Bendigo provides residents with the perfect mix of country meets the city
When life in Melbourne gets a little too much and it’s time to take a step back from the chaos, flourishing regional towns like Bendigo are an obvious next step. Here’s why the locals love it.
Lifestyle
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Have you had enough of the rat race but you don’t want to sacrifice big city comfort and convenience?
Then Bendigo might just be the tree change for you.
Bendigo is 150km north-west of Melbourne.
This historic gold mining town started life as Sandhurst when gold was discovered along the Bendigo Creek in September 1851.
The creek was named after a shepherd who didn’t mind a blue who was nicknamed after English champion bare-knuckle prize-fighter William “Abednego” Thompson, also known as “Bendigo”.
People often referred to Sandhurst as Bendigo, and in 1891 it was renamed officially.
Bendigo, in the drier and sunnier side of the ranges, is a regional Victorian gem.
REAL ESTATE
Like Melbourne, Bendigo has enjoyed strong population growth in the past decade or so – an average of 1.92 per cent each year for the past eight, in fact.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria figures show that while house prices in some Bendigo suburbs are above the regional Victorian average of $423,000 in the December quarter of 2019, there are bargains to be had, and you’ll get plenty of bang for your buck.
Key suburbs include Bendigo (December quarter average house price of $488,000), Kangaroo Flat ($423,000), East Bendigo ($374,000), Eaglehawk ($340,000), Golden Square $330,000), Spring Gully ($405,000), Strathdale ($520,000) and Kennington ($367,000). Many houses in these areas offer period charm.
A little further out, there is new development in areas like Maiden Gully ($496,000), Strathfieldsaye ($503,000) and Epsom ($340,000), where there’s a choice of modern homes less than 15 minutes from the city centre.
TRANSPORT
The Calder Freeway is the most direct connection Melbourne, less than two hours’ drive away.
V/Line offers regular services to Melbourne with peak-hour express trains that will get you into Southern Cross in two hours or less.
The city is well served by an extensive bus network.
You never seem to be any more than 15 minutes’ drive from anything in Bendigo, and the traffic even at peak-hour is not a patch on Melbourne’s snarls.
Qantas flew direct from Bendigo Airport to Kingsford Smith in Sydney until services were suspended four weeks ago.
EDUCATION
Bendigo’s state secondary education system is unique. Four secondary schools – Bendigo South East College, Eaglehawk Secondary College, Weeroona College and Crusoe College - serve years seven to 10 and feed Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Victoria’s largest VCE provider.
BSSC gives year 11 and 12 students a collegiate atmosphere and a dazzling choice of VCE subjects.
Religious and independent schools include Creek St Christian College (prep to Y10) Girton Grammar School ( to Y12), Catherine McAuley College (Y7 to Y12) and Victory Christian College (prep to Y12).
LaTrobe University has a large Bendigo campus, and hosts the state government Bendigo Tech School, which caters for students from 14 regional secondary schools.
Bendigo TAFE is affiliated with Melbourne’s Kangan Institute of TAFE and includes technical education for secondary students at BTEC.
PARKS
The jewel in Bendigo’s crown is Rosalind Park in the heart of town. It’s a match for many of Melbourne’s inner-city gardens and is home to a colony of grey-headed flying foxes. It has extensive garden plantations, a conservatory and a lookout styled like a poppet head with commanding views of the city.
Bendigo is also known as the City in the Forest. It is almost surrounded by parks including the Greater Bendigo National Park which are ideal for bushwalking, mountain-biking and exploring. There’s another poppet head lookout at One Tree Hill, just east of town.
DRAGONS
The Bendigo Chinese Association is one of the cultural staples in town. Its Dai Gum San Precinct in the city centre, beside Rosalind Park, houses the Golden Dragon Museum, which boasts artefacts from ancient China and the early goldfields and a collection of Chinese dragons.
Loong (Cantonese for dragon) is the world’s oldest imperial Chinese dragon, who dates back to 1890. Sun Loong, who’s been around since 1970, was the world’s longest dragon until the arrival in 2019 of his successor, Dai Gum Loong.
All three are central to community events including the Bendigo Easter Festival, and the Dai Gum San Precinct, with its giant lotus flower, garden and temple, hosts events throughout the year.
HEALTH
The new Bendigo Hospital provides most big-city hospital services, including a Peter McCallum Centre-linked Bendigo Cancer Centre, and caters catering for a vast area of central and northern Victoria.
The private St John of God Hospital has undergone a massive multi-million dollar redevelopment. These services recognise the region’s growing population.
SPORT
The Queen Elizabeth Oval (QEO to the locals) is the heart of the vibrant Bendigo Football Netball League and Bendigo District Cricket Association. Smaller football, netball and cricket competitions proliferate across the region.
Basketball is huge in Bendigo. Before COVID-19, capacity crowds filled the new Bendigo Stadium matches for the NBL1 Bendigo Braves men’s and women’s teams and the AWNBL Bendigo Spirit team. The stadium is also Bendigo’s best netball facility.
Bendigo is also a cycling town. Apart from the city’s many cycling paths and lanes, each October the city hosts the Bendigo Cycling Classic charity fundraiser and the Bendigo Madison cycling and athletics carnival is held every March.
The Fosterville Gold Tennis Centre Bendigo is the centre of the region’s healthy tennis competition and hosts the Bendigo Challenge ATP tournament each January. There are first class soccer and hockey facilities in Epsom, too.
FOOD
Bendigo wasn’t named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2019 for nothing. The city of a food and wine juggernaut.
It’s handy to the acclaimed Bendigo and Heathcote wine regions and is home to many fine restaurants including Masons of Bendigo, which was named in the delicious.100 list of Victoria’s top 100 restaurants for the past four years in part for its adherence to local produce and wines.
Then there’s Rocks on Rosalind, Wine Bank on View, Sangria Tapas Bar, Harvest Rotisserie and Patisserie and the Dispensary Bar and Diner in the bohemian Chancery Lane, among others.
The OId Boundary, the Rifle Brigade, the National and the Golden Vine hotels offer some of the best pub meals around, and the Gold Mines - a rambling gastropub filled with vintage furniture and with a shady beer garden out the back.
The Good Loaf Sourdough Bakery and Cafe is a treat in the heart of town, but the Flora Hill Bakehouse and Café in Flora Hill is an amazing old school bakery, while Gaffney’s Bakery in Heathcote, about has some of the best award-winning pies and cakes around. You won’t regret the Thai chicken pie or the blood plum slice.
Mick’s Fish and Chips, opposite Lake Weeroona in Nolan St, has fish fresh daily from the Melbourne markets and burgers to die for.
THE ARTS AND CULTURE
The Bendigo Art Gallery houses many treasures but is famous as an event gallery that has featured a royal exhibition,. a Grace Kelly exhibit and another featuring Marilyn Monroe, all of which each attracted tens of thousands of visitors.
Plays and many well-known performers play regularly at the historic Capitol Theatre and the Ulumburra Theatre, a modern marvel carved from the historic old Bendigo Gaol. The Bendigo Stadium also hosts the odd concert.
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SHOPPING
All the big retail chains including Myer, Kmart, Big W and Target are represented in Bendigo. Myer, in fact, began in Bendigo.
Apart from the CBD, where Myer is located, you’ll find a range of speciality shops including Big W at the Bendigo Marketplace and Kmart and other shops at Lansell Square in Kangaroo Flat.
Jamie Duncan and his family spent a decade living in Bendigo until late 2018.