AngelaD4

I lived in this revolting suburb for 3 months and had to get out. Firstly its incredibly cold in winter. Even with a wood heater in the house, I froze. Secondly we had a bush fire nearly burn down the house. Thirdly, the place is full of bogans and ferals. The schools have shocking naplan results and shocking behaviour. (There is a reason why they built a pathways school in Goodna, the next suburb). The fourth reason is that it is right next to (2 heads) Goodna and Kruger state school is also nearby. The fifth reason is that it has the highest break in rate in Brisbane. Crime is totally out of control. There is a reason why the houses are so cheap here, because no one wants to live here. I only lived here for 3 months, however, I have never met so many miserable, pathetic people in my life. I have lived in Brisbane for 25 years, on the Northside, Southside and Bayside. I only lived in the western suburbs for 3 months. I left for Yeronga and never went back to anywhere near Bellbird Park again. I wont even work in any of the schools out that way because they are generally awful, even the private schools are terrible.

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.