Wedderburn, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Wedderburn
state = vic


caption =
lga = Shire of Loddon
postcode = 3518
est =
pop = 1249 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC26963 | name = Wedderburn (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
elevation=
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov = Swan Hill
fedgov = Murray
dist1 = 214
dir1 = NW
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 75
dir2 = NW
location2= Bendigo
dist3 = 33
dir3 = SE
location3= Charlton

Wedderburn is a rural town located in Victoria, Australia on the Calder Highway convert|214|km|mi|0|lk=on north of Victoria's capital city, Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Wedderburn had a population of 1249. It is mainly a farming community but its early residents were gold 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.Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ]

The railway arrived in 1883, linking Wedderburn with Charlton and Bendigo.

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. Apart from gold a number of Eucalyptus stills 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.

The largest gold nugget in existence is the Hand of Faith, found by Kevin Hillier in Wedderburn in 1980 using a metal detector.

Wedderburn is still a popular spot for hopefuls with gold detectors who are still finding the occasional nice nugget.Fact|date=February 2007

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 team competing in the North Central Football League.

Notable people

Albert Jacka, awarded the Victoria Cross in World War 1, lived in Wedderburn from the age of five until he enlisted in 1914.

References

External links

* [http://www.wedderburnonline.net Wedderburn Online]
* [http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/bradford-dunolly/page_001 Dunnolly-Wedderburn Gold Field] VIctoria Geological Survey 1904. W.M. Bradford