat Regional Tourism chair Paul Martino was born and educated in Ballarat.

The attraction for him remains open air and quality of life combined with affordable housing and great educational institutions.

Mr Martino looks forward to watching the city continue to grow while respecting its heritage.

“I think Ballarat’s in a sweet spot right now because it’s a great gateway city to Melbourne,” he said.

“I love the juxtaposition of the incredible heritage of the city and the modern, forward-thinking young leaders that are coming through.

“Sometimes when you live in a city you can take for granted something as incredible as the physical asset that is Sturt Street.”

He said the town had an “exciting decade” ahead of it for business and tourism.

“Ballarat just recently won a major tourism town award held in Bendigo, but won by Ballarat,” Mr Martino said.

“I think that the next 10 years are going to be phenomenal for business.

“When we take step back and look at the resilience of the tourism industry – that’s been quite inspiring.

“You’ve got organisations like Sovereign Hill putting forward their master plan; the wildlife park’s got some really big plans out on the drawing board; there are development plans out at Kryal Castle: there’s been some amazing things achieved in the past 12 months.”

Bendigo Tourism chairman and The Dispensary Bendigo owner Finn Vedelsby.

Bendigo Tourism chairman and The Dispensary owner Finn Vedelsby grew up in Bendigo, but when he was younger, he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Now, having travelled the world and gained experience and perspective, he considers the town a “really, really beautiful city” rivalling the best with its elegant architecture, wide streets, and award-winning parks.

“You can see in the architecture the same building design and elements that make Melbourne beautiful and make London special,” he said.

“We’ve got that at our heart, that’s where we come from. But we’re still a country town in our philosophy.

“When I first came back to Bendigo over a decade ago to spend time with my family, I was blown away by the fact that it only takes six minutes to get anywhere.

“If you want to ride your bike, you can probably do that 290 days a year because our weather is spectacular.”

Mr Vedelsby described the “local vibe” as a desire to make people who live in town, or those just passing through, “have a fun time”.

“The people who live here now, it’s up to them to make Bendigo a special place, so the community is really warm,” he said.

“That contribution and that collaboration makes it a wonderful place to live and to visit.

“We are a very progressive city: we’ve got leaders in business that collaborate with a progressive council and city organisations to make Bendigo an even better place to live.”

Supplied Editorial Wes Vine of Mandurang Valley Wines.

Wes Vine of Mandurang Valley Wines has been in the Bendigo region for more than four decades.

Initially moving from Melbourne for work, the climate and the ambience of Bendigo has kept him there since.

His family’s vineyard in Mandurang Valley is about a ten minute drive from the centre of town.

“We started in the wine virtually as soon as we got to Bendigo,” Mr Vine said. “It started really as a hobby and then evolved into a business in the 90s. That time around Bendigo was when quite a few vineyards were being established.

“I think it’s 46 years and we’re nearly regarding as locals.”

Mr Vine said that Bendigo was made up of history, culture, buildings, and people, all of which attracted people even for short trips.

“It must have been very difficult for them in the very beginning because there wasn’t a constant water supply,” he said.

“The fact that gold was discovered here, Bendigo was the richest city in the world back around 1880: there’s a lot of history and folklore attached to it.

“We see a lot of tourists with our business, people coming out of Melbourne, to sample the wine, have food, and to just enjoy outdoor life.

“They are somewhat surprised by what Bendigo has when they come and visit.”

The owner of Ballarat’s Vera Hotel and Bendigo’s Ernest Hotel, David Cook-Doulton, looked at investing in Ballarat about 2011 and bought property for his business in Bendigo last year.

The initial interest in Ballarat had to do with its proximity to Melbourne and the town’s magnificent architecture, which Mr Cook-Doulton was interested in re-purposing to create a “modern environment using a heritage build”.

“We’re really looking at how do we get someone to stay with food, people, and a full sensory experience that’s more in line with the aspirations of Ballarat in the 1880s,” he said.

“Out of all of the regional cities in Australia, Ballarat and Bendigo have this incredible heritage and these incredibly grand buildings, so that was super appealing to me.

“When we look at the aspirations of Ballarat and Bendigo … you see that their aspirations were to create one of the best cities in the world; they were aiming at Paris, New York, London.”

Mr Cook-Doulton said that a mix of the old and the new, thanks in part to the “rediscovery” of the area by young and creative people, would propel both locations to greater heights.

“You’ve got a lot of incredible towns and a lot of history, and I think it is a fantastic journey around Ballarat and Bendigo and all the towns in between,” he said.

“Because of the price point of coming here and entering the market, it opens the door to a lot of younger creatives coming and doing really fantastic stuff; it’s a really compelling story when you add your chapter to something that has all of this history.

“There’s certainly a competitiveness to the two cities, and that drives one another, but the key to success is collaboration.”