In 1851 gold was discovered at Ravenswood, drawing thousands of people to Bendigo to find a fortune. It was a very prosperous area for the mining companies, and there are still a lot of the original old buildings left standing in Bendigo.
To get an overview of Bendigo you can take the hop-on and hop-off tram and get plenty of information about Bendigo from the last 150 years.
You can rediscover a bit of Bendigo’s past by visiting the Central Deborah Mine, restored as it was in the time when Bendigo was considered to be the richest and largest goldfield in the world.
The Central Deborah Mine tour takes you 61 metres underground to the tunnels where almost one tonne of gold was discovered. If you are up for more subterranean exploration then there is the Underground Adventure Tour that lets you pretend to go back in time and be one of the miners and dig in the tunnels. There is an entry fee attached to the mine tour, so remember to check the price.
These days it is not the mines people are coming to Bendigo for, but the vines. Because Bendigo is located in central Victoria it has good conditions for growing the robust fully flavoured shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, which is what most vine lovers visit the region for. The area also produces chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc and sangiovese varieties.
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