2. Bendigo is an important tourist city in Victoria, with a trove of gold rush era architecture and numerous cultural festivals, including those celebrating Bendigo’s large Chinese community, such as the annual Chinese New Year celebrations.
3. Bendigo comprises suburban communities based around key transport corridors. Bendigo has established itself as a manufacturing base for primary industries operating in the region. In recent decades, the city has specialised in finance and insurance services, health care and education.
4. Bendigo is renowned for its arts and culture. The Bendigo Art Gallery, located in the View Street Arts Precinct, is one of the best and largest galleries in regional Australia. It is home to one of the most outstanding permanent collections of 19th Century European and Australian art in the country and is well known for exclusive international exhibitions.
5. Bendigo has approximately 7,589 businesses and a workforce of around 42,000 people. In the five-year period 2009-2014, there was strong employment growth in construction; arts and recreation services; transport, postal and warehousing; healthcare and social assistance; professional services and financial and insurance services. Bendigo is also the headquarters for the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, which is now a top 70 ASX-listed company and employs approximately 1,000 people locally across head office, six branches and two community bank branches.
6. The city is is connected to Melbourne and other regions by high-quality road and rail infrastructure. As the largest regional centre in the Loddon Mallee region, the city is expected to experience a relatively high growth rate compared to other parts of the region and regional Victoria as a whole. The
Regional Rail Link is designed to remove major bottlenecks in Victoria’s rail network by untangling metropolitan and regional tracks as they travel through Melbourne’s north west. It will lay the foundations for future expansion of the rail network to meet the needs of Victoria’s growing population.
7.
Bendigo Health is a leading regional health service, with around 4000 staff and a catchment area covering a quarter of the size of Victoria. The three main campuses of Bendigo Health are in Bendigo, with many services extended to regional settings including areas such as Mildura, Echuca, Swan Hill, Kyneton and Castlemaine.
9. Separate houses are the most common dwelling type in The City of Bendigo . There are many period homes in the area which have retained the features from their construction in the 1800’s and 1900’s.