Bendigo - Heritage
The first European in the district was Major Thomas Mitchell, who passed through the area in 1836 on his exploration into western Victoria. By 1840 squatters arrived and sheep were successfully being grazed. Where Bendigo now stands was once part of the 80,000 hectare Mt Alexander North Run, which was later known as the Ravenswood Run.
The name ‘Bendigo’ was the nickname of a shepherd at Ravenswood, who was a famous local boxer. He was named after William Abednego “Bendigo” Thompson, a world famous bare-knuckled boxer, from Nottingham in England. In turn a local creek where Bendigo worked was known as Bendigo creek, and thus it was that the city became known as Bendigo despite the official name of ‘Sandhurst’. The history of Bendigo changed when gold was discovered. Like many of the towns across Central Victoria – Bendigo owes its origins to the gold rushes of the nineteenth century. Gold was first discovered in Bendigo in 1851. The early discoveries of alluvial gold quickly gave way to the more difficult quartz based gold. By 1860 the goldfields had changed from small operations to major mines with deep shafts.
As miners rushed to Bendigo, a number of communities were formed. The Irish moved into the St Killians district, the Cornish established themselves at Long Gully, the Germans settled at Ironbark Gully and the Chinese at Emu Point made a huge impression on the Goldfields. With the discovery of gold, forest clearing began in earnest. The Colonial Government’s attitude that wood should be available at very low cost, lead to the placing of very few controls on the harvesting of timber. Timber was used for support structures in mines, to fuel steam boilers, to build houses/ buildings, fences, furniture, the railways and the telegraph system. Timber was often, and still is for some, one of the only forms of heating available.
Gold Production in Bendigo was sustained for much longer than other parts of the region lasting right through to the 1950’s. During this time Bendigo produced some 22 million ounces of gold making it the richest goldfield in Eastern Australia and the seventh richest goldfield in the world (this record held until it was surpassed by Kalgoorlie in Western Australia in the late twentieth century).
When the numerous gold mines declined in production, the eucalyptus oil industry became an important source of work. The first eucalyptus oil producer in Bendigo was a chemist called Richard Sandner who operated a plant and refinery in Bridge Street from 1876. By 1900, there were many other distillers on the northern edge of Bendigo and in the Whipstick. In 1926 the Forest Commision also established a eucalyptus distillery at Gunyah in Wellsford State Forest. (For more information see the Wellsford Forest Note). Today there are only 2 distilleries operating in Bendigo. Most of the world’s eucalyptus oil is now produced overseas.
What we see now in the forests surrounding Bendigo is slow regeneration from the disturbances of the past. Our forests have continued to supply local communities with valuable resources such as timber, honey, eucalyptus oil and gravel, though strict controls have been in place for many years now to make sure that the forests are being managed sustainably to ensure they are around for our grandchildren to enjoy.
