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bernd rohrmann
little essay about bendigo
jan 2021
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the location of bendigo
the city "bendigo" is located in the center of australia's state victoria, marked in the map below.
it's around 150 kilometres north-west of the capital melbourne, and it has now 101000 residents.
bendigo in early times
in that area originally aborigines lived. from 1837 onwards white settlers arrived and established large sheep stations.
the gold boom in bendigo
in 1851 in bendigo and surroundings gold was detected. the resulting "gold boom" was the biggest in victoria and lasted about 130 years. at that time bendigo got linked to melbourne by good roads and by a railway line.
visiting bendigo
bendigo is crowded with places to visit.
here are photos of historic buildings:
hotels were always a serious matter in bendigo, built in any size from very modest to very grand
bendigo's trams
the city of bendigo had a far-reaching tram system, which started in 1890. two lines are left, mainly for tourists.
churches
in bendigo not that many churches were built during its "golden era" - but this recent one, the "sacred heart" cathedral, completed in 1977, is actually the third-largest church in australia, and largest provincial one.
the cathedral is altogether 75 metres long, and its central spire is 87 m high. the height of the enormeous ceiling is 24 m.
chinese features
since the "golden boom" very many chinese people live in bendigo. they have their own cultural life, a significant museum, and every year a historic show gets conducted.
art in bendigo
bendigo has both history and modern art museums, all well-equipped. even the bendigo bank (which happens to be my bank) has a quite 'arty' main building.
bendigo's pottery
a unique combination of museum & handicraft work & shop is the "bendigo pottery", the largest, and most famous, in australia.
the many old, not in-use anymore, kiln can be inspected and one can observe how pottery workers create all sorts of pottery pieces.
gold mining's history & presence
finally - as far as i know, one gold-mining company is still operating in bendigo, the fosterville gold mine. all other have closed down. but can be visited, because they installed impressive museum procedures.
and one historic mining tower is there, rebuilt on a hill, for visitors.
to sum up - - visiting bendigo is fun because in this city one can see both, very historic and very temporary features.
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