Clunes Booktown

Clunes Booktown is Australia's first International Booktown located in Clunes in the Hepburn Shire, Victoria, about 35 km north of Ballarat. The entire historic gold-rush town functions as a book town, with permanent secondhand and antiquarian bookshops housed in 19th-century buildings along Fraser Street. Designated in 2007, it is notable for its preserved Victorian streetscape and its annual Clunes Booktown Festival.

Visitors can expect to explore the heritage streetscape of Fraser Street lined with Victorian-era buildings housing permanent secondhand, antiquarian and specialist bookshops. The town is open to walk at leisure, browsing books, visiting cafes, galleries and the Clunes Museum. During the annual festival, streets and venues host author talks, book stalls, workshops and markets. Outside festival times, the experience is a quiet, village-scale heritage and literary walk.

Clunes was the site of Victoria's first recorded gold discovery in 1851, triggering the Victorian gold rush. The town retains an intact collection of gold-rush era buildings from the 1850s to 1870s along Fraser Street and surrounds, including the Clunes Town Hall (1872) and former banks and hotels. The Booktown concept was established in 2007 to revitalise the historic town through books and literary tourism.

Designated in 2007 as Australia's first Booktown and recognised by the International Organisation of Book Towns, Clunes Booktown promotes literary culture, secondhand bookselling and community-based cultural tourism. The annual Clunes Booktown Festival is a major literary event for Victoria, supporting authors, booksellers and heritage conservation.