St Arnaud

St Arnaud is a historic gold-mining town in the Northern Grampians Shire of Victoria, about 240 km north-west of Melbourne. Established in 1855 during the Victorian gold rush, it retains a well-preserved 19th-century streetscape with heritage-listed buildings. Surrounded by the St Arnaud Range National Park and box-ironbark forests, it serves as a gateway to Kara Kara National Park and offers heritage walks, nature reserves and goldfields history.

Visitors can expect a quiet rural town centre with wide streets lined with heritage buildings from the gold-rush era, including former banks, hotels and the town hall. The town is set among low ranges and box-ironbark woodland. Visitors can explore heritage walking trails, Pioneer Park with historic mining relics, Queen Mary Botanic Gardens, local museums, and nearby natural areas such as St Arnaud Range National Park and Teddington Reservoir for bushwalking, picnics and nature observation.

St Arnaud was established in 1855 following the discovery of gold at New Bendigo and later at the St Arnaud goldfields. Named after French Marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, it became a significant gold-mining centre in the 1850s-1860s. Many public and commercial buildings from the 1860s-1880s survive, reflecting the prosperity of the gold rush and later agricultural development. The town retains evidence of quartz reef mining and alluvial workings.

The town is noted for its intact Victorian goldfields townscape and heritage-listed buildings, including the former fire station, court house and hotels. It serves as a cultural centre for the surrounding agricultural district and preserves gold-mining heritage through Pioneer Park, local museums and heritage trails. The surrounding box-ironbark forests are culturally significant for their natural heritage and traditional use.