Town Hall (former courthouse) with Queen Victoria monument in foreground

Dunolly (including Bealiba)
Small service centre once an important gold mining town.
Dunnolly is a small town of some 750 people which started out as a goldmining town with an alleged population of some 35 000. Its kurrajong-lined main street retains some attractive old buildings from its boom days. The area is now given over principally to farming though goldmining still occurs in the area. Dunolly is situated amidst attractive bushland 178 km north-west of Melbourne via Maldon and 23 km north of Maryborough.

The area is thought to have been occupied by the Wemba-Wemba Aborigines prior to white settlement. The Dunolly pastoral run was established by Campbell McDougall in 1845 and named after the seat of the McDougall clan - Dunolly Castle in Scotland. Other settlers began to take up land at the end of the 1840s.

When gold was discovered at Moliagul in 1852 a town called Dunolly began to emerge near the Dunolly home (which was promptly vacated). One of the state's earliest vineyards was established here in 1854 and only closed recently. Gold was discovered that year at Burnt Creek (3 km south-east of the present townsite of Dunolly.

When a major strike occurred downstream in 1856 a new rush was precipitated and a new township emerged, known initially as New Dunolly. At the peak of the rush the population was allegedly 35 000 (including many Chinese) with shops stretching along a 5-km section of road (now much-reduced).

The new townsite was surveyed in 1857 but, as the gold was excoriated from the creek-beds, the population dwindled to some 400, only to revive again with a new strike in the 1860s.

Together with Moliagul and Tarnagulla, Dunolly forms the Golden Triangle - a district which has turned up more nuggets than any other in Australia. The largest was the 'Welcome Stranger' which, at 66 kg, was, at that time, the largest in the world. The good fortune extended as far as 1976 when a 5.6-kg nugget turned up.

The railway arrived from Maryborough in 1874. The Dunolly Goldrush Festival is held on the Melbourne Cup weekend in November.

Things to see:  

Ironmongers (a residence - c.1863)

Tourist Information
The town's tourist information outlet is the Welcome Stranger Cafe which is situated at the corner of Broadway and Bull St in a building which may date back to 1865, tel: (03) 5468 1032. Broadway has an historic streetscape and there is a pamphlet outlining the town's many historic buildings and other sites of interest.

Free brochures indicate the routes and historic sites associated with four bicycle paths which are part of the Golden Triangle network. However, the condition of these tracks may have declined owing to a lack of maintenance.

Historic Buildings - Broadway
Over the road from the Welcome Stranger Cafe is the post office (1890). Heading south along Broadway towards Thompson St are the old Bendigo Hotel with Cobb & Co stables (at the rear of Daly's General Store) and the Royal Hotel which was first erected in 1856 but rebuilt in 1894. Also along this side of the street are Finders Prospecting Supplies where you can hire or buy prospecting equipment and obtain maps outlining prospecting areas, tel: (03) 5468 1333.

On the other side of the street, heading south from Bull St, are the Railway Hotel (built in 1858 as the Criterion Hotel) and the old London Chartered Bank (1857) - a two-storey Classical Revival building with Roman arches along the ground floor. It was here that the 66-kg 'Welcome Stranger Nugget' (see entry on Moliagul) was weighed and sold in 1869. It is now a private residence.

The building adjacent was built as a courthouse in 1862 but the judge complained of the acoustics and a swap was made with the law courts moving into the old town hall in Bull St and the council moving into this building. At the Thompson St corner is the museum.

Anvil on which the Welcome Stranger nugget was cut, outside the historical museum

Museum
The Goldfields Historical and Arts Museum (1862) is open in the afternoon on weekends and public holidays and at other times by appointment (the contact number is on the front door). Displays include a replica of the 66-kg 'Welcome Stranger' gold nugget found 14 km north at Moliagul in 1869, the Welcome Stranger Anvil Monument upon which the nugget was cut, a 4-million-year-old fossilised wombat jaw and relics of early European settlement.

St John's
Turn left into Thompson St. At Thompson and Barkly is the unusual St John's Anglican Church, a freestone structure erected between 1866 and1869 (the pipe organ was installed in 1879). A little further down Barkly St is St John's Hall (1857) which was later used as the first common school.

Old Presbyterian Church
Walk along Barkly St and turn left into Hardy St. To the right is the old Presbyterian Church, now the RSL Hall (1864).

St Mary's Catholic Church

St Mary's
Continue along Hardy St to the Market St intersection where you will see St Mary's Catholic Church, a Gothic Revival structure built of granite between 1869 and 1871.

Former Vicarage and Old Post Office
Head north along Market St. On the left, before you reach Thompson St, is the former Anglican vicarage, a single-storey building with steep roofs and decorative gables, erected in 1864-65. It is now a private residence. At Market and Thompson is the old post and telegraph office (1872).

Masonic Lodge and Chauncy House
Continue along Market St and turn right into Bourke St. At its end is the town's first courthouse (1858) which soon became, and remains, a masonic lodge (1858). On the other side of Havelock St is Chauncy House (1859), built as an inn.

Hospital
Walk north along Havelock St. Just past Bull St, to the right, is the district hospital. The foundation stone was laid in 1859 and the first wing opened in 1869.

Courthouse
Return to Bull St and follow it west to the Market St corner where you will find the imposing Classical courthouse consisting of a large central section with symmetrical side-wings. Built as the town hall in 1862 it changed its function in 1887. It contains photographs and artefacts relating to the courthouse and the old goldfields. It can be viewed but by appointment only, tel: (03) 5468 1205.

Next door to the courthouse, on the police station property, is the town's original brick lock-up (1859). Opposite is James Bell's mansion (1869).

Methodist Church
Turn into Market St following it north then turn left into Tweedale St. To the left is the Methodist (now Uniting) Church and Sunday school hall (1863).

Laanecoorie Reservoir
About 12 km east of Dunolly along the road to Eddington is the south-western corner of Laanecoorie Reservoir (7749 megalitres). A road then heads off to the left past the western shoreline of the reservoir. At the north-western corner is a caravan park, tel: (03 5435 7303). Built in 1889, this was one of Victoria's first reservoirs. It is a popular spot for picnicking, swimming, boating, sailing, canoeing, windsurfing, fishing, waterskiing, bushwalking, a playground and camping.

Bealiba
Bealiba is located 21 km north-west of Dunolly. There is an information board in the main street which details the town's history and attractions. The first Europeans in the local area were drovers (c.1840) and the first settler was George Coutts in 1845. However, it was the Cochrane brothers who lay behind the establishment of the town (the district was known as Cochranes until 1863).

Gold was discovered at the foot of Mt Bealiba in 1856 and, although the subsequent rush saw the town rocket to a population peak of 12 000, it only lasted 18 months, after which land became available for selection and farming began. The railway proved a boon to local agriculture when it arrived from Dunolly in 1878. The town's population was still a healthy 2000 prior to the First World War.

Bealiba's past is evident in some of its buildings. The hotel was erected in 1857, the town hall in 1879, the old school in the late 1870s and the churches date back to the earliest days of settlement. There is a craft shop in town called Bits & Pieces, tel: (03) 5469 1228.

There are walking tracks through the red ironbark forests of the proximate Bealiba Ranges.

Cycle Tracks
There are a range of excellent cycle tracks around Dunolly. Check out http://www.imagelink.com.au/Cycle/default.htm for more details.

	Motels
	Golden Triangle Motel Maryborough Rd Dunolly VIC 3472 Telephone: (03) 5468 1166 Rating: **
	Hotels
	Railway Hotel 101 Broadway Dunolly VIC 3472 Telephone: (03) 5468 1077
	Caravan Parks
	Progress Caravan Park Cnr Desmond & Thompson Sts Dunolly VIC 3472 Telephone: (03) 5468 1262 Rating: ***
	Cafés
	Broadway Cockatoo Cafe Broadway St Dunolly VIC 3472 Telephone: (03) 5468 1681