Title from Plan of Valley of Bendigo in 1858 by R

The Bendigo Valley is the region surrounding the city of

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, mak ...

, Victoria, Australia located in North Central Victoria near the geographical centre of the state. The valley is approximately north-west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, the state capital. The city of Bendigo is located on the floor of, and is enclosed by, the Bendigo Valley which was formed over many millennia by the

Bendigo Creek Bendigo Creek is a seasonal stream, or creek, in North Central Victoria, Australia. The city of Bendigo is named for the creek and valley in which it was founded in 1851. Gold was officially discovered on Bendigo Creek in late October 1851, transfo ...

after which the valley is named. The Bendigo Creek forms a geographic spine through the city and suburbs of Bendigo. The valley is notable as a major

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism ...

destination and is the location of one of the world's largest and longest-lived gold production areas. Bendigo Valley is broadly surrounded by the

Greater Bendigo National Park The Greater Bendigo National Park is a national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, se ...

and other state forests. The park was created in 2002 from the former Whipstick State Park, Kamarooka State Park, One Tree Hill Regional Park, Mandurang State Forest and the Sandhurst State Forest. The

Calder Highway Calder Highway is a rural highway in Australia, linking Mildura and the Victoria/New South Wales border to Bendigo, in North Central Victoria. South of Bendigo, where the former highway has been upgraded to freeway-standard, Calder Freeway li ...

, Midland Highway and McIvor Highway are the main roads into and through the valley, connecting Bendigo with other capital and regional cities. The Bendigo Valley contains the entire city of Bendigo and surrounding suburbs which also encompass the former Borough of Eaglehawk. The valley is located within the local government area of the City of Greater Bendigo.

History

The original inhabitants of the Bendigo Valley are the

Dja Dja Wurrung Dja Dja Wurrung (Pronounced Ja-Ja-war-rung), also known as the Djaara or Jajowrong people and Loddon River tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people who are the Traditional owners of lands including the watersheds of the Loddon and Avoca riv ...

(Jarra) people. They exploited the rich local hunting grounds from which they were displaced by the arrival of European settlers, who established the first of many vast sheep runs in 1837. The first European settlers, who arrived in 1837 after the survey of the area in 1836 by Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, used the Bendigo Valley for their working bullocks as the valley was "wide, gentle, well-grassed and secluded". Later the settlers brought

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sh ...

to the creek valley, making it an outstation of the Mount Alexander North

pastoral run A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Australia Pastoral le ...

and building a hut on the creek in the valley. The creek was just within the north-eastern boundary of the Mount Alexander North pastoral run. The location on Bendigo Creek where gold was alleged to have been first discovered in October 1851 was a short distance from that shepherd's hut. Although the Bendigo Valley was first surveyed in 1852, in 1854 the Surveyor-General of Victoria, Captain Andrew Clarke, undertook detailed survey work in the Bendigo Valley following an initial survey by William Swan Urquhart in 1852. However, it was Richard William Larritt, the district surveyor, who subsequently planned and surveyed the Bendigo Valley. Larritt included the town of Sandhurst and the hamlet of White Hills within the municipal boundary in his "Plan of the Valley of Bendigo" in 1856. Plan of Valley of Bendigo in 1858 by R

Etymology

The occupants of the Mount Alexander North run, later called the Ravenswood run, named the creek "Bendigo' Creek", originally spelled "Bednego Creek" after a local bullock driver and employee of the Mount Alexander North run. Although the bullock driver's actual name remains unknown, he "was handy with his fists" and was consequently nicknamed for the English bare-knuckle prizefighter William Abednego "Bendigo" Thompson (1811-1880) who was then at the height of his fame. So the word "Bendigo" is a corruption of the name "Abednego" in its shortened form, "Bednego".Cusack, Frank (1973). Bendigo: a history (p. 67)

References

{{coord missing, Victoria (Australia) Regions of Victoria (Australia) Landforms of Victoria (Australia) Valleys of Australia Wine regions of Victoria (Australia) Bendigo