Greater Bendigo National Park
Significant gold era and pioneering sites, combined with a wealth of Aboriginal cultural heritage values, provide visitors to the Greater Bendigo National Park with a unique experience. The 17,020ha Box-Ironbark park almost surrounds the city of Bendigo making it a unique setting and establishing Bendigo as the 'city in the forest'.
Enjoying the Park
Picnicking
In the Whipstick section of the park Notley picnic area has picnic tables, fireplaces and toilets. Shadbolt has picnic tables and toilets. Further north in the Kamarooka section, Loeser and Mulga Dam have basic facilities. One Tree Hill to the south also has basic facilities. Bring your own firewood and drinking water.
Camping
There are campgrounds with basic facilities at Notley, Loeser, Rush Dam and Mulga Dam. Notley has pull through sites suitable for caravans. Campfires are only permitted at these sites. No campfires are permitted at Notley during summer.
Walking, riding and driving
Most roads in the park are unsealed, but are suitable for car touring, cycling and walking.
Horse riding
Horse riding is allowed on tracks through the Whipstick and Mandurang sections of the park.
Other recreational activities include nature study, photography, orienteering and prospecting.
Walking Tracks
Flagstaff Hill, Shadbolt
Start at the picnic area. The 1km loop walk will take around 40 minutes.
Old Tom Mine, Shadbolt
Start at the rear of the carpark and wander through the historical remains of a once thriving goldmining area. It will take approximately 1hr 30 minutes to complete the 5.3km return trip.
Mulga Dam
Start at the picnic area and follow the 1.6km walk which takes approx 45 minutes. Walk through Kamarooka Mallee vegetation and past historical charcoal pits that were used to produce charcoal early this century and during the Second World War.
Please take care: Keep to the tracks to ensure your safety. There are many opportunities to walk through the park, but care should be taken to avoid old mine workings such as shafts and tunnels.
Bendigo Bushland Trail
This trail consists of 65 kilometres of bicycle and walking tracks as well as some road tracks that link the city of Bendigo to its surrounding bushland.
Follow the blue and gold sign posts of 'Rex' the Echidna and experience the Box-Ironbark forests of Bendigo.
Old Tom Mine (Whipstick)
The area has remnants of both alluvial and quartz reef gold mining techniques from the 1800s. At the Old Tom Reef mine, the remains of a puddling machine used as recently as the 1930s and the site of a cyanide treatment plant which reclaimed gold from old tailings sands. The quartz mine is fenced but the mine entrance is still clearly visible at the end of the open cut. Gold-laden ore from this mine was carted to Bendigo for crushing in the 1850s until a small crushing battery was built on site. Later alluvial workings were built and in the 1930s tailings sands were treated with cyanide to reclaim even more gold. The Raywood channel, which forms part of the modern water supply, bisects the site.
Access to Old Tom Mine - The mine is located in between Old Tom Road (mine is to the east), Scotsman Road (mine is to the south), Eaglehawk-Neilborough Road (mine is to the north) and an unnamed road (mine is to the west). In a 4WD, follow the unnamed dirt track which goes past the mine site or alternatively walk from Eaglehawk-Neilborough Road.
Dead Dog Alluvial Gold Workings
This area is located along Burns Street with Spring Gully to the south and Golden Gully to the north. Best access via an unnamed road which leads into the bush to the north. See the red dot on this map below:
The area is typical of alluvial mining with a gully running through it.
History
This park includes the former Whipstick and Kamarooka State Parks, One Tree Hill Regional Park, Mandurang State Forest and Sandhurst State Forest.
The Kamarooka and Whipstick sections protect a unique tract of mallee vegetation known as the 'Whipstick scrub' and some of the best stands of distinctive Box-Ironbark forests of north central Victoria.
The Mandurang and Sandhurst sections are renowned for coppice regrowth forests and grassy woodland understorey.
One Tree Hill, with its relatively steep terrain, provides panoramic views of Bendigo and the surrounding bushland. The area is known for its colourful wildflower displays featuring wattles, wax-flowers and orchids, which are of great interest to wildflower enthusiasts.
Aboriginal association with the Box-Ironbark forests dates back many thousands of years. The forests provided food, material for tools and shelter. The close association with the forests continues today and significant Aboriginal sites can be found throughout the area.
The park also has a colourful European history, particularly in relation to gold mining and eucalyptus oil production.
The gold rushes in the area began in 1857 and continued through the 1860s. Many signs of the rushes, including alluvial diggings, old mining dams and water races, shafts and mullock heaps are scattered throughout the park.
Mining of the Bendigo goldfields generated a huge demand for timber and the surrounding forest was extensively cut over or cleared.
Since European settlement, the Box-Ironbark forests and woodlands have been extensively cleared for agriculture, gold mining, urban development and timber. Today only 17 percent of the original Box-Ironbark vegetation of north central Victoria remains.
The eucalyptus oil industry dates back to the 1860s and old eucalyptus can still be seen in the area. Most of the picnic areas have been built on old eucalyptus distillery and homestead sites.
Access for Dogs:
Dogs may be walked on roads and tracks in the One Tree Hill section of the park, but must be kept on a leash.
How to get there
The Greater Bendigo National Park is approximately 188km north of Melbourne. There are several different access routes to the park leading from the Loddon Valley Highway, Midland Highway and the Calder Freeway.
Note: Photos from Parks Victoria
Location
Millers Flat Road, Bendigo 3550 Map
Web Links
→ Greater Bendigo National Park (Parks Victoria)
→ Greater Bendigo National Park - Park Note (PDF)
→ Greater Bendigo National Park - Heritage Story (PDF)
→ Old Tom Mine Walk (Parks Victoria)
