Bendigo, VIC 3550

When in Bendigo as a new resident you will get hoon behaviour near your home and curt service. This is a cautious community that will let you know if you don’t fit in. It’s not racially motivated it’s monetarily motivated. Businesses have a nice little cartel running and enterprising blow-ins is the last thing anyone wants. If you can handle the low level hostility, go for it. Everything else is marvellous.

The best way to describe the town is meh. Not the best not the worst lived here for years and meh.

I came to bendigo on a day trip after looking around ballarat as we wanted to move out of melb. I got here just as dusk was coming and the coach lights lit the town Hall up and I was gone. I’m very into the old style buildings and history and I loved it. Ballarat didn’t have that feel, you could kinda see when you were moving into older or poorer or dirtier suburbs in Ballarat but here wasn’t as bad. We got here six months ago. Sold and bought on line. Got here over Xmas and yes, died in the heat. 42 and the neighbours said that was mild for summer. I know I’m in for hell next year but I’ve changed my seasons to suit me, lol, and am now walking around in a tshirt in winter -16 degrees which isn’t cold to me. The neighbours are lovely, we share what we grow, our recipes, whatever. The kid had a harder time, ESP with uni being from home due to Covid. But she’s coping. Easy to visit melb and for friends to come here. If you love exploring then you won’t stop. Gorgeous old towns and spots to visit and still some gold to go fossicking for, dog parks, good lakes - lakes are everywhere - and Eppalock is good, can literally drive onto the sand with the dogs and swim etc - and if you’re an older person, the library is really good and the U3A is the second best in Vic. Have nothing nice to say about the tafe course I did and the four lots of bullying I heard about and experienced myself as an older person. Awful. But I’ve found other people otherwise all pretty cool and helpful. Some suburbs of course are prettier than others and prices vary but our suburb is a bit of old and new, and there’s heaps of history in those older buildings! I love it! Good luck with your choice!

Non-stop hoons.. Community is fed up and cops don't do anything about it. Prevalent especially in the Eaglehawk/Epsom area. It's such a shame an other wise calm and neat country town is allowed to be run by people doing burnouts and attempting to run people down.

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Moved here four years ago. It seemed like a good idea at the time but has been a nightmare and we can’t wait to leave. We arrived in Dec 2015 and it just happened to be the hottest week (in the 40’s) Which you can look forward to every year . . . There seems to be only two seasons here (Summer & Winter) The people are a bit hit or miss. Service in retail can be hit or miss. The town is extremely geared toward tourists and not much thought given to residents. Every weekend the town is not only full of tourists but a lot of younger people getting drunk and being a nuisance. The Main Street through town has a constant flow of HEAVY TRUCKS, MOTORBIKES, SPEEDING RATTLING TRAMS and HOON’S (another nightmare when living in a weatherboard house) They desperately need a freeway/ring road around Bendigo as the noise is horrendous (probably the worse thing about living here) house prices are very expensive considering the distance to Melbourne (2hrs by train) It could be a wonderful town with a bit of thought and a lot of money.

Nice place. No green cube.

I have seen some pretty negative comments about Bendigo - comparing it with 20 years ago and commenting that it is now "worse" than before. think this is neither fair nor helpful. Which major cities in Australia have not grown in population in size and numbers over the last 20 years? In this globalised world where things progresses so rapidly, it is impossible for Australia, let alone Bendigo to remain stagnant.

For those who complain about the heavier traffic and lack of job opportunities, they should turn around and see what has happened to Melbourne and the other small country towns.

Bendigo offers a mix of business with good lifestyle. It is a progressive and growing city that has almost everything one expect to have in a Big city. There are always issues around but I feel at the end of the day, it is how one orientate himself to face them.

Ive lived and visited Bendigo for over 20 years and I really don't get the appeal of this place. Everything is so spread out and where is the river? The creek is a joke. Honestly it has lots of stores and stuff but its so boring and lifeless. I'd rather be in Queensland near a beach. Good for a short time not a long time.

I couldn’t find the green cube.

In the past 15 years I've resided in many great regional cities such as Maryborough, Morwell, Wedderburn, Kerang, Frankston and Shepparton. Bendigo is definitely on par with these centres. I now live in King St and this is such a convenient location for CBD, rail station and Centrelink. Many pubs are only a short walk away. Bendigo mall is also a great place to meet friends and just hang out. I have had much fewer hostile experiences here than at other places. Although there are few jobs here, your benefits can be enhanced by local charities if needed. Local funeral parlours also have food available through the day if you are desperate. (Check papers for funeral times). Some local supermarkets have space available for pan handling too. Life here is a new adventure everyday so come and take advantage of it too!

This Bendigo is so bad! I came visiting here and everyone were so racist to me! They looked at me as if I were gross and stuff. I don't believe this would be good place for families, because its not safe, even though theree are some families arund, they live in a safe place quite far away from bendigo. If they live in the city, they are usually thugs and druggos. And Also all the newly recruited malayalies and Punjabies and other newly arrived nationalities here are all faulty! Even the doctors and everyone else have used false identities of someone else's and came here to live in Australia! What is wrong with the government system! I don't know! When I go somewhere, these people try to steal stuff and my ID, well probs for fakely introducing someone to Australia! NEVER VISIT THIS TOWN EVER! It's a HUMAN'S NIGHTMARE!

There are many homeless people here, and all the people just ignore them. No one had the courtesy to give them some food or money. These are some heartless people!
I support Australians more than any other nationalities because wee are the ones without jobs and everything else. People born in Australia, many of them don't have any jobs. In this town, they only give jobs to their relatives instead of someone in need. weird town I guess. Have fun newcomers!

I grew up here in the 1970's.....at the time it was a great place to live, however, my Mum always told me that if I had any ambition what so ever, I would move away. Most of my school mates did, I stayed till I was 22. Back in the 70's and 80's there were heaps of jobs here. The local ordinance factory, the pig factory (Mayfair) and some large textile factories were in the town. All of the major employers have either closed down or dramatically reduced their workforce. In short, there is very little work in Bendigo. I was shocked when I finished High School (and later University) to find out that there were no jobs in this place. Even nurses have a hard time getting work in Bendigo. As previous people have mentioned in this forum, this dramatically reduces your quality of life. Crime is also high in this city, due to poverty and drugs.
At my 20 year high school reunion, you could tell the people who had moved on from this town and those who had stayed....those who had stayed were ashamed of themselves. They looked older, dressed poorer, drove old bombs for cars and generally have had much harder and more frustrating lives than those who moved on. One of my friends was telling me how hard it was to work at a Rubber factory in Bendigo in the early 1990's....he stated how if you were late for work 3 times in a year, they would sack you. I told him that he should move to Melbourne and earn double the money (in a factory job) and not have to put up with the bullying tactics of an employer like that.
I now find it strange that the price of real estate in Bendigo is so expensive too. Were is the money coming from? or are they all just expensive due to the rental income they might get if rented out to an overseas student studying at the University.
Oh and another point about the University.....it doesn't have a great choice of courses and guess what? ....telling a prospective employer that you went to Bendigo College isn't exactly a selling point. Countless times I have had to justify my choice of studying at Bendigo College...."it was close to home" "I grew up there" "I lived at home" etc etc etc....
The College doesn't have a good reputation for academia, this is because back in the 70's they passed anyone. My first year lecturer in Chemistry actually admitted that there was one student in the 70's who just read the Womens Weekly in his lectures. They were forced to pass students so that they could keep their jobs because the numbers were so low. They needed xyz students to finish the course so that the University would stay open. In short, its pretty much at the bottom of the list when it comes to academic reputations.

I first moved to Bendigo about 20 years ago. At the time, it was a friendly, smallish country city with a population of about 80,000 people. Work was difficult to find, although no more so than anywhere else in Victoria.
Through various periods of employment elsewhere, we have retained our house around Bendigo, and have kept coming back.
However, things have changed.
These days, the population is well over 100,000, however it seems that the number of jobs available is still about the same as it was 20 years ago. So unless you are a brain surgeon or have some specialist skill which happens to be in high local demand, or you are prepared to shovel animal manure on slave wages, it is not unfair to say that meaningful employment is extremely difficult to obtain.
Because there is a lack of employment, it is not uncommon to see jobs advertisements making ridiculous demands together with rather low wages offered. Employers here obviously know that they can afford to be picky. This can make it very hard to obtain decent work unless you are already known to someone who can offer you a job. This, of course, affects quality of living severely.
Because of the increasing population, there has also been a marked increase in traffic. Unfortunately this has not been matched by an improvement in infrastructure to handle it. As in so many areas, some of the things that the council has done to the road system has actually served to impede traffic flow rather than improve it, and has created many localised nuisances.
While is fair to say that the bus system has improved over the years, is equally fair to say that it still leaves a great deal to be desired.
Many people think they're moving to Bendigo to enjoy the rural environment, however when you have been here for a while you cannot help but notice the pace at which the local bushland is being cut down to make way for new housing estates. This is effectively converting many of the leafy environments, that people are paying top dollar for, into nothing more then suburban estates.
Medical care can be difficult to obtain, with many of the local doctors full up and having closed their books. Several new ambulance stations have recently been built, but if you need an ambulance at short notice it still might depend on how lucky you are. Waiting times for treatment at the public hospital, as a public patient, are through the roof. Some time ago I had to wait 5 years for minor elective surgery, I don't know if that has improved or not - I somehow doubt it. A&E is the usual story of long waits, although there is a teaching clinic that has taken some of the pressure off the public system.
Like most other places in Victoria, the traffic police here are best described as parasites, as also are the local council traffic inspectors, all of whom seem to typify the usual process these days of viewing the motorist as being nothing more than a source of ready revenue.
At the same time it can be difficult to get assistance from the law if something should go wrong and you need it.
Night life leaves something to be desired. While there are nightclubs and the like available for the local youth (if they are into that sort of thing), there is little available for those kids who are not into "raging"; and if you are of more mature age and simply wanting to have a quiet cup of coffee after hours on a weeknight with the Missus, well, forget it, you probably won't find anywhere open. Even the McDonald's McCafe closes in the evenings. (Although you can still get a normal cup of coffee in Maccas in the evening). There is a cinema that presents a good program of films.
Bendigo has the usual assortment of schools, some having been heavily refurbished and renewed. However, all of the local state secondary schools only go to year 10. After that, all students go to the senior secondary school in Bendigo. Because of this, their enrollment is something like 2000. This can make it very difficult for students who tend to " get lost in a crowd". Bendigo does have a very good university, and several good post secondary / TAFE type colleges, although they do tend to be expensive.
As a long-term resident, particularly having spent several periods working away from Bendigo, I have been struck hard by the general increase in the cost of living here. Not only is the cost of living, food, clothing, general living costs etc. become rather high, but there is the added issue of not being able to do anything or go anywhere without using the car or otherwise being transported. This adds considerably to the weekly budgetory needs.
Another unfortunate trend that I have observed to have increased greatly over the years is the apparent care-free willingness of certain local businesses and services to tell customers that they won't serve them. This is an issue I have not encountered in any other place in the country in which I have lived, and it quite astounds me that organisations that are supposed to be working towards being profitable are so willing to turn profitable customers away when it suits them. From a customer's perspective, this can provide disappointments, not to mention unnecessary difficulties of living.
As for community spirit, well, I guess it depends on what you are looking for. There are plenty of clubs, groups and organisations to get involved with, everything from cricket clubs to SES and all the usuals in between. But I wouldn't say the spirit of "general neighbourliness" is anything special here compared to anywhere else; I have certainly lived in friendlier places. There are plenty of people here who will try to con you or push in frount of you at the checkout if they get the chance. Just like anywhere else.
I could continue, but I think the picture is taking shape here. Bendigo was once a great place to live. Once - but no longer. To come and live here is to invite unnecessary hardship and probable unemployment.
In good conscience, I can no longer recommend this city as a place to live.

l lived in bendigo for 10 years and loved it my family still live there and they love it as well

Bendigo is Victoria's 4th largest city, and has a population of close to 90,000 and continues to grow. It is a provincial hub and commercial centre, situated 130 km from Melbourne.

It is a great spot for raising a family. The town has all of the essential services, a number of schools, lots of shops and restaurants and cafes. There are a number of recreational activities, with a number of sports facilities, ovals and sporting teams.

Housing options are numerous. There are lots of typical suburban brick homes in the town streets. Many locals choose to live in some of the smaller nearby towns or on farming properties, and commute to the town for work.

Central to the town's growth and success is Bendigo Bank, Australia's 5th largest bank, which is headquartered in the town centre.

Bendigo is the type of city that really does have something for everyone. Suited to families, professionals and retirees, the area plays host to art galleries, a performing arts centre, cathedrals, a tramway museum, sporting grounds, an ice rink, both horse and dog racing clubs, public parks, a gold mine, an airport and a science and technology centre. An historical town best known for its gold mining history, Bendigo is a major provincial hub and minor financial centre, as well as being the home of the Bendigo Bank and the Bendigo Stock Exchange. The area also boasts a TAFE, secondary college, catholic college, private school and university. But while Bendigo is a rapidly growing area, its neighbours – including Elmore, Rochester, Inglewood and Bridgewater – are in steep decline. Train services run from Bendigo to Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong.

The grand buildings in Bendigo are a reminder of the city's gold rush. Today, it's well worth a visit with plenty to see and do. A great way to get around is on the talking tram and if you want to experience what it was like to work in a mine, head to Central Deborah where you can travel underground in a miner's cage. Other places to visit are the Golden Dragon Museum and Life Adventure Park which offers heaps of physical challenges. If you love the great outdoors, there are plenty of picturesque bush walks including a trail through the Whipstick Forest.