Wedderburn is a rural town located in Victoria, Australia on the Calder Highway

Calder Highway

Calder Highway is a Highway linking Ravenswood South in Victoria, to Mildura. North of the Victoria/New South Wales border, the highway continues north to Broken Hill, Tibooburra and the New South Wales/Queensland border as the Silver City Highway, under the standard national route shield as far...

 214 kilometres (133 mi) north of Victoria's capital city, Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Wedderburn had a population of 704. It is mainly a farming community but its early residents were gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 miners and prospectors.

History

The Post Office opened on August 1, 1856 after the first gold discoveries here but was known as Kerang until 1858.

The railway arrived in 1883, linking Wedderburn with Charlton

Charlton, Victoria

Charlton "The Friendly River Town", is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is a small agricultural community straddling the Avoca River, located at the junction of the Calder Highway and Borung Highway and positioned in the last of the foothills of the Great Dividing Range...

 and Bendigo

Bendigo, Victoria

Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...

 via Inglewood

Inglewood, Victoria

Inglewood is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Calder Highway, in the Shire of Loddon. At the 2006 census, Inglewood had a population of 834...

.

The Town today

One of the main attractions for tourists is Hard Hill Reserve where with a bit of imagination one can feel a sense of what it was like in the old days living in tents on the goldfields

Victorian gold rush

The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...

. Apart from gold a number of Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...

 still

Still

A still is a permanent apparatus used to distill miscible or immiscible liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor...

s used to operate in the district and a replica still has been situated on the site and is fired up, by arrangement, for tourist buses. On site is one of the original batteries for crushing the ore and removing the gold. A puddler is also on site and a demonstration of it working can be seen during the annual Gold and Heritage Festival held round about the end of February and the beginning of March.

Wedderburn is a popular spot for hopefuls with gold detectors who are still finding the occasional nice nugget.

Wedderburn has an older than average demographic. The town today is predominantly farming based, though the town includes the head office for the local Shire Council (Loddon), a large p-12 school servicing the needs of a number of surrounding towns and communities and some manufacturing and service businesses.

Wedderburn has a football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 team competing in the North Central Football League

North Central Football League

The North Central Football League is an Australian rules football league based in North Central Victoria, Australia.The League was formed in 1930...

.

Golfers play at the course of the Wedderburn Golf Club on Racecourse Road.

Notable people

Albert Jacka

Albert Jacka

Albert Jacka VC, MC & Bar was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces...

, awarded the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

 in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, lived in Wedderburn from the age of five until he enlisted in 1914.

External links

• Dunnolly-Wedderburn Gold Field VIctoria Geological Survey 1904. W.M. Bradford