Discover Bendigo

The name is a little difficult to get used to, but M.A.D.E. certainly sounds like it has hit the ground running. The Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka opened in May in Ballarat. No guesses as to what the centrepiece is – the Eureka Flag. And it is built on the site of the original E..

It was the towns and urban areas of the infant colony of Victoria that were the first to think about organising the formation of fire brigades. The impetus for the creation of a fire fighting and controlling force was usually a conflagration of major proportions within a particular community. W..

There is gold in them there library stacks. La Trobe University Bendigo historian Dr Charles Fahey has pieced together a collection of documents related to Fortuna Villa, and he shared a little of his hoard last month when he spoke about the Secrets of Fortuna at an event at the Visual Arts Centre..

By JAMES LERK If we posed the question about the worst bushfire to occur in the area that we know as Victoria I wonder what our response would be? Some may immediately say Black Wednesday, others maybe would say Black Saturday, as it happened so recently and also was close to home, or too close..

According to new studies released by Heritage Victoria, it will take only five years to earn back the money spent on improving the energy efficiency of a heritage house. For an inter-war house, in weatherboard or red brick, investing $15,400 in insulation of various kinds will bring a potential co..

By JAMES LERK girls’ education and their role options was what I was exploring in my article last week. The Olinda Street School was originally known as the Domestic Arts School, but changed its title in the late 1920s to be Bendigo Girls School and School of Domestic Arts. There are thos..

If patience is a virtue, the Aspire foundation – the group behind the plans to create a Faith in the Goldfields museum within the Sacred Heart Cathedral precinct – are learning to be very virtuous indeed. Planning began five years ago, to build steps up to the Cathedral, and to house a..

By JAMES LERK SOME time ago I wrote about the girls’ school that was situated in Olinda Street, Quarry Hill. Originally this girls’ school went under the title of the Domestic Arts School, however in the late 1920s it went through a name change to Bendigo Girls’ School and Sc..

An introduction was made at the beginning of the medical career of Keith Gardner Kerr, who after lengthy study and experience became the Bendigo City Council appointed Medical Officer in 1931. Dr Kerr had undergone considerable health hardship through having contracted tuberculosis, when he w..

At the very time in the late 1890s that Dr Cowen of Eaglehawk was attempting to alert the Bendigo goldfields community about the serious state of affairs of the pulmonary condition of the workers, another person was born. Keith Gardner Kerr was born on July 31, 1898, he grew up as a city boy thr..

In 1909, Eaglehawk medical practitioner Stewart Cowen wanted to quit his practice and, through his previous working with Walter Summons in the area of miner’s phthisis and tuberculosis investigation, the two men had an affinity. Dr Cowen had an asking price for his house and practice of &pou..

Tours of the Shamrock Hotel, the Bendigo Law Courts and the Bendigo Town Hall are part of the National Trust Heritage Festival this weekend. Local National Trust president Gary Hill hopes people will take the opportunity to visit some of Bendigo’s “treasures” and also to find out..

For starters, dead horses and lost opportunities, followed by hard work and big ambitions. This month, Greater Bendigo council officially launched the Harvey Town project, a series of interpretive signs marking places and events in the area once known by that name. Whipstick Ward councillor Pete..

By Danielle Orr, Heritage Planner, COGB The entries are in. Intricate lacework, renovated miners’ cottages, historic buildings restored to their former glory, a luxurious mansion and public facilities sympathetic to their heritage surrounds are just some of the nominees across seven catego..

This week continues the story of Dr Walter Summons’ life, with a special focus on the years he spent in Bendigo and Eaglehawk. I have noted the extent of his investigations into the prevalence of both miner’s phthisis and tuberculosis on the Bendigo goldfield. During Dr Summons&rsqu..

Heritage decisions rarely please everyone: it’s not easy to balance the desire for development against the need for conservation, but what’s for sure is that we now have much better understanding of the value of history to the very fabric of a community. Following our report on the pro..

Doctor Walter Summons was courting a young lady called Viva while he was working in Bendigo and Eaglehawk on his investigations into mine ventilation and miner’s phthisis. She was in Melbourne, so Dr Summons felt fortunate that the Trustees of the Edward Wilson Estate not only gave him a ge..

Last week there was mention of Walter Ernest Isaac Summons, and how he was selected to investigate the prevalence of miner’s phthisis on the Bendigo goldfield. Dr Summons’ investigations were funded through the philanthropic estate of the late Argus newspaper owner, Edward Wilson. I..

Last week I introduced a man who became a Bendigonian for a number of years during the early part of his important medical career. Walter Ernest Isaac Summons did his early schooling, as a successful student both sporting wise and academically, at Scotch College in Melbourne. He gained a non r..

By Megan McDougall, Heritage Adviser, COGB Hidden behind some of Bendigo’s most splendid 19th century bank buildings, there is clear evidence of the gold rush and its impact on Bendigo’s built form. Many of our old banks, most of which are now used as retail and restaurant o..