Bendigo

Sister cities

• Los Altos
• Tianshui
• Penzance

History

The traditional owners of the Mount Alexander area, traditionally named Leanganook, that includes Greater Bendigo, are the Dja Dja Wurrung (Djaara) people. They exploited the rich local hunting grounds from which they were displaced by the arrival by white settlers, who established the first of a number of vast sheep runs in 1837. The Dja Dja Wurrung peoples experienced two waves of settlement and dispossession: from the south from 1837 and from the north from 1845. The marked decrease in Dja Dja Wurrung population was also due to the arrival of non-indigenous animals; they use their noses to "root up" the nutritious moon-nar tuber (yam daisy); after just a year it was noticed the plant was becoming scarce. Squatters in the area included: Donald Campbell at Bullock Creek in Ravenswood; J. and R. Bakewell to the north of Bendigo; Heap and Grice to the north-west; Archibald McDougall to the west; Joseph Raleigh and James Robinson along the Campaspe River to the south; and Thomas, Jones and William Barnett to the east. The Ravenswood "Mount Alexander North run", occupied from c. 1840 by Donald Campbell, was acquired by brothers Stewart and Robert Gibson in 1848, with Frederick Fenton later replacing one of the Gibson brothers. After the discovery of gold in 1851, Fenton sold provisions to the miners and agisted their horses. Becoming the sole owner of the Ravenswood run in 1857, Fenton built its substantial homestead. Gold was officially discovered on Bendigo Creek at the north-eastern boundary of the Ravenswood run, earlier known as the Mount Alexander North run, in October 1851. The creek is believed to have been named "Bendigo Creek" after a local shepherd and amateur boxer who worked at the Mount Alexander North run, nicknamed (possibly ironically) for the English…

Geography

The city is surrounded by components of the Greater Bendigo National Park, as well as the Bendigo Box-Ironbark Region Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for swift parrots and other woodland birds. A dozen species of insect-eating bats and the pollinating grey-headed flying fox inhabit the area. Bendigo has a dry temperate climate with warm, variable summers and cool, cloudy winters. Under the Köppen-Geiger classification, it lies on a humid subtropical/cold semi-arid transitional climate zone (Cfa/BSk), due to its location on the boundary of the hot, dry inland areas to the north and the cool, damp Southern Ocean to the south. Bendigo gets 109.9 clear days annually. The mean minimum temperature in January is and the maximum , although temperatures above are commonly reached. There is also a disputed recording of (on 14 January 1862). Summers are also subject to cold weather: on 2 February 2005 the daily maximum did not exceed . The mean minimum temperature in July is and minima below are recorded on an average of 26.1 days annually. The mean maximum temperature in July is . Most of the city's annual rainfall of falls between June and September as cold fronts. Snowfalls are rare; however, sleet occurs and rain commonly falls at temperatures around or less. Frosts are a common occurrence during the winter and spring, though hampered by the frequent cloud cover. A series of great floods occurred in Bendigo in 1859. Substantial flooding also occurred in 1903. Tornadoes have been seen around the area of Bendigo and, although rare, the 2003 Bendigo tornado passed through Eaglehawk and other parts of the city causing major damage to homes and businesses. Bendigo was in severe drought from 2006 to 2010 and,…

Most-observed species

• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  4,837
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  3,883
• Galah

  Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  3,722
• Noisy Miner

  Manorina melanocephala (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  3,567
• Eastern Rosella

  Platycercus eximius (Shaw, 1792) · Aves
  3,444
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  3,349
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  2,891
• Little Raven

  Corvus mellori Mathews, 1912 · Aves
  2,736

Most recent

• M 3 — 2018-07-23
  18 km S of Cohuna, Australia
• M 3 — 2010-05-26
  8 km E of Rochester, Australia
• M 2.7 — 2007-12-09
  38 km SE of Charlton, Australia
• M 2.8 — 2003-02-02
  9 km N of Trentham, Australia
• M 2.5 — 2002-08-09
  10 km ESE of Kyabram, Australia
• M 3.3 — 2002-01-22
  5 km WNW of Rochester, Australia